engineering/grill-with-docs/skills/grill-with-docs/SKILL.md
Docs-anchored grilling session — challenges a plan against the project's existing language (CONTEXT.md) and recorded decisions (docs/adr/), and updates those files inline as terminology and decisions crystallise. Use when user wants to stress-test a plan against documented domain language, or mentions "grill with docs".
npx skillsauth add alirezarezvani/claude-skills grill-with-docsInstall this skill globally with one command. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf.
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<what-to-do>Derived from Matt Pocock's grill-with-docs (MIT, © 2026 Matt Pocock). Matt's interview discipline + docs-anchored grilling rules preserved verbatim under MIT. Additions in this repo: 3 stdlib validators (CONTEXT.md linter, ADR scanner, glossary↔code consistency check), 3 in-depth references each citing 7+ authoritative sources,
cs-grill-with-docsagent,/cs:grill-with-docscommand. See Wrapper additions below.
Interview me relentlessly about every aspect of this plan until we reach a shared understanding. Walk down each branch of the design tree, resolving dependencies between decisions one-by-one. For each question, provide your recommended answer.
Ask the questions one at a time, waiting for feedback on each question before continuing.
If a question can be answered by exploring the codebase, explore the codebase instead.
</what-to-do> <supporting-info>During codebase exploration, also look for existing documentation:
Most repos have a single context:
/
├── CONTEXT.md
├── docs/
│ └── adr/
│ ├── 0001-event-sourced-orders.md
│ └── 0002-postgres-for-write-model.md
└── src/
If a CONTEXT-MAP.md exists at the root, the repo has multiple contexts. The map points to where each one lives:
/
├── CONTEXT-MAP.md
├── docs/
│ └── adr/ ← system-wide decisions
├── src/
│ ├── ordering/
│ │ ├── CONTEXT.md
│ │ └── docs/adr/ ← context-specific decisions
│ └── billing/
│ ├── CONTEXT.md
│ └── docs/adr/
Create files lazily — only when you have something to write. If no CONTEXT.md exists, create one when the first term is resolved. If no docs/adr/ exists, create it when the first ADR is needed.
When the user uses a term that conflicts with the existing language in CONTEXT.md, call it out immediately. "Your glossary defines 'cancellation' as X, but you seem to mean Y — which is it?"
When the user uses vague or overloaded terms, propose a precise canonical term. "You're saying 'account' — do you mean the Customer or the User? Those are different things."
When domain relationships are being discussed, stress-test them with specific scenarios. Invent scenarios that probe edge cases and force the user to be precise about the boundaries between concepts.
When the user states how something works, check whether the code agrees. If you find a contradiction, surface it: "Your code cancels entire Orders, but you just said partial cancellation is possible — which is right?"
When a term is resolved, update CONTEXT.md right there. Don't batch these up — capture them as they happen. Use the format in CONTEXT-FORMAT.md.
CONTEXT.md should be totally devoid of implementation details. Do not treat CONTEXT.md as a spec, a scratch pad, or a repository for implementation decisions. It is a glossary and nothing else.
Only offer to create an ADR when all three are true:
If any of the three is missing, skip the ADR. Use the format in ADR-FORMAT.md.
</supporting-info>The additions below are not part of Matt's upstream skill. They operationalize the upstream's rules into deterministic, stdlib-only validators that pair naturally with the interview loop.
Pre-flight (before the first question):
scripts/context_md_linter.py CONTEXT.md if a CONTEXT.md exists — confirms the glossary is well-formed before grilling against it.scripts/adr_scanner.py docs/adr/ if docs/adr/ exists — surfaces numbering gaps, malformed ADRs, status-frontmatter inconsistencies.scripts/glossary_code_consistency.py --context CONTEXT.md --code src/ — flags defined-but-unused terms (dead glossary) and code-only common nouns that may need definitions. Use these flags as opening grill questions.During the session (Matt's rules apply):
CONTEXT.md immediately; re-run context_md_linter.py if the edit is structural.docs/adr/; re-run adr_scanner.py to confirm numbering.Closing:
glossary_code_consistency.py run to confirm no new orphan terms were introduced.| Tool | One-line role |
|---|---|
| scripts/context_md_linter.py | Validate CONTEXT.md against the CONTEXT-FORMAT.md structure. PASS/WARN/FAIL per rule. |
| scripts/adr_scanner.py | Walk docs/adr/, check NNNN-slug.md pattern, numbering integrity, body completeness. |
| scripts/glossary_code_consistency.py | Cross-reference bold terms in CONTEXT.md against codebase usage. Flag dead glossary + code-only common nouns. |
references/ubiquitous_language.md — why a glossary belongs in source control (Evans, Vernon, Khononov, Wlaschin, Brandolini, Avram & Marinescu, Fowler)references/adr_practice.md — when an ADR earns its keep (Nygard, Tyree & Akerman, Zimmermann Y-statements, MADR, ThoughtWorks Radar, adr-tools, Backstage)references/context_md_as_artifact.md — CONTEXT.md as living artifact (Khononov on language drift, Kernighan on naming, BoundedContext bliki, Confluent on data contracts, Brandolini on EventStorming glossary)cs-grill-with-docs (see ../../agents/cs-grill-with-docs.md)/cs:grill-with-docs (see ../../commands/cs-grill-with-docs.md)Version: 1.0.0 Derived: Matt Pocock's grill-with-docs (MIT) + this repo's wrapper
development
Use when someone wants to run a weekly review, close open loops, audit stalled projects and commitments, get their system back to trusted, restart a lapsed review habit, or says "/cs:weekly-review". Walks David Allen's three-phase loop — GET CLEAR, GET CURRENT, GET CREATIVE — with deterministic scripts that inventory open loops, gate the checklist with named gaps, and score commitment health 0-100.
development
Use when someone wants to decide whether a meeting is worth calling, price a meeting in dollars, build a timeboxed agenda with desired outcomes, or turn messy meeting notes into owned action items — or says "should this be a meeting", "/cs:meeting-prep", or "/cs:meeting-actions". Runs a cost gate (ASYNC / NOT-READY / MEET), builds a decision-first agenda, and extracts an owner + due-date checklist that flags every orphan.
development
Convert a rambling description of a desired outcome into one polished, autonomous /goal prompt ready to paste into a fresh session. Use when the user says "/fable-goal", "turn this into a goal prompt", "write me a fable prompt", "write the prompt that builds X", or rambles about something they want made and asks for the prompt that makes it happen. The output is a single copy-paste prompt, never the build itself. Do NOT use when the user wants the thing built right now in this session — only when they want the PROMPT that will make it happen in a fresh session.
development
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