Dev10x:ask

Dev10x:ask — Structured Decision Widgets

Announce: "Using Dev10x:ask to convert questions into structured decision widgets."

Orchestration

This skill follows references/task-orchestration.md patterns. Create a task at invocation, mark completed when done:

REQUIRED: Create a task at invocation. Execute at startup:

1. TaskCreate(subject="Convert questions to widgets", activeForm="Converting questions")

Mark completed when done: TaskUpdate(taskId, status="completed")

Overview

Agents drift toward plain-text questions for supervisor decisions. This skill provides two corrective modes:

• Reformulate — scan recent turns, extract decision questions, present them as AskUserQuestion widgets
• Reinforce — output a reinforcement message reminding the agent to use AskUserQuestion for all decision points

Mode Detection

Determine the mode from arguments and context:

Signal	Mode
No arguments, recent plain-text questions visible	Reformulate
Argument --reinforce or reinforce	Reinforce
Argument is a quoted question string	Reformulate (single question)
User says "ask that again" or "convert that to options"	Reformulate

If ambiguous, default to Reformulate — it is the more common use case.

Mode 1: Reformulate

Step 1: Scan recent conversation

Look back through the most recent 10-15 conversation turns for plain-text questions directed at the supervisor. A question qualifies for reformulation when ALL of these are true:

1. It asks the supervisor to choose between alternatives, decide on an approach, or approve/reject something
2. It was asked as plain text (not via AskUserQuestion)
3. It has not already been answered by the supervisor

Skip questions that are purely informational (e.g., "What's the file path?", "Can you clarify the requirement?").

Step 2: Extract and structure each question

For each qualifying question, build a structured representation:

• Header: 1-3 word topic label (max 12 chars)
• Question: the decision being asked, rephrased as a clear question ending with ?
• Options: 2-4 discrete choices extracted from the question context. Each option needs:
  • label: concise choice name (1-5 words)
  • description: what happens if chosen, trade-offs
• Recommended: if context suggests a default, mark it with "(Recommended)" suffix on the label and place it first

Step 3: Present reformulated widgets

REQUIRED: Call AskUserQuestion (do NOT use plain text). Present all extracted questions in a single AskUserQuestion call (up to 4 questions per call). If more than 4 questions were found, batch them into sequential calls.

Step 4: Report results

After the supervisor responds, output a brief summary:

• How many questions were reformulated
• The supervisor's choices
• Any questions that were skipped (with reason)

Mode 2: Reinforce

Step 1: Identify the violation

Scan recent conversation for the plain-text question that triggered this invocation. If the user provided arguments (e.g., /Dev10x:ask reinforce), use the most recent plain-text decision question as the target.

Step 2: Read the rules

Read the decision gate rules from:

• .claude/rules/skill-gates.md — pattern and checklist
• .claude/rules/essentials.md § Decision Gates — global scope

Step 3: Output reinforcement

Output a structured reinforcement message:

## Decision Gate Reinforcement

**Violation detected:** Plain-text decision question found in
recent conversation.

**Rule:** All decision points that affect execution flow MUST
use `AskUserQuestion` tool calls, never plain text.

**Why:**
- Plain text does not block execution (agents auto-proceed)
- No structured options (supervisor must type free-form)
- Breaks orchestration contracts in skills

**Correct pattern:**
AskUserQuestion(questions=[{
    question: "Your decision question here?",
    header: "Topic",
    options: [
        {label: "Option A (Recommended)",
         description: "What happens with A"},
        {label: "Option B",
         description: "What happens with B"}
    ],
    multiSelect: false
}])

**References:**
- `.claude/rules/skill-gates.md` — full pattern
- `.claude/rules/essentials.md` § Decision Gates — global scope
- Mark gates with: **REQUIRED: Call `AskUserQuestion`**

When NOT to Reformulate

Skip reformulation for these question types — they are legitimately plain-text:

• Clarifying information: "What's the file name?"
• Free-text input: "What should the PR title be?"
• Confirmations without alternatives: "Does that look right?"
• Optional preferences: user can proceed with defaults

Only reformulate questions where the supervisor must choose between discrete alternatives that change the execution path.

Examples

Example 1: Reformulate a recent question

Context: Agent previously asked in plain text: "Should I fix this with a retry wrapper or by increasing the timeout? The retry approach is more resilient but adds complexity."

Invocation: /Dev10x:ask

Result: Calls AskUserQuestion with:

question: "How should we fix the timeout failure?"
header: "Fix strategy"
options:
  - label: "Retry wrapper (Recommended)"
    description: "More resilient, adds wrapper complexity"
  - label: "Increase timeout"
    description: "Simpler change, less resilient to transient failures"

Example 2: Reinforce the convention

Invocation: /Dev10x:ask reinforce

Result: Outputs the reinforcement message from Mode 2 Step 3, citing the specific rules and correct pattern.

Example 3: Convert a quoted question

Invocation: /Dev10x:ask "Should we use polling or webhooks?"

Result: Calls AskUserQuestion with:

question: "Should we use polling or webhooks?"
header: "Strategy"
options:
  - label: "Polling"
    description: "Simpler to implement, higher latency"
  - label: "Webhooks"
    description: "Real-time updates, requires endpoint setup"

Integration

This skill can be referenced by other skills as a reinforcement mechanism:

• Dev10x:diag-friction — handles CLI-to-skill redirects and permission-friction diagnosis; Dev10x:ask handles plain-text-to-widget redirects
• Dev10x:work-on — can invoke Dev10x:ask reinforce if an agent within the work-on pipeline uses plain text for a decision point
• Skill authors — reference this skill in SKILL.md when documenting decision gates as a fallback enforcement mechanism