Ask Clarifying Questions

Drive a structured interview to surface load-bearing assumptions before any code is written. Use the agent's interactive question tool when available. The "output" is shared understanding in the current session — no file artifact is produced.

When to Use

• The user invokes /ask-clarifying-questions explicitly.
• The user names ask-clarifying-questions in a Codex session.
• The user asks to build a feature, refactor, or design something and the brief is short or leaves room for meaningfully different implementations.
• Skip when: the request is mechanical (typo fix, obvious rename, a one-line bug fix the user has already diagnosed). Cheap requests don't earn an interview — clarification has its own cost.

Process

1. Anchor

Restate in one sentence what you understand the user wants. This anchors the interview and gives the user a chance to redirect cheaply.

2. Ask up to 4 questions per round, ranked by load-bearing-ness