Agent skill · product strategy · secondsky
unknowns-discovery
Discover and reduce task unknowns — blindspots, missing context, and unknown unknowns — before committing to a plan, implementation, review, or merge.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured approach to identifying and addressing unknowns in complex tasks, enhancing the AI's ability to navigate ambiguity and improve project outcomes.
What it needs
About 4k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-06. 204 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Unknowns Discovery Use this skill when an agent should discover what the user, spec, prompt, or codebase is missing before it commits to a plan, implementation, review, or merge. The prompt, skill, ticket, screenshot, and context window are the map. The real codebase, product, users, data, constraints, history, and reviewer expectations are the territory. The gap between them is the task's unknowns. Unknown types Type Meaning Agent move --- --- --- Known knowns Explicit facts and constraints in the prompt Preserve and restate briefly Known unknowns Questions already recognized as open Ask, research, parameterize, or gate Unknown knowns Tacit standards the user would recognize only after seeing them Prototype, mock, compare, or interview Unknown unknowns Hidden constraints, missing vocabulary, prior art, traps, or quality ceilings nobody mentioned Run blindspot passes, inspect references, search code/history, and surface landmines When to activate Activate this skill when any of these are true: The work is multi-step, ambiguous, unfamiliar, high-risk, or likely to require judgment. The user mentions “blindspot pass,” “unknown unknowns,” “what am I missing,” “interview me,” “prototype first,” “implementation notes,” “buy-in doc,” “quiz me,” or similar. The user lacks domain vocabulary or does not know what good looks like. The task involves codebase history, architecture, data model, permissions, migrations, UX, visual design, product scope, rollout, or reviewer approval. The agent is about to start a long-horizon implementation or has already discovered that the plan and codebase disagree. Do not activate for tiny deterministic tasks where exploration would add friction, such as fixing a typo, renaming a variable, or answering a direct question with no meaningful unknowns. Core loop 1. State the map. Restate the task, constraints, and what the user says they know. 2. Inspect the territory. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills secondsky/unknowns-discovery