Requirement Clarify

Use before starting work whose scope, target or success condition can be read in
more than one way.

Principle

A guessed requirement costs more than a question.

But a question asked for every uncertainty is its own failure: it stalls
autonomous work and pushes thinking back onto the owner. The skill exists to
separate the two cases, not to make asking the default.

Ambiguity classes

Check the request against each. Most ambiguity is one of these:

1. Scope — which parts are in, which are explicitly out.
2. Target — which file, service, environment, repository, branch.
3. Success condition — what makes it done: a test, a number, an observed
   behavior, an owner's opinion.
4. Data source of truth — when two stores disagree, which one wins.
5. Reversibility — is any step hard to undo (deploy, send, delete, pay).
6. Silent scale — "all of them" over 5 items or over 5000 items.

Decision rule

For each ambiguity found:

• Different readings lead to materially different work → it blocks.
• Different readings lead to the same work → it does not block; record the
  reading and move on.
• The step is irreversible or outward-facing → it always blocks, even if
  the readings are close. Never guess on send, deploy, delete, or pay.

Workflow

1. Quote the request verbatim.
2. List what was actually stated. No inference in this list.
3. List what you are about to assume. Everything not in step 2 belongs here.
4. Classify each assumption against the ambiguity classes.
5. Apply the decision rule.
6. If nothing blocks: write the assumptions down, then do the whole task under
   them and surface them with the result.
7. If something blocks: do every part that does not depend on the answer first,
   then ask ONE question covering the blocking ambiguities, with the options you
   see and your recommendation.

Never

• ask a question you can answer from the repository, the task history or memory
• ask several questions when one covers them
• stop all work because one branch is unclear
• proceed silently on an irreversible action
• record an assumption only in your own reasoning and not in the output

Output

Stated:
Assumed:
Blocking ambiguity (or: none):
Question (only if blocking, exactly one):
Recommended reading:
Proceeding with:
Deferred until answered: