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grilling

Interviews the user in structured question rounds to stress-test plans and decisions.

Updated Mar 30, 2026
Search Tags:#planning#decision making#interview#assumptions#design review#questioning#stress-test
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/ninthday/skills-base --skill grilling-ninthday
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: grilling
Source: https://github.com/ninthday/skills-base/tree/main/skills/grilling
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/ninthday/skills-base --skill grilling-ninthday

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Plans, decisions, and ideas often contain hidden assumptions and unresolved dependencies that only surface after implementation begins. This Skill systematically interrogates a plan through structured rounds of questions until every decision branch is explicitly settled. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Design Tree Mapping: Models the topic as a tree of decisions where each choice branches into dependent sub-decisions. - Frontier-Based Rounds: Asks only the questions whose prerequisites are already settled, numbering each question and providing a recommended answer. - Autonomous Fact-Finding: Dispatches sub-agents to look up facts from the environment instead of asking the user for information it can retrieve itself. - Use Case: Before starting a new service architecture, run a grilling session to expose unanswered questions about scaling, data ownership, and failure handling, answering them round by round until no assumptions remain. ## Quick Start Grill me on my plan to migrate our monolith to microservices until we reach a shared understanding.

Frequently Asked Questions about grilling

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I stress-test a plan before implementing it?▼

Use a structured interrogation approach that maps your plan as a design tree of decisions. Each round asks only the questions whose prerequisites are settled, with recommended answers, until no assumptions remain unexamined.

What is a design tree in decision making?▼

A design tree models a plan as branching decisions where each choice spawns dependent sub-decisions. The frontier is the set of questions answerable now, and answering them pushes the frontier outward to unblock dependent questions.

How does the grilling skill handle questions needing external facts?▼

It dispatches a sub-agent to look up facts from the filesystem or tools rather than asking the user. Only questions downstream of that fact wait for the result; the rest of the frontier is asked immediately.

When should I use grilling instead of writing a spec directly?▼

Use grilling when a plan still contains open decisions or untested assumptions. Writing a spec works once decisions are settled; grilling exists to settle them first through iterative questioning.

When does a grilling session end?▼

The session ends when the frontier is empty, meaning every branch of the design tree has been visited and nothing remains silently assumed. No action is taken until the user confirms shared understanding.

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