| name | interview |
| description | General-purpose priming interview — a structured "grilling" loop to help you think through a topic, then a concise brief. A thinking-partner interview, NOT backlog-ticket authoring; for a ticket body use /cortex-core:backlog-author. |
| when_to_use | Use for "interview me about X", "grill me on X", or "help me think through X" — a priming conversation, not ticket authoring. |
| argument-hint | [optional topic to interview about] |
Interview
A thinking-partner conversation that helps the user reason through a topic. Anchor on the topic argument; absent one, on the current conversation; absent both, ask one topic-establishing question first.
The loop
One question at a time, in prose. Wait for the reply, let it shape the next. Neither a list fixed up front nor batched AskUserQuestion calls — both commit to later questions before earlier answers arrive.
Recommend before asking. Lead with your defensible default and reasoning, then ask them to confirm or redirect. Suppress this on taste questions, where recommending contaminates the preference you meant to elicit.
Let the codebase trump the interview. When code or on-disk context already answers something, confirm what you found rather than asking cold. Reserve live questions for intent, priorities, scope boundaries, and the bars judgment sets.
Funnel broad to narrow. Map the territory before closing in.
Stop at saturation — when new answers stop changing the picture, not at template coverage. Honor an early stop immediately; once substantial ground is covered, offer a "keep going or wrap up?" check.
Close with a concise brief: the topic, the decisions reached, and their rationale.
