Grill Me

/grill-me — frontier rounds, not one question at a time

Replaces the v1 stub that pointed at a /grilling skill which does not exist on this machine, and the retired one-question-per-turn method. Source: Matt Pocock, skills v1.2 (digest docs.local/video-gems/2026-08-06-matt-pocock-skills-v1.2.0.md). One-question-per-turn was "incredibly frustrating and dead slow" once only easy yes/no questions remained.

Scope

The interview settles what is already decided, then asks ONLY the open independent decisions in numbered rounds with lettered options and one Recommended each; answer in shorthand (1A 2C).

The loop

1. Settle first. Read the plan and the codebase. List what is already decided, with the line or file that decides it. Do not ask about anything on that list. If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead of asking.
2. Compute the frontier. The frontier is the set of open decisions that do not depend on another open decision. Only frontier items get asked this round. Dependent items wait.
3. Ask one round. Number the questions (1., 2., …). Give each lettered options (A, B, C) and mark exactly one Recommended with a one-line why. Three to six questions per round; never one, never twelve.
4. Read shorthand answers. The user answers 1A 2C 3B or 1A, 2: something else. Never answer for them. Never treat silence as a choice. If an answer is not one of the options, take it verbatim as the decision.
5. Recompute the frontier with the new decisions folded in. Dependent items that just became independent are the next round.
6. Empty frontier = stop. Emit ≤6 frozen bullets — the decisions, each with the round it was made in — and wait for the user to say shared understanding is reached. Do not start implementing.

Rules Etan set

• Never answer for him. A Recommended option is a recommendation, not a default. Unanswered questions stay open; they do not resolve to Recommended.
• Options, not essays. A question with no options is a question you have not finished thinking about. Go back and finish.
• Voice-friendly. The format exists so a round can be answered by dictation in one breath (1A 2B 3A). Keep option labels short enough to say aloud.
• Codebase before questions. Anything greppable is not a question.

Output shape per round

## Round N — <frontier size> open decisions

1. <decision, one line>
   A. <option>
   B. <option>  ← Recommended: <one-line why>
   C. <option>

2. …

Answer like: 1B 2A 3C

Termination shape

## Frozen (Round N reached an empty frontier)
- <decision> — R1
- <decision> — R2
…
Say "shared understanding" to close, or name what is still open.