grill-me

Workflow

1. Understand the surface request — Read the user's initial ask and identify what's stated vs. what's assumed
2. Explore the problem space — Ask probing questions about the areas below, one at a time
3. Answer from codebase first — If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead of asking the user
4. Provide a recommended answer with every question — For each question, include your best-guess recommendation so the user can confirm, correct, or refine rather than starting from scratch
5. Answer with recommendation — Ask questions (one or multiple per invocation), where each question includes a recommended answer.
6. Converge on shared understanding — Stop when you have enough context to define what to build, why, and what's out of scope

Question Areas

Probe these areas (adapt order based on the request):

• Underlying problem — What's the real need behind the request? Why now?
• Success criteria — How will we know this is done? What does "working" look like?
• Edge cases and failure modes — What happens when input is invalid, network fails, user cancels?
• Dependencies and constraints — What existing systems, APIs, or patterns must this integrate with?
• Risks and trade-offs — What are we choosing NOT to do? What could go wrong?
• Prioritization and MVP scope — What's the minimum that delivers value? What can be deferred?

Example

User request: "I want to add a notifications feature"

Question 1 [underlying problem]:
"What problem are notifications solving — are users missing important
events, or is this about engagement/retention?
→ User: "Users aren't seeing when their orders ship."

Question 2 [scope]:
"Should this be in-app notifications only, or also email/push?
→ User: "In-app for now, email later."

Question 3 [edge cases]:
"What happens when a user has 500+ unread notifications — do we
paginate, auto-archive old ones, or cap the count?
→ User: "Auto-archive after 30 days, paginate."

Question 4 [integration]:
"I see the app uses WebSockets for real-time chat already. Should
notifications use the same WebSocket connection, or poll?
→ User: "Yes, reuse WebSockets."

Question 5 [success criteria]:
"So the MVP is: in-app notifications via WebSocket when order status
changes, paginated list with 30-day auto-archive. Correct?"
→ User: "Yes, that's it."

Notice: Question 4 was informed by exploring the codebase rather than asking blindly.

Constraints

• NEVER propose solutions before understanding the problem — ask first, build later
• NEVER skip edge case exploration — surface at least 2 edge cases per feature
• NEVER ask questions the codebase can answer — explore code first
• NEVER ask questions without a recommended answer — every question in an invocation must include one
• ALWAYS provide a recommended answer with each question so the user can confirm or correct
• ALWAYS summarize the agreed requirements before declaring the interview complete