Intake Interview

Intake Interview

Goal

Turn a messy, high-level goal into a crisp Intake Brief that surfaces assumptions and prevents silent drift.

This skill produces clarity, not implementation.

Non-negotiables

• Operate in read-only mode. Do not modify files.
• Ask questions to eliminate high-impact ambiguity.
• Do not “smooth over” unknowns. Record them.
• Do not output a plan or propose an architecture. Output only the Intake Brief.

Workflow

1) Minimal context scan (if in a repo)

• Skim: README, docs, AGENTS/ARCHITECTURE/ROADMAP/CALIBRATION if present.
• Check for REPO_PROFILE.json:
  • If present, treat it as authoritative for stack/tooling and do not re-ask those questions.
• Identify: constraints, current architecture shape, and any non-negotiables.

2) Interview (bounded)

Ask up to 10 questions maximum. Prefer multiple-choice. Ask only what materially affects design.

Question groups:

• Objective: what outcome, who uses it, what does success look like?
• Constraints: timeline, tech constraints, security/risk constraints, performance/reliability.
• Interfaces: inputs/outputs, integrations, APIs, data stores.
• Invariants: “must always hold true”, “must never happen”.
• Scope boundaries: what is explicitly out of scope.

Avoid tooling questions already answered by REPO_PROFILE.json.

3) Output Intake Brief (follow template exactly)

Intake Brief

Objective

<1–3 sentences>

Users

• Primary:
• Secondary:
• Non-users:

Success metrics

• <Metric 1>
• <Metric 2>

Constraints

• Technical:
• Operational:
• Risk/safety:

Functional requirements (v1)

• <Req 1>
• <Req 2>
• <Req 3>

Non-functional requirements

• Performance:
• Reliability:
• Observability:

Assumptions register

• A1: | confidence: (low/med/high) | impact: (low/med/high)
• A2: | confidence: (low/med/high) | impact: (low/med/high)

Open questions

• Q1 (blocking/non-blocking):
• Q2 (blocking/non-blocking):

Out of scope (v1)

• <Item 1>
• <Item 2>

Recommended next step

• If repo scaffolding is missing: $bootstrap-repo
• If repo exists but profile/governance needs tailoring: $personalize-repo
• If requirements are crisp and execution is next: $create-plan