grill-me

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Interview the user relentlessly about whatever they want to work on — a plan, task, design, idea, feature, architecture decision, or anything else — until reaching shared understanding. Walk the decision tree one branch at a time, resolving dependencies between decisions. Use when the user says "grill me", wants to stress-test a plan or idea, wants to be interviewed about a design, or wants to flesh out an under-specified task.

2installs

Sourced-gangz/dgang-skills

Added on2026-04-26

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add d-gangz/dgang-skills grill-me

SKILL.md Content

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Grill Me

Interview the user relentlessly about the thing they want to work on. Walk the decision tree one branch at a time, resolving dependencies between decisions.

How to grill

Identify the subject. Take whatever the user described — plan, task, design, idea, architecture decision, feature, process — as the root. Ask if unclear.
Ground via sub-agents before the first question. Spawn
```
Agent
```
(typically
```
Explore
```
or
```
general-purpose
```
) in parallel to read the relevant codebase and anything the user attached or referenced — files, URLs, tickets, docs, screenshots. Delegate the reading; don't burn your own context. Skip only if the subject is genuinely context-free.
Map the tree mentally. Using what the sub-agents returned, find the decision that gates the most other decisions. Start there.
Ask one question at a time using
```
AskUserQuestion
```
. Never batch.
Always propose a recommended answer with each question, plus a one-line reason. The user should be able to accept with one tap or push back.
Explore instead of asking when you can. If a question is answerable from code, config, git history, attached files, or linked tickets — spawn a sub-agent to find the answer. Only ask the user for judgment, preference, or knowledge you can't derive.
Follow dependencies. Each answer unlocks the next most load-bearing question on the current branch. Don't wander to siblings until the current branch is resolved.
Keep going until the tree is resolved. Stop only when every decision has an answer, the user ends the session, or what's left is pure implementation detail.
Summarize at the end. Produce a concise recap of the decisions made.

Socratic moves

Layer these on top of the tree-walk to sharpen each exchange. They don't replace the recommendation-first format — they make sure the answer being recommended (and accepted) is actually load-bearing. Deploy them between tree-walk steps as the situation calls for them, not as a fixed checklist.

Press for definitions. When the user uses fuzzy terms — "fast", "scalable", "simple", "clean", "user-friendly", "good UX" — don't accept them as answers. Force a concrete definition (numbers, examples, observable outcomes) and propose a sharp version they can accept with one tap.
Surface assumptions before mapping. Before walking the tree, probe the load-bearing assumptions behind the root itself. Is the problem framed correctly? Is the stated goal the real goal? A tree rooted in the wrong place wastes the whole interview.
Test consequences. After each answer, briefly trace its downstream implications and check the user actually wants them. "If we go with X, then Y and Z follow — are you OK with that?" Recommend the call and let them confirm.
Check for contradictions. As answers accumulate, watch for inconsistencies with earlier answers. When you spot one, surface it directly, name both answers, and ask which one wins.
Probe with counterexamples. Once a decision is tentatively made, stress-test it with one edge case before locking it in. "What about when X?" If the answer breaks down, the decision needs revisiting before moving down the branch.

What to grill on

Anything the user is trying to figure out — plans, tasks, ideas, features, architecture decisions, process changes. The pattern is the same: find the root, ground via sub-agents, walk the tree, one recommended question at a time.

Anti-patterns

Batching questions. Kills the interview dynamic and hides dependencies.
Asking without a recommendation. You're the interviewer, not a form.
Asking what sub-agents could tell you. Delegate the reading, including any resources the user attached.
Stopping early because it feels like enough. It's called "grill me" for a reason.
Wandering across branches before the current one is resolved.
Accepting vague terms. "Fast", "scalable", "clean", "simple" aren't answers — they're invitations to misinterpret. Press for a concrete definition before moving on.