---
name: Grill
slug: grill-3
category: Quality
description: Grill calibrates interrogation of a fuzzy idea before it becomes a spec, asking one question at a time and landing answers as goals or constraints. Use it when a plan is vague or needs stress-testing before writing a spec.
github: "https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/cavekit/tree/main/skills/grill"
stars: 1142
forks: 86
install: "npx degit https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/cavekit/tree/main/skills/grill ~/.claude/skills/grill"
installs_to: ~/.claude/skills/grill
source_path: skills/grill/SKILL.md
collection_size: 9
category_size: 1354
collection_url: "https://dirskills.com/collections/JuliusBrussee/cavekit"
added: 2026-08-20T07:56:16.527Z
last_synced: 2026-08-20T07:56:16.527Z
canonical_url: "https://dirskills.com/skills/grill-3"
---

# Grill

Grill calibrates interrogation of a fuzzy idea before it becomes a spec, asking one question at a time and landing answers as goals or constraints. Use it when a plan is vague or needs stress-testing before writing a spec.

**Install:**

```bash
npx degit https://github.com/JuliusBrussee/cavekit/tree/main/skills/grill ~/.claude/skills/grill
```

## README

# 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. Grill proposes;
spec is the sole mutator. Never write SPEC.md directly.

## WHEN TO STOP

Done when ALL hold:
- §G is one line, one reading, zero "or maybe".
- §C covers every non-negotiable the user stated or implied.
- Every blocking unknown is either answered or parked as an explicit `?`.

Unresolved blocking unknown that needs the outside world → recommend `/research`, not a guess.

## BOUNDARIES

- ⊥ make product decisions for the user. Recommend, never decide.
- ⊥ write SPEC.md. Hand structured answers to spec.
- ⊥ ask in bulk. One question, one recommendation, wait.
- ⊥ grill a trivial change. Right-size or skip.