Grill Me

What this skill does

Relentlessly interview the user about every aspect of a topic until you reach shared understanding. Walk down each branch of the decision tree, resolving dependencies one by one. The real goal is to extract what's in their head into a durable, organized markdown file so nothing is lost as context fills up — and then graduate that capture into the wiki so the knowledge compounds.

This is the general-purpose extraction engine. The builders (/skill-builder, /agent-builder, …) each run a Discovery Interview tied to building one artifact. This skill grills the user about anything — a business process, a plan, a design, a decision — for its own sake, and files the result.

Pattern credit: original "grill me" prompt by Matt Pocock; checkpointing fork by Nate Herk. This is the AIOS adaptation: captures live in knowledge/grills/ and graduate into context/ or references/ per references/wiki-protocol.md.

When to fire — and offer vs. just go

Watch for the situation, not the phrase: the user is mulling a plan out loud, describing "how I do X," floating a half-formed idea, or scoping something before a build. That's a grill opportunity. But the cost of getting it wrong is asymmetric — silently launching a 30-question interview when they wanted a quick answer is worse than a missed trigger. So:

• They explicitly asked ("grill me", "/grill-me", "stress-test this") → just go.
• You inferred the opportunity → OFFER first, one line, then wait: "Sounds like there's a lot in your head here — want me to grill you on it and capture it into the wiki? (one question at a time)" Only start on a yes.
• It's a genuine quick question → do not fire. No offer.

Don't collide with neighbors: exploring brand-new design space → brainstorming; building one specific artifact → that builder's own discovery interview. Grill-me extracts knowledge and decisions the user already holds.

The capture file is the whole point

Long interviews fill up context. If you hold answers only in your head, you will eventually misremember, conflate, or drop something. So you checkpoint to disk after every single answer. The file, not your context, is the source of truth.

Setup — BEFORE the first question

1. Pick the topic + slug. From $ARGUMENTS if given, else ask one line: "What are we grilling on?"
2. Get today's date: date +%F.
3. Create the capture file at knowledge/grills/{YYYY-MM-DD}-{topic-slug}.md (create the folder if needed). One predictable home, regardless of topic.
4. Seed it immediately with the template below.
5. Tell the user where you're saving, in one line. Then ask Q1.

The checkpoint rule (non-negotiable)

After EVERY answer, BEFORE the next question:

• Append a structured entry: the question topic, the key facts and decisions (in their words where the wording matters), and any flags (things they couldn't answer + who can).
• Update earlier entries if a later answer changes them. Keep the running Summary current.
• Only then ask the next question. Never batch multiple answers into one write.

Interview method

• One question at a time. For each, provide your recommended answer (your best inference from their context — CLAUDE.md, the wiki, the repo) so they can confirm, correct, or redirect.
• Resolve dependencies in order: settle the upstream decision before the ones that depend on it.
• Explore instead of asking. If a question can be answered by reading a file or the wiki, do that instead.
• Flag and move on. When only a stakeholder can answer, capture a flag with the owner and continue.
• Keep going until they say done or every branch is covered. Near the end: "Anything we haven't touched?"
• Match references/voice.md — this is a conversation, not an interrogation transcript.

Capture file template

# {Topic}: Grill / Discovery Notes
Date: {date} · Goal: {one line}

## Summary / key decisions
(running synthesis, updated as you go)

## Q&A log
### Q1 — {topic}
- Asked: {question}
- Captured: {facts, decisions}
- Flags: {open item -> owner}

## Open flags (pending input)
- {item} -> {who can answer}

At the end — reconcile, then graduate

1. Final reconciliation pass: read the whole capture for contradictions or gaps; make the Summary stand on its own.
2. Recap in chat: what's captured, what's flagged (with owners), suggested next step.
3. Offer to graduate into the wiki, proposing the destination per references/wiki-protocol.md: personal/work facts → a context/ file; a decision-with-a-why → append to decisions/log.md; fast-changing personal facts or preferences → memory/ (if present); evergreen reusable knowledge → a references/ page (then update index.md, append to log.md, and add a row to knowledge/README.md's Source registry: date · knowledge/grills/<file> · grill capture · graduated to <page>); a build plan → the relevant project spot. Heads-up: references/ is committed and public — unlike the gitignored knowledge/grills/ capture and the privacy-gated context/ — so only graduate non-sensitive evergreen knowledge there; anything tied to an employer or a specific person goes to context/. Let the user confirm or defer — don't auto-write into the wiki without a yes.
4. If deferred, the capture stays in knowledge/grills/ and you log a follow-up in pending.md.

Guardrails

• One question at a time. Always.
• Never skip a checkpoint. The file is the source of truth, not your context window.
• Don't invent answers — flag what only a stakeholder knows.
• No parallel knowledge store: captures in knowledge/grills/, polished knowledge graduates into context/ / references/.
• This skill stays interactive in the live session — do not fork it to an isolated agent.