Ask

Use this when the user asks you to delegate with CCB, or when project memory says to use CCB ask for collaboration.

Decision Card

Before every ask, decide:

1. Need delegation? If no, answer directly.
2. Dependency gate:
   • Default: do not use --chain.
   • Use --chain only when the current active CCB task cannot finish until this exact child result arrives. Then stop for continuation.
   • Communication tests, batch sends, notifications, and independent work do not become chain dependencies merely because replies are requested.
3. Result intent:
   • --silence: publish/execute task; success result not needed. Failures, blockers, risks, or required next actions still surface.
   • --compact: result wanted, but only distilled findings/status/risks/blockers/next actions.
   • + --artifact-reply: consultation/analysis/report where full text should be preserved.
   • plain ask: short question or short handoff where inline text is enough.
4. Request fidelity:
   • + --artifact-request: exact transient input (logs/output/diffs/copied contents/config/JSON/YAML/table/structured text). Prefer repo paths when the target can read files directly.
   • --artifact-io: request and reply both need artifacts.

Guardrails

• Do not probe --chain; if unsure there is an active parent job, use plain ask.
• If CCB says ask --chain requires an active parent job, retry once with plain ask for user-requested delegation.
• Never add --chain merely to make a rejected plain ask succeed. If the work is independent and no success result is needed, use --silence; otherwise report the routing limitation instead of inventing a dependency.
• --chain and --silence usually conflict; avoid mixing unless explicit.
• Avoid --silence --artifact-reply; silence means no caller result needed; artifact-reply preserves one.
• Artifact flags are orthogonal to --chain, --silence, and --compact. They preserve content, not dependency shape.
• Automatic spill for text over 4 KiB is a fallback, not the primary rule.
• --artifact-* modes are CCB/daemon managed; targets do not write artifact reply files.
• Plain nested ask from an active CCB task is rejected. Use --chain only for a real child dependency; use --silence for independent no-result work.
• In A --silence -> B, B still runs an active job. B-to-C depends on whether B needs C's result.
• In task chains, each needed-result hop uses --chain; CCB then propagates continuations.
• Finish an inbound CCB task in its current turn.
• If the original caller is a registered CCB agent, CCB routes that turn's terminal result through the existing lineage; do not open a new ask to report completion to the original caller.
• Direct CLI submitters read terminal results from control output such as watch or trace.
• If the current task is a CCB result-chain continuation, answer the current task directly with the final result. Do not use ask, --chain, or --silence to send that final result to the original caller; CCB routes the continuation completion upstream.
• --silence is not an active-job correction channel. Use ccb followup <active_job_id> --message "<correction>" only when the target provider supports exact active-turn injection; only injected is success. On rejected, too_late, or terminal, cancel and resubmit the complete corrected task instead of queueing a correction as ordinary work.
• A completed CCB job means provider execution ended normally; it does not by itself prove business acceptance.
• ask get, pend, watch, and ping are diagnostics-only commands for explicit debugging requests, not normal ask workflow tools.
• Do not manually append output-policy text; stable reply policy comes from managed CCB memory, and ask adds only requested compact/silent mode metadata.

Always send MESSAGE through the <<'EOF' ... EOF heredoc below. No other form is allowed. Use no flags or insert selected flags before "$TARGET":

command ask "$TARGET" <<'EOF'
$MESSAGE
EOF

command ask --chain --artifact-reply "$TARGET" <<'EOF'
$MESSAGE
EOF

After the command returns, end the turn. Do not wait for a reply, do not run ask get / pend / ping / watch, do not poll. For --chain, report only that delegation was submitted.