Calibrated interrogation of a fuzzy idea before it becomes a spec. Asks one question at a time, recommends an answer, and lands each answer in §G (goal) or §C (constraints) — unknowns parked as `?` items, never guessed. The cheapest place to kill a bad idea is before §T exists. Triggers when the use

grill — sharpen idea before spec One question at a time. Every answer lands in a § or gets parked ? . Never guess a constraint into existence. Plan then execute guesses the fuzzy parts & builds the wrong thing. Grill drags the fuzz into §G/§C before a single §T row exists. A bad assumption caught here costs one question. Caught in §B it costs a bug. WHEN TO GRILL Idea is one sentence & you can feel the holes. Multiple readings of the goal exist & you are about to pick one silently. Before /spec new on anything non trivial. User asks to be challenged / stress tested. Skip for a typo or a one line fix. Grill scales to uncertainty, ⊥ to ego. CALIBRATE FIRST One opening read, not a quiz: 1. How well does user know this domain? (sets question depth) 2. How locked is the idea? (exploring vs committed) 3. Pressure wanted: light / normal / brutal. Match it. Brutal grilling on a half formed idea just demoralizes. Light grilling on a committed plan misses the load bearing flaw. QUESTION LADDER Climb in order. Each rung, ask one question, recommend an answer, wait. 1. Goal — what must the code do , in one line? (→ §G) 2. Done — how do we know it works? name the observable. (→ §C / future §V) 3. Boundary — what is explicitly out of scope? (→ §C) 4. Lock — what tech/lib/pattern is non negotiable? what is forbidden? (→ §C) 5. Surface — what does the outside world touch — cmd, api, file, env? (→ §I) 6. Edge — the one input that breaks the happy path? (→ future §V) 7. Unknown — what do we not know yet? (→ park as ? §C bullet) Stop climbing the moment the spec would be unambiguous. Do not ask all seven by reflex. ANSWER FORMAT Each question carries a recommended answer so the user can grunt "yes" & move: Q: auth — session cookie or JWT? rec: JWT — stateless, you named horizontal scaling as a §C. (a) JWT (b) cookie (c) something else? HANDOFF When done, emit a compact block — goal line, constraint bullets, surfaced unknowns as ? — and hand to the spec skill to write §G/§C. Grill proposes; spec is the sole mutator. Never write SPEC.md directly. WHEN TO STOP Done when ALL hold: §G is one line, one reading, zero "or maybe". §C covers every non negotiable the user stated or implied. Every blocking unknown is either answered or parked as an explicit ? . Unresolved blocking unknown that needs the outside world → recommend /research , not a guess. BOUNDARIES ⊥ make product decisions for the user. Recommend, never decide. ⊥ write SPEC.md. Hand structured answers to spec. ⊥ ask in bulk. One question, one recommendation, wait. ⊥ grill a trivial change. Right size or skip.