Ask Matt

Ask Matt

Use this router when you do not remember which skill or flow fits the situation.

A flow is a path through the skills. Most paths run along one main flow, and two on-ramps merge onto it. Everything else is standalone.

The main flow: idea → ship

The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.

1. $grill-with-docs — sharpen the idea by interview. Start here when you have a codebase: it's stateful, retaining what it learns in CONTEXT.md and ADRs. (No codebase? Use $grill-me — see Standalone.)
2. Branch — can you settle every question in conversation? If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by $handoff in both directions (see Crossing sessions):
   • $handoff out, then open a fresh session against that file,
   • $prototype to answer the question with throwaway code,
   • $handoff back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread.
3. Branch — is this ready to build?
   • Multi-session → $to-prd (turn the thread into a PRD) → $to-issues (split the PRD into independently-grabbable issues). Because the issues are independent, clear context between each one and work issue-by-issue with the repo's normal implementation workflow.
   • Single-session → build in the current thread, using $tdd where a testable seam exists.

Context hygiene

Keep steps 1–3 in one unbroken context window — don't compact or clear until after $to-issues — so the grilling, PRD, and issues all build on the same thinking. Each implementation session then starts fresh, working from one issue.

The limit on this is the smart zone: the window (~120k tokens on state-of-the-art models) within which the model still reasons sharply. If a session approaches it before $to-issues, don't push on degraded — $handoff and continue in a fresh thread.

On-ramps

A starting situation that generates work, then merges onto the main flow.

• Bugs and requests piling up → $triage. It moves issues through triage roles and produces agent-ready issues for the repo's normal implementation workflow.

  Triage is only for issues you didn't create — bug reports, incoming feature requests, anything that arrives raw. Issues that $to-issues produced are already agent-ready, so don't triage them.

Codebase health

Not feature work — upkeep.

• $improve-codebase-architecture — run whenever you have a spare moment to keep the codebase good for agents to operate in. It surfaces deepening opportunities; picking one generates an idea you can take into the main flow at $grill-with-docs.

Crossing sessions

• $handoff — when a thread is full or you need to branch off (e.g. into a $prototype session), this compacts the conversation into a markdown file. You don't continue in place — you open a new session and reference that file to carry the context across. It's the bridge between context windows, in either direction. Use it when you want a fresh session but need the current conversation preserved.
• /compact (built-in) — stay in the same conversation, letting the earlier turns be summarized. Use it at intentional breaks between phases, when you don't mind losing the verbatim history. Don't compact mid-phase — the agent can lose its way. $handoff forks; /compact continues.

Standalone

Off the main flow entirely.

• $grill-me — the same relentless interview as $grill-with-docs, but for when you have no codebase. Stateless: it saves nothing locally, builds no CONTEXT.md. Reach for it to sharpen any plan or design that doesn't live in a repo.
• $teach — learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace.
• $writing-great-skills — reference for writing and editing skills well.

Precondition

$setup-engineering-skills — run before your first engineering flow to configure the issue tracker, triage labels, and doc layout the other skills assume. Custom issue trackers also work.