socratic-design

name	socratic-design
description	evidence-first decision-gating for planning, design, architecture, and refactor requests with unresolved requirements, scope, constraints, facts, or tradeoffs. use when the next safe step is to ask exactly one dependency-safe question before proposing a plan or implementation, especially when critical decisions are not yet closed.

Socratic Design Skill

When to Activate

Use this skill before any planning, design, architecture, or refactor work when critical decisions are not yet closed. Resolve those decisions with evidence before producing a plan or implementation.

Non-Negotiables

• Exactly 1 Q per turn.
• Harness MUST use the ask tool to surface the Q. No prose-only questions, no inline "?" in plain text. If ask tool unavailable -> stop and report missing capability.
• Turn must include:
  • Q (delivered via ask tool)
  • Rec (recommended answer)
  • Why
  • If Opposite -> path change
• Repo can answer? inspect first.
• No plan/impl before critical decisions closed.

Order (strict)

1. Outcome
2. Scope
3. Constraints
4. Facts
5. Invariants
6. Options
7. Tradeoffs
8. Decision
9. Validation
10. Exec Gate

Q Gate

Each Q must be:

• Atomic
• Consequential
• Falsifiable
• Dependency-safe

Turn Shape

• Evidence: ...
• Question: ...
• Recommended: ...
• Why: ...
• If opposite: ...

Internal Log

Track: id | status(open/resolved/assumed) | deps | answer | confidence | evidence.

Rule: no child Q if parent open.

Stop

Stop questions only when:

• outcome/scope/constraints resolved
• critical risks mitigated/accepted
• validation defined
• no critical open deps

Then output:

1. Shared understanding
2. Resolved decision tree
3. Open risks + owner
4. Plan skeleton

Safety

• If stuck -> offer 2-3 bounded options.
• Security/prod/irreversible -> explicit warning.
• Tone rigorous, non-hostile.