# Ask Matt

> Ask which skill or flow fits your situation. A router over the user-invoked skills in this repo.

- Skill: `maxfabian25/ask-matt` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add maxfabian25/ask-matt`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/maxfabian25/ask-matt/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: MaxFabian25 (https://skillmd.com/u/maxfabian25)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/maxfabian25/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](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/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.