Query

Interview the user relentlessly until you reach a shared understanding. Map this as a design tree: every decision branches into the decisions that hang off it.

Ask With the Question Tool

Put every question to the user through the agent's interactive question tool (for example AskUserQuestion in Claude Code, or the equivalent in other agents; load it first if it is deferred). Do not write questions as plain text in the reply.

• Give each question 2-4 distinct, concrete options with a short description of the trade-off.
• Put your recommended answer first and mark it (Recommended), so picking it accepts your recommendation. The tool adds an "Other" option for free-form answers; do not add one.
• Keep headers short. Use multi-select only when the options are not mutually exclusive.
• Batch the whole frontier into one call, up to the tool's limit per call (4 in Claude Code). If the frontier is larger, ask the most blocking questions first and the rest next round.
• If the agent has no question tool, fall back to plain text: number the questions, list the options, and state your recommended answer for each.

Rounds

Work the tree in rounds. The frontier is every decision whose prerequisites are already settled: the questions you can ask now without guessing at answers you have not heard yet. Ask the whole frontier in one round, then wait for the answers before the next round.

• Each answered round reshapes the tree: settled decisions push the frontier outward and unblock questions that depended on them. Recompute the frontier and ask the next round.
• A question whose answer depends on another question still open in this round belongs to a later round.
• Word each question so the recommended option is the natural "yes".
• Use the user's free-form "Other" answers and notes as new input: they may add or remove branches.

Facts vs Decisions