git:20260929.cf6991c to git:20260930.ddc3b75

10 added, 1 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: console-ask

description: Use whenever work produces a question the owner must decide (a study's open questions, a lane brief's owner questions, a review trade-off) in a project registered for the owner console - post each as a lockable question so it reaches the owner's inbox, instead of leaving it in a document.

---

# Put the owner's questions on the console

A question written only in a document never reaches the owner: the console's

inbox is where they look. So when work produces a decision that is the owner's

to make, **post it** as you write it, and never tell the owner a question is

"waiting on you" until it is on the console.

Set up `KIT`, `STATE` and `A` as in the console-process skill: from the

user's registry only, and stop if this project is not registered there. In an

unregistered project, ask in the conversation instead.

## 1. Keep the document as the source

The study, brief or spec that raised the question keeps its full text. The

console carries the decision: the question, its options, the recommendation.

Each question cites its lines with `source`, so the answer can be folded back

into the document that owns it.

## 2. Write one JSON file per question

```json

{"qid": "ITEM/Q1", "item": "ITEM", "text": "What to decide, with the facts it rests on.",

"kind": "single",

"options": [{"id": "a", "label": "Short name", "description": "What it does and costs."},

{"id": "b", "label": "Another", "description": "..."}],

"star": "a", "star_by": "architect",

- "source": "path/to/doc.md:120-140", "valid_if": []}

+ "source": "path/to/doc.md:120-140",

+ "valid_if": [{"kind": "excerpt", "path": "path/to/doc.md", "text": "The sentence the decision rests on."}]}

```

- `item` is the item the question belongs to; it must already exist on the

console (`A view` lists `items`). `qid` is `<item>/Q<n>`, with `n` the next

number unused on that item. A qid is minted once: re-asking one is refused.

- Every option has a non-empty `description` saying what it does **and what

it costs**. `star` is the recommended option and `star_by` whose

recommendation it is (the fields and accepted names are as in the

console-fork skill).

+ - `valid_if` says what must stay true for the answer to stand. Prefer an

+ **excerpt** of the lines the question rests on:

+ `{"kind": "excerpt", "path": "path/to/doc.md", "text": "the exact cited sentence(s)"}`

+ (8 to 4000 characters, copied from the file). It holds while that text is

+ anywhere in the file, so moving it is fine and only a real edit makes the

+ answer stale. Do not hash a whole big living file (`file_sha256` of a

+ register, status file or log): every unrelated edit would make the answer

+ stale. The full list is in the console-fork skill.

- Write in plain words the owner can decide from without opening the

document. The document's shorthand (`Q-GE5`, `D-206`) goes in the

description only with its meaning beside it.

## 3. Post them in one call

A ask FILE [FILE ...]

Files post in order. The first refusal stops the batch and names every file

not sent; fix that file and run again with only those. Never drop a refused

question.

## 4. Check, then tell the owner

`A view` must list every new qid under `inbox`. Only then say the questions

are on the console, naming the items they are on.