shipshitdev/ask-dev-loop

Ask Dev Loop

The human does not remember every skill. Ask.

This is a router: it names the skill to type next and why. It hints. It does not fire other user-invoked skills. Model-invoked primitives (grilling, domain-modeling, tdd, debug) may be named as what the chosen skill will run.

Contract

Inputs:

• A situation in plain language (an idea, a bug, a PR, a foggy large effort, a setup question, or "I don't know where to start")

Outputs:

• The recommended skill to type, one sentence of why, and the next step after that
• Neighbours when two skills are easy to confuse

Creates/Modifies:

• None

External Side Effects:

• None

Confirmation Required:

• None. Advisory only.

Delegates To:

• None. Name the skill; the human types it.

Precondition

If docs/agents/issue-tracker.md is missing, recommend /setup-agent-routing first. The other engineering skills read that routing block.

The main flow: idea → ship

The route most work travels.

1. /interview — sharpen the idea. Repo-grounded; runs grilling and domain-modeling; leaves an interview brief. Start here whenever the working directory is a real repo.
2. Branch — does a design question need a runnable answer? Detour through /prototype (throwaway code that answers one question), then return to the brief.
3. Branch — is this a multi-session build?
   • Yes → /prd write (prd-writer) then /prd intake (feature-intake) or writing-plans on the issue, then /loop / executing-plans per ticket.
   • No → writing-plans in this session, then executing-plans (or just implement with /tdd).

Keep grilling, spec, and tickets in one context window. Each /loop / executing-plans run starts fresh from the ticket.

On-ramps

• Bugs and incoming requests piling up → /prd intake (feature-intake) or /inbox. Tickets that prd-task-creator already wrote are agent-ready; do not re-intake them.
• Something's broken → /debug (or systematic-debugging when previous fixes failed). Tight red loop first; no theory without a loop.
• A huge, foggy effort → roadmap-analyzer / roadmap-to-milestones to chart the destination, then merge onto the main flow at /interview or /prd write. Do not skip the collapse into a buildable PRD.

Codebase health

Not feature work — upkeep.

• /codebase-advisor — survey, produce plans for another agent. Read-only on source.
• /tech-debt — ranked debt register (interest over principal).
• codebase-design — deep-module vocabulary when the question is the shape of a module, not an inventory.

Review

• /review (review-dispatch) — pick the review depth and target.
• code-review — correctness and security gate, plus spec fidelity against the originating issue.

Standalone

• /wait-what — the last message did not land; re-pitch it.
• grilling — the interview primitive with no wrapper. Reach for it only when the interview itself is the whole ask.
• domain-modeling — the words are the problem (fuzzy term, overloaded "account", missing ADR).
• /wizard — steps only a human can perform (dashboards, secrets, cutovers).
• fix-merge-conflicts — already mid-merge or rebase.

How to answer

Match the user's situation to one row above. Reply with:

1. The skill to type (slash name when it has a command).
2. Why this one, in one sentence.
3. The neighbour they might have meant, if any.
4. What happens after that skill finishes.

If two flows both fit, ask one question that splits them, then recommend.