Agent skill · software engineering · mattpocock
ask-matt
Ask which skill or flow fits your situation. A router over the skills in this repo.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured flow for managing software development tasks, including specific commands for prototyping and ticket management that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 7k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-06. 207,363 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Ask Matt You don't remember every skill, so ask. A flow is a path through the skills. Most paths run along one main flow, and two on-ramps merge onto it. Everything else is standalone, or a vocabulary layer that runs underneath. The main flow: idea → ship The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built. 1. /grill-with-docs sharpens the idea by interview. Start here whenever you are working in a working directory: it's stateful, retaining what it learns in CONTEXT.md and ADRs. (No working directory? Use /grill-me instead, covered under Standalone. Both run the same /grilling primitive; grill-with-docs is the one that leaves a paper trail, which makes it the better of the two whenever a repo is there to leave it in.) 2. Branch: can you settle every question in conversation? If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by /handoff in both directions (a prototype lives in its own directory, which is exactly what /handoff is for; see Phase boundaries): /handoff out, then open a fresh session against that file, /prototype to answer the question with throwaway code, /handoff back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread. 3. Branch: is this a multi-session build? Yes → /to-spec (turn the thread into a spec), then /to-tickets to split it into tracer-bullet tickets, each declaring its blocking edges. On a local tracker that's one file per ticket under .scratch/<feature>/issues/, worked blockers-first by hand; on a real tracker the edges become native blocking links, so any ticket whose blockers are done can be grabbed: kick off /implement per ticket, /clearing context between each one. Each ticket is self-contained, so the last one's context is disposable. No → /implement right here, in the same context window. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills mattpocock/ask-matt