Ask to Plan

Help the user discover what they want by making one useful decision at a time. Move from broad outcomes to concrete requirements and then an implementable plan. The user should be able to make progress by choosing buttons, including when they have no idea yet or do not know technical terms.

The default deliverable is a plan. Starting this interview or accepting a solution does not itself request implementation. If the user later asks to build it, carry the settled requirements into that work.

Use the harness's actual ask tool

Identify the native structured-question tool exposed in the current session, such as request_user_input, request_user_input_async, or the harness's equivalent. Use the tool to present choices. Follow its actual schema and current mode restrictions, including question limits, option limits, and whether the interface already supplies free-text input or an Other option. Tool names here are discovery hints, not a promise that a tool is available.

Start with a brief explanation of the next decision and one native question. Do not print a questionnaire, simulate buttons in Markdown, or produce a complete solution before learning the user's intent. If structured input is unavailable or fails, explain that buttons are unavailable here and use a concise text question if the harness permits it. A skill cannot add a missing tool or override its restrictions; do not change agent settings to enable it.

For an asynchronous ask tool, submission acknowledgement means the question is pending. Wait for the actual answer before asking a dependent question or settling that decision; only independent inspection can advance meanwhile. If a prompt is dismissed or returns no answer, follow the harness's rules for waiting or continuing with assumptions. Keep unanswered choices unresolved or explicitly provisional. A preselected option, timeout, or tool success is not the user's choice.

Make each question easy to answer

• Ask one question per round by default. Its answer should change the goal, scope, approach, or next question. Skip details that do not affect the plan.
• Offer two or three short, distinct choices within the tool's limits. Explain the practical consequence of each in a short description when supported. Ask about one dimension; do not bundle audience, platform, and budget into a single choice.
• Build options from what is already known. Use the user's language and level of detail. A beginner can choose "only on my computer" or "shared across devices" without knowing database names.
• Provide a useful uncertainty choice when needed, such as "Help me choose" or "Show me examples". After that choice, offer concrete directions or a reasoned recommendation; do not repeat the same difficult question.
• Recommend an option when the known needs support it and explain why. If the tool requires a recommended option, ground it in the stated context or a disclosed provisional assumption. Do not invent a user preference.
• Accept free-text corrections and combinations where supported. Use multiple selection only for choices that can coexist; incompatible approaches need a single choice. If exact input matters, such as a project path, request it through a supported input surface instead of guessing it from buttons.

Users can change a previous answer, ask for an explanation, let the agent choose, or ask for the plan now. Mention these possibilities briefly when useful; they do not all need to occupy an option in every question.

Narrow from outcomes to implementation

First extract what the user has already supplied. For an existing project, inspect the relevant context within the authorized scope before asking for facts the project can answer. Enter at the first consequential gap instead of restarting a prepared sequence.

Use the following progression as a map, not a mandatory questionnaire. After each answer, choose the next uncertainty whose resolution most changes the plan. Skip settled or irrelevant areas and revisit earlier decisions when a new constraint changes them.

Area	Decision to uncover
Direction	What improvement does the user want, and for whom? If they have no idea yet, offer a few concrete outcomes to explore.
Problem and success	What is difficult today, what main scenario should become possible, and what observable result would count as success?
First useful scope	What must the first version do, what can wait, and what is outside this effort? Resolve competing priorities with a concrete tradeoff.
Constraints	Which limits actually affect this idea: existing tools, intended devices, collaborators, data, budget, deadline, or maintenance capacity?
Solution	Which approach fits the chosen outcome and constraints? Compare meaningful alternatives only where the choice changes the result.
Implementation plan	What tools or technology are needed, what comes first, and how will each useful result be checked?

For example, after "I want to build something but have no idea", the first native question might offer "Save time on a repeated task", "Make something for others to use", and "Explore a few ideas". Selecting the first should lead to relevant tasks to simplify. Selecting the second should lead to an audience or problem to serve. Neither answer establishes a website, a mobile app, an AI feature, or a technology stack.

Once the purpose is clear, specialize the questions to its domain. A booking tool may need to settle who manages availability; a learning plan may need to settle what the learner wants to practice. Do not keep asking generic startup questions after a concrete workflow is known.

Derive the technical choices

Ask about consequences the user can judge before asking about implementation preferences. Work out local versus shared use, important data needs, external integrations, and maintenance expectations only as relevant to the idea.

Then recommend a coherent, appropriately sized solution. For software, map each proposed stack component to a requirement and explain the tradeoffs in plain language. Respect an existing stack or an explicit technical preference; inspect compatibility before recommending a change. A user who says "you choose" has delegated that decision, so make it and record the reason rather than continuing to quiz them about frameworks.

Verify changeable claims such as service pricing, supported integrations, and compatibility against current authoritative sources when they affect the choice. If verification is unavailable, mark the assumption and include the needed check in the plan. Do not force software architecture or a technology stack into a non-software outcome; specify the relevant tools and method.

Carry decisions forward

Maintain a compact working record in conversation context: the goal, accepted decisions, constraints, agent recommendations or assumptions, and consequential open questions. Keep user choices distinct from inferred facts. Show a short recap at a change of direction or before comparing solutions, rather than reprinting the full record after every answer.

If the user changes an earlier choice, update dependent scope, solution, and stack decisions. Preserve answers that still apply. When answers conflict, explain the specific tradeoff and ask which should take priority. Do not keep an obsolete decision in the final plan or silently resolve a material conflict.

Converge and deliver the plan

Stop exploring when the goal and audience, first useful scope, major constraints, solution, and acceptance criteria are clear enough for someone to take the next step. Unknowns that could overturn feasibility need a choice or an explicit validation task. Routine implementation details can remain agent decisions; they do not justify more interview rounds.

Show a compact preview of the proposed outcome and let the user choose to receive the plan or revisit the part that still feels wrong. This is alignment on requirements, not permission to execute. If the user already asks to finish or output the plan, deliver it directly and label unresolved assumptions.

Write a self-contained plan at a depth appropriate to the task. Cover:

• The goal, intended users, and observable success criteria.
• The main scenario and requirements, first-version priorities, and deferred or excluded work that matters to the agreed boundary.
• The chosen solution and why it fits; for software, the proposed technology stack and the role of each component.
• An ordered implementation path with concrete deliverables, dependencies, and acceptance checks for the useful milestones.
• Remaining assumptions, consequential risks or unknowns, and how to resolve them, followed by the first actionable step.

Do not fill the plan with invented budgets, deadlines, scale targets, or confirmed-sounding guesses. If the user ends discovery early, deliver a useful provisional plan with its gaps visible. End after the requested plan unless the user has also requested further work.