| name | general-question |
| description | Info-only answer lane. No artifact, no review, no design. Use for questions where the user wants information and does not intend to build or change anything yet. Offers an opt-in to save the exchange as an idea for @ideation. |
| argument-hint | [the question] |
| disable-model-invocation | false |
Answer question $ARGUMENTS directly.
When to Use
- "How does X work?"
- "What does Y do?"
- "Should I use A or B?"
- "Is this pattern common?"
- User wants to learn, not to commit to building anything
When NOT to Use
- User wants to capture a new idea →
@ideation
- User wants structured research across multiple sources →
@research / @deep-research
- User wants to fix a bug →
@hotfix
- User wants to modify existing behavior or add new behavior →
@design-pipeline
Instructions
Step 1: Answer
Answer concisely. Use existing codebase / docs if relevant. Cite files with path:line so the user can navigate.
Do NOT:
- Produce a
.workitems/ artifact
- Produce an HLD / PRD / ADR
- Invoke
@code-review, @design-review, or any review skill
- Run tests or gates
The entire ceremony is: read enough context to answer well, then answer.
Step 2: Opt-in save
At the end of the answer, ask once:
Save this as an idea for @ideation? (y/N)
-
On yes: produce a minimal memo stub at .workitems/ideas/{YYYY-MM-DD}-{slug}.md containing:
title: the questionIdea: the answer's key takeaway (1–3 sentences)Open questions: any follow-ups surfaced during the answernext: defer — user can revisit later via @ideation
Then hand off to @ideation for routing (or leave deferred).
-
On no (default): nothing persists. The exchange exists only in the conversation transcript.
Step 3: Stop
No further actions. No design, no tests, no commits.
No Review Ceremony
General-question answers are not reviewed. They are conversational, not production collateral. If the user later decides the answer should shape a design, they invoke @ideation → @concept → @design-pipeline; review happens there, not here.
Honest Asymmetry
Not every artifact needs review. Questions that produce no artifact definitionally need no review. This skill exists so the harness does not force a review gate onto a conversation that has nothing to gate.
Cross-References
@ideation — save-as-idea opt-in target@research / @deep-research — escalate if the question needs multi-source investigation@documentation-lookup — specific library / framework doc lookup
