| name | vs-core-grill |
| description | Socratic interview to reach shared understanding before starting work. Use this skill when the user wants to discuss a plan, design, or approach before implementing. Also use when the user says "grill me", "interview me", "let's think through this", "what should we consider", or when starting a complex task where requirements are unclear. |
| allowed-tools | Read Glob Grep Bash AskUserQuestion |
Artifact Profile
Read ../vs-core-_shared/prompts/artifact-persistence.md for the full protocol.
Socratic Interview
Interview the user relentlessly about every aspect of this plan until you reach a shared understanding. Walk down each branch of the design tree, resolving dependencies between decisions one-by-one.
Artifact Flow
- Before the interview begins: Run ARTIFACT_DISCOVERY (see artifact-persistence.md). Establish the feature slug silently if unambiguous. If
.spec/{slug}/mission.md exists, read it; skip questions whose answers are present in its Decision Log.
- After producing the Shared Understanding summary: Run WRITE_ARTIFACT -- write
grill.md to .spec/{slug}/ with the frontmatter schema and the Shared Understanding block as the body.
Rules
- Ask questions one at a time
- For each question, provide your recommended answer as a single declarative sentence the user can accept with "yes" or reject with "no". If you need a table, multiple paragraphs, or a "here are your options" list to explain the recommendation, the question is either premature (explore the codebase first) or actually several questions in disguise (split it). A recommendation the user has to interpret is a blank canvas with extra steps.
- If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead of asking the user
- Resolve dependencies in order: don't ask about implementation details before agreeing on the approach
- Challenge assumptions: if the user's answer seems to conflict with what you know about the codebase or domain, push back respectfully
- Keep going until every branch of the design tree has been resolved to a concrete decision
- Summarize the shared understanding at the end as a bullet list of decisions made
Output Contract
When the interview is complete, produce a structured summary:
## Shared Understanding
### Decisions Made
- [Decision 1]
- [Decision 2]
...
### Open Questions (if any)
- [Question that needs more investigation]
### Recommended Next Step
[What should happen next -- /vs-core-implement, /vs-core-rfc, /vs-core-arch, or something else]
This output format allows composite skills (like /vs-core-rfc) to consume the grill results programmatically.
