rich-elicitation

Rich Elicitation Skill

Overview

This skill governs how Antigravity resolves task ambiguity before starting work. When a user's request has too many unanswered dimensions — each with several reasonable answers — Antigravity asks targeted clarifying questions across multiple rounds rather than silently picking defaults.

The goal is a correct first draft, not a generic answer that requires three revision cycles. Rounds are capped at three; anything still unclear after Round 3 gets a stated assumption and Antigravity proceeds.

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When to Use This Skill

• Use when a request has 2 or more dimensions that are ambiguous and each has 3+ viable options
• Use when the user's likely intent is unclear across scope, audience, tone, format, or strategy
• Use when an early answer would meaningfully change the structure or direction of the output
• Use when working on writing, planning, design, recommendations, or creative tasks with open-ended scope
• Use when a Round 1 answer unlocks a new set of meaningful choices that need resolving before proceeding

Do not trigger for:

• Simple factual lookups or math
• Clearly scoped requests with a single obvious interpretation
• Minor unknowns where a safe default exists

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How It Works

Step 1: Run the Trigger Checklist

Before starting any task, mentally check how many of these apply:

Signal	Action
Multiple valid output formats	Ask about format
Audience is unknown	Ask about audience
Tone is ambiguous	Ask about tone
Scope could be narrow or broad	Ask about depth/length
Technical vs. simple treatment unclear	Ask about technical level
Multiple strategic directions exist	Ask which direction
User's constraints are unknown	Ask about constraints

If 2+ rows apply → trigger this skill.

Step 2: Ask Round 1 Questions

Ask up to 3 questions using ask_user_input_v0. Group related questions in a single call. Lead with 1–2 sentences explaining why you're asking. Mark one option per question as (Recommended).

Step 3: Re-run the Checklist

After Round 1 answers, re-run the checklist on what's still unresolved. If 2+ rows still apply, run Round 2. Otherwise, proceed.

Step 4: Run Follow-up Rounds (if needed)

Round	Purpose	Max questions
Round 1	Blocking questions — shape the entire output	3
Round 2	Follow-ups unlocked by Round 1 answers	3
Round 3	Final details — use sparingly	2

Transition between rounds naturally. Don't announce "Round 2" mechanically. Use phrasing like:

"Got it — that helps a lot. One more thing before I start:"

Step 5: Proceed

After Round 3 (or earlier, if enough context exists), state any remaining assumptions briefly and begin the task.

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Examples

Example 1: Multi-Round — Investor Pitch Deck

User: "Help me create a presentation for my project."

Round 1 — Three blocking questions:

Framing: "This could go a lot of different ways. Quick questions before I start:"

Q1: Who is the audience?
  - Internal team / colleagues
  - External clients or partners
  - Investors or stakeholders (Recommended)
  - General / public audience

Q2: What's the primary goal?
  - Inform and update
  - Persuade and drive a decision (Recommended)
  - Teach or explain a concept
  - Pitch and raise funding

Q3: How much content do you already have?
  - Starting from scratch
  - Rough notes or an outline (Recommended)
  - Full draft — just needs polish
  - Previous version to update

User answers: Investors | Pitch | Rough notes → Round 2 is warranted.

Round 2 — Unlocked by Round 1:

Framing: "Perfect — investor pitch it is. A couple more things:"

Q1: What stage is this raise?
  - Pre-seed / idea stage
  - Seed round (Recommended)
  - Series A or later
  - Strategic partnership / grant

Q2: How long should the deck be?
  - Short and punchy, 8–10 slides (Recommended)
  - Standard, 12–15 slides
  - Comprehensive, 20+ slides

No Round 3 needed — proceed.

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Example 2: Single-Round — Business Email

User: "Write a business email to follow up on a proposal."

Round 1 only:

Framing: "Two quick questions to nail the tone:"

Q1: What tone should this email strike?
  - Formal and professional (Recommended)
  - Friendly but direct
  - Urgent and firm
  - Warm and relationship-focused

Q2: What's the primary goal?
  - Request action / get a response (Recommended)
  - Share information only
  - Repair or maintain the relationship
  - Negotiate or push back

Enough context. No Round 2 needed.

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Best Practices

• ✅ Always mark one option per question as (Recommended)
• ✅ Lead with a 1–2 sentence framing before the question widget
• ✅ Group up to 3 related questions in a single ask_user_input_v0 call
• ✅ Re-evaluate after each round — stop as soon as you have enough context
• ✅ Use single_select for mutually exclusive choices, multi_select when combinations are valid
• ✅ State remaining assumptions explicitly before proceeding after Round 3
• ❌ Don't ask 6 separate question calls when 2 grouped calls would do
• ❌ Don't mark two options as Recommended in the same question
• ❌ Don't use vague option labels like "Other" or "It depends" without elaborating
• ❌ Don't mechanically label rounds in the UI ("Round 1:", "Round 2:")
• ❌ Don't run a follow-up round for minor details that have safe defaults

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Limitations

• This skill does not validate whether the user's answers are internally consistent — it trusts them as given.
• Round structure is a guideline, not a rigid contract; judgment is required on when to stop.
• Works best with ask_user_input_v0 — in environments without that tool, question quality may degrade.
• Does not handle tasks where ambiguity can only be resolved by fetching external information (e.g., reading a file the user hasn't uploaded).
• Not designed for real-time or high-latency-sensitive workflows where any question overhead is unacceptable.

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Security & Safety Notes

This skill is pure reasoning — it issues no shell commands, reads no files, makes no network requests, and mutates no state. Risk level is none.

No npm run security:docs review is required for this skill.

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Common Pitfalls

• Problem: Antigravity asks one good question, gets an answer, then proceeds without checking if new unknowns emerged. Solution: Always re-run the trigger checklist mentally after each round before deciding to proceed.

• Problem: All options in a question look equally valid so Antigravity marks none as Recommended. Solution: Pick the option that works for most users or is lowest-risk and mark it. "No preference" is rarely true.

• Problem: Antigravity runs 4+ rounds trying to eliminate every unknown. Solution: Hard cap at 3 rounds. After Round 3, state assumptions and proceed.

• Problem: Round 2 questions cover the same category as Round 1 (e.g., tone again). Solution: Each round should unlock new dimensions, not re-ask resolved ones.

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Related Skills

• @ask-user-questions — Single-round elicitation with recommended options. Use that skill for simpler tasks; use rich-elicitation when answers to early questions open up new meaningful choices.