asking-user-questions git:20260720.03c6dddA

Immutable. This exact content is served forever at /api/v1/blob/e9727772966ac694.

---
name: asking-user-questions
description: "Use when composing an ask_user_question round inside a workflow, or when a workflow skill names it at a question step. Shared norms for the tool — not a workflow, nothing to execute."
---

# Asking User Questions

The workflow family's shared norms for `ask_user_question`: how to compose rounds, shape options, and
degrade when answers don't come. Process skills name this concept at the steps that ask; *when* to ask
— and where the answers get recorded — stays with the referencing skill.

## Rounds, not chat turns

- One call = one **round**: up to 4 questions, 2–4 options each. Group everything the current step
  needs into a single round — never chain a second call straight after for a trivial follow-up.
- **The call ends your turn.** The questionnaire is shown and your run stops; the answers arrive as the
  next user message (a structured "User has answered your questions:" message). Don't keep working on
  the blocked step after calling, and don't assume an answer until it arrives — whether that is seconds
  later or days later.
- If the user replies with a free-form message instead of answering the card, that reply **supersedes**
  the round — treat it as their answer, and re-ask only what is still genuinely undecided.
- Resolve the round, act on what you learned, and open a new round only when the answers raised a
  genuinely new question.

## Options

- Recommended option first, label suffixed "(Recommended)", plus a one-line `recommendedReason` saying
  why you recommend it over the alternatives (shown inline under the option as a `Why:` line).
- Every option: a concise label (1–5 words, ≤ 60 chars) + a description carrying the trade-off or
  consequence of choosing it. Tailor options to the work at hand — never generic placeholders.
- Never author your own "Other", free-text, or escape options — the tool adds a free-text row to
  every question and an always-available Skip, and reserved labels are rejected. This holds under
  `multiSelect` too: the free-text row stays and is *additive* — a typed answer arrives alongside the
  checked options, it does not replace them.
- `multiSelect: true` when several answers are valid at once (feature checklists); single-select when
  confirming something or choosing one path.
- `options[].preview` (markdown) when a concrete artifact — code, a config, a mockup — is clearer
  shown than described. Single-select only.
- `header` is a short chip, ≤ 16 characters.

## Confirming an inference

When you have inferred something and need a yes/adjust rather than an open answer: the inferred
statement *is* the question text, with "Looks right" as the first option (description: "accurate as
written") and a genuine rejection option second (e.g. "Off base — ask me directly"). Edits arrive
through the tool's automatic free-text row — do not author an edit option. Read the response as:

- **"Looks right"** → the inference holds; continue unchanged.
- **Free-text tweak** (one fact changes) → update that field only; don't re-derive anything else.
- **Substantial rewrite** → re-derive every inference that came from that statement before continuing.
- **Rejection** → discard the inference entirely and ask an open-ended question instead.

## Degradation

- Skipped, declined, or unanswered questions are not blockers: proceed on best-guess assumptions,
  explicitly recorded as unconfirmed in the workflow's artifact (the referencing skill says where).
- If the host reports no interactive UI (`ask_user_question` returns "not available"), state your
  assumptions the same way instead of blocking.