| name | grill-me |
| description | Interview the user relentlessly about a plan or design until reaching shared understanding, resolving each branch of the decision tree. Use when user wants to stress-test a plan, get grilled on their design, or mentions "grill me". |
| metadata | {"category":"assistant","tags":["design","planning","questioning","decision-making"],"status":"ready","version":2} |
Interview me relentlessly about every aspect of this plan until we reach a shared understanding. Walk down each branch of the design tree, resolving dependencies between decisions one-by-one. For each question, provide your recommended answer.
If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead.
Examples
Positive Trigger
User: "Grill me on this auth system design."
Expected behavior: Ask probing questions one branch at a time, provide a recommended answer for each, and explore the codebase when a question can be answered by reading existing code.
Non-Trigger
User: "Review this and fix the bugs."
Expected behavior: Do not enter grill mode — the user wants fixes, not an interview. Proceed with a standard code review.
Troubleshooting
Skill Does Not Trigger
- Error: Claude gives feedback or fixes instead of asking questions.
- Cause: Request was phrased as "review" or "fix" rather than "grill me" or "stress-test".
- Solution: Use explicit trigger words: "grill me", "stress-test this", "interview me about".
Questions Feel Generic
- Error: Questions are not grounded in the specific plan or codebase.
- Cause: Skill was invoked without providing design context or code.
- Solution: Share the plan, design doc, or relevant code before invoking grill-me.
Workflow
- Read all provided context — design docs, code, or description — before asking anything.
- Identify the first unresolved branch of the decision tree.
- Ask one focused question about it and provide your recommended answer.
- Incorporate the user's response and move to the next unresolved branch.
- If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, do that instead of asking.
- Repeat until all branches are resolved or the user ends the session.
