interview-me

Extracts underlying user intent through one-question-at-a-time interviews before planning or coding.

1|Updated May 29, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/memasanz/agent-harness --skill interview-me-memasanz
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: interview-me
Source: https://github.com/memasanz/agent-harness/tree/main/.github/skills/interview-me
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/memasanz/agent-harness --skill interview-me-memasanz

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Users often ask for what they think they should want rather than what they actually need, and agents silently fill in ambiguous requirements. This Skill closes that gap before any plan, spec, or code exists, preventing costly rework from building the wrong thing. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Hypothesis-Driven Interviewing: States a one-sentence hypothesis with an explicit confidence number, then asks one focused question at a time with a guess attached so users can react instead of generating answers from scratch. - Want-vs-Should Detection: Identifies convention-signaling answers ("scalable", "best practice") and probes what the user would want if they didn't have to justify it. - Confirmed Intent Output: Produces a structured restatement (Outcome, User, Why now, Success, Constraint, Out of scope) gated on an explicit yes, with a 95% confidence stop test. - Use Case: A user says "build me a dashboard for our metrics." Instead of proposing chart libraries, the Skill interviews them and discovers the real need is a personal experiment tracker list — a different artifact entirely. ## Quick Start Ask the agent to interview you about your request before writing any spec or code, for example by saying "interview me about this idea before we start."

Frequently Asked Questions about interview-me

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

FAQPage Schema
How do I clarify vague user requirements before writing code?

State a one-sentence hypothesis with a confidence number, then ask one focused question at a time with your best guess attached. Continue until you can predict the user's reactions, then restate the intent and get an explicit yes before planning or coding.

How to handle underspecified feature requests like "build me a dashboard"?

Treat conventional requests as hypotheses, not specifications. Interview the user about who it is for, why now, and what success looks like. The real need is often a different artifact than the one named in the request.

When should I not use an intent-clarification interview?

Skip it for unambiguous self-contained asks like renames or typo fixes, pure information requests, mechanical operations, or when the user explicitly prioritizes speed. It also requires a live responsive user, so avoid it in CI pipelines or autonomous runs.

Why does asking multiple questions at once fail in requirements gathering?

Batched questions encourage skim-reading and surface answers, and later questions often depend on earlier answers. One question at a time with an attached guess lets the user react quickly and keeps your assumptions visible and correctable.

What counts as confirmed user intent versus a hollow yes?

Confirmation requires an explicit yes to a concrete restatement covering outcome, user, motivation, success, constraint, and out-of-scope items. Responses like "whatever you think" or "sounds good" are delegation or politeness, not confirmation, and need follow-up.