Agent skill · product strategy · juliusbrussee
grill
Calibrated interrogation of a fuzzy idea before it becomes a spec. Asks one question at a time, recommends an answer, and lands each answer in §G (goal) or §C (constraints) — unknowns parked as `?` items, never guessed. The cheapest place to kill a bad idea is before §T exists. Triggers when the user has a vague idea, says "grill me", "stress-test this", "challenge my plan", "interview me before I spec", or invokes /ck:grill. Defers the actual write to the spec skill.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured framework for refining vague ideas into clear specifications, which the AI wouldn't generate on its own.
What it needs
About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-06-18. 1,134 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
grill — sharpen idea before spec One question at a time. Every answer lands in a § or gets parked ?. Never guess a constraint into existence. Plan-then-execute guesses the fuzzy parts & builds the wrong thing. Grill drags the fuzz into §G/§C before a single §T row exists. A bad assumption caught here costs one question. Caught in §B it costs a bug. WHEN TO GRILL Idea is one sentence & you can feel the holes. Multiple readings of the goal exist & you are about to pick one silently. Before /spec new on anything non-trivial. User asks to be challenged / stress-tested. Skip for a typo or a one-line fix. Grill scales to uncertainty, ⊥ to ego. CALIBRATE FIRST One opening read, not a quiz: 1. How well does user know this domain? (sets question depth) 2. How locked is the idea? (exploring vs committed) 3. Pressure wanted: light / normal / brutal. Match it. Brutal grilling on a half-formed idea just demoralizes. Light grilling on a committed plan misses the load-bearing flaw. QUESTION LADDER Climb in order. Each rung, ask one question, recommend an answer, wait. 1. Goal — what must the code do, in one line? (→ §G) 2. Done — how do we know it works? name the observable. (→ §C / future §V) 3. Boundary — what is explicitly out of scope? (→ §C) 4. Lock — what tech/lib/pattern is non-negotiable? what is forbidden? (→ §C) 5. Surface — what does the outside world touch — cmd, api, file, env? (→ §I) 6. Edge — the one input that breaks the happy path? (→ future §V) 7. Unknown — what do we not know yet? (→ park as ? §C bullet) Stop climbing the moment the spec would be unambiguous. Do not ask all seven by reflex. ANSWER FORMAT Each question carries a recommended answer so the user can grunt "yes" & move: Q: auth — session cookie or JWT? rec: JWT — stateless, you named horizontal scaling as a §C. (a) JWT (b) cookie (c) something else? HANDOFF When done, emit a compact block — goal line, constraint bullets, surfaced unknowns as ? — and hand to the spec skill to write §G/§C. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills juliusbrussee/grill