clarify is agent-read markdown (skill) from ronaknnathani/relay: Turn a vague or underspecified task into a crisp requirements + testable acceptance-criteria document by closing the gap between what was asked and what is actually wanted. Use at the start of any non-trivial task before planning, whenever the goal is fuzzy ("make it faster", "make it more robust", "add validation"), or whenever you cannot predict how the user would judge "done". Its output feeds `plan`. (For tidying existing code, use `simplify`, not clarify.).
Indexed from public GitHub and served as immutable, content-addressed versions. Install it pinned to an exact SHA-256 with the mdr CLI, and every file is verified against the hash recorded here before it reaches your agent. The deterministic audit below grades the latest version, and the same file always earns the same grade.
What the file says
# Clarify
Produce a requirements + acceptance-criteria artifact that pins down what success looks like, so a
planner never has to guess. The bar: every requirement is measurable and every acceptance criterion is
checkable — you could hand the artifact to someone else and they'd build the right thing. This is a
peer phase to `plan`, not its parent: it grounds itself in the code via `explore`, then hands its
artifact to `plan`. It does **not** design the implementation and does **not** invoke `plan`.
## Process
1. **Resolve from the codebase before asking.** If a question's answer is discoverable in the code —
how a thing currently works, what the existing convention is, where an integration point lives —
call `explore` (dispatch a sub-agent when available; otherwise do it inline) and find it. Only ask
the user what you genuinely cannot determine. Bothering them with a discoverable fact erodes trust.
2. **Form an explicit hypothesis of the whole task.** Write down, for yourself, the outcome you think
they want and the success criteria you'd accept. This is what you'll test against the stop
condition — and it makes your questions sharper.
…
Pin to a label to follow the author's releases, or to a sha256 to freeze the exact bytes forever. Either way the resolved hash is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install reproduces it on any machine.
A 17 of 17 checks passed. Deterministic, no model, same answer every run.
pass: Frontmatter block present
pass: Frontmatter declares a name
pass: Frontmatter declares a description
pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (7139 bytes)
pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
pass: No credential-shaped string
pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
pass: No text hidden with inline styles
pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
pass: No link to a raw IP address
pass: No script tag
Source
GitHub
ronaknnathani/relay · 3 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-09-24 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_avyo7ntpf2hjfn3k
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=ronaknnathani/relay/clarify
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/2db0d08ecf167161fcdd194362e1b7d607b5d8dd80ef3bfefde8ca1e957f9691
Your agent does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/build-write-like-me/SKILL.md · Use this skill whenever the user wants to capture, clone, or codify their own (or someone's) writing voice into a…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/commit/SKILL.md · Create a single well-formed git commit from the working changes, following the repo's AGENTS.md and recent…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/deliver-pr/SKILL.md · Deliver one change end to end as a single pull request — clarify → plan → implement → simplify → review → validate →…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/explore/SKILL.md · Build a verified, read-only understanding of a codebase or a slice of it — entry points, code flow, architecture…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/implement/SKILL.md · Execute an implementation plan (from `plan`) task by task, writing the code and tests and leaving the system green at…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/open-pr/SKILL.md · Stage, commit, push, and open a pull request following the author's repository and AGENTS.md conventions — repo-style…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/plan/SKILL.md · Turn a clarified requirements artifact into a concrete, executable implementation plan — a decisive architecture…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/pr-fix/SKILL.md · Bring a PR to mergeable — fix CI failures, address review comments, and resolve merge conflicts. Runs either from a…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/pr-monitor/SKILL.md · Handle one pull request attention event end to end — read the watcher digest, triage it, delegate the fixing to pr-fix…
ronaknnathani/relay · skills/relay-archive/SKILL.md · Use when a project's PR is merged and you want to clean up the worktree while preserving notes and plans
umputun/cc-thingz · plugins/workflow/skills/clarify/SKILL.md · This skill should be used when user appears confused, frustrated, or shows misalignment between expectations and…
zaxbyhub/opencode-swarm · .opencode/skills/clarify/SKILL.md · Full execution protocol for MODE: CLARIFY -- structured clarification funnel with critic review before surfacing user…
zaxbyhub/opencode-swarm · .claude/skills/clarify/SKILL.md · Full execution protocol for MODE: CLARIFY -- structured clarification funnel with critic review before surfacing user…
swingerman/engineer · engineer/skills/clarify/SKILL.md · Use when a single DAE artifact has ambiguities to resolve. Triggers — "/engineer.clarify", "clarify this spec"…
saadshahd/moo.md · hope/skills/clarify/SKILL.md · Turn words with two readings into one confirmed ask. Use when the user's words admit two readings that would build…
toongri/oh-my-toong-playground · skills/clarify/SKILL.md · MANDATORY before any implementation when request is vague or has multiple interpretations. Triggers on "clarify"…
