# Clarify

> Turn words with two readings into one confirmed ask. Use when the user's words admit two readings that would build different things.

- Skill: `majiayu000/clarify-4` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add majiayu000/clarify-4`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/majiayu000/clarify-4/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: majiayu000 (https://skillmd.com/u/majiayu000)
- Updated: 2026-09-09
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/majiayu000/clarify-4

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## Extract

From the user's words or the conversation:

- The **ask** as given in the context
- Its **readings** — the two (or more) ways the words could be taken.

## Gate

Proceed only when: the readings would build or do different things.

Anything else, say which in one plain line — never clarify anyway:

- Every reading leads to the same work → skip the pick and proceed with the work. Never stage a choice that changes nothing.
- The ask is already concrete and the pull is to keep questioning it — that is challenging its decisions, not picking a reading → use **interrogate** skill.
- The user holds something they can't yet put into words — no reading of the words captures it → use **elicit** skill.

## Stage

1. Name the readings apart — one line each, ending in what each would build or do differently.
2. Ask the user to pick.

One exchange: readings out, pick back. Never ask a second question. If the user cannot pick, the words are not the problem — stop clarifying; use **elicit** skill.

## Output

Take the pick as the confirmed ask. Restate it in one line.

The pick resolved the words — now check whether the restated ask is clear enough to return to the work it interrupted: would anything still unresolved change what gets built?

- Nothing would → proceed with the work.
- Something would, and the user holds it but hasn't said it → use **elicit** skill.
- Something would, and it's a decision inside the ask that needs defending → use **interrogate** skill.

Clarify's one exchange is spent — any further question runs under the named skill's procedure, never as another round of clarifying.