x-grill: Interrogate Your Agent Before It Codes

Where this fits

You've drafted a feature plan, but before your agent writes a single line, you realize the assumptions are shaky: caching strategy, error handling, or database choice are still open. Instead of letting the agent guess or generating a wall of clarifying questions, you need a focused, sequential interrogation. x-grill fits exactly here—when requirements are half-baked and you want to pressure-test decisions before committing to implementation.

Why agents benefit

• Reduces hallucinated assumptions: By asking one question at a time and waiting for answers, the agent never silently picks a default that could derail the project.
• Leverages repo context: It looks up facts (configs, git history, existing code) instead of asking, so every question targets a genuine decision, not a lookup.
• Forces dependency ordering: It walks the decision tree branch by branch, resolving foundational choices before dependent ones—like choosing the data model before the API endpoints.
• Produces a concise decision summary: After the interview, it outputs a bullet list of agreed decisions, giving you a clean handoff to implementation or a change brief.
• Respects user authority: It clearly separates facts (agent finds) from decisions (user owns), preventing the agent from overstepping.

Practical scenarios

Pre-coding requirement alignment

You're building a Slack bot that summarizes daily standups. You've sketched the flow but haven't decided on storage, notification frequency, or privacy rules. Run /x-grill and answer each question—the agent will ask about data retention, opt-in behavior, and API rate limits, one at a time, until the design is locked.

Stress-testing an architectural plan

Your team plans to migrate a monolith to microservices. The plan is high-level. x-grill will probe transaction boundaries, service communication patterns, and rollback strategies, surfacing risks you hadn't considered.

Post-implementation review before refactor

You've been asked to refactor a legacy module. Instead of diving in, use x-grill to clarify what behaviors are sacred, which tests are reliable, and what performance constraints exist—ensuring the refactor doesn't break hidden contracts.

Add it to your agent workflow

Install the skill and invoke it when you need a structured interview:

npx skills add Fromlan/X-agent --skill x-grill

Then, in your agent chat, simply type:

/x-grill I need to build a user notification system. Help me align on the key decisions.

The agent will ask its first question with a recommended answer, wait for your response, and continue until all decisions are resolved. It will not start coding until you confirm the final summary.

Compare before adopting

Before committing, compare x-grill against other interview-style skills or even manual questioning. Check the repository's last commit date and open issues for maintenance freshness. Look at the star count (25) and read the README for design philosophy. Assess whether its strict one-question-at-a-time rule fits your latency tolerance—some users prefer batched questions. Also consider if its dependency-ordering logic matches your project's complexity.

Why it is worth tracking

x-grill is a small but focused skill that solves a common pain point: ambiguous requirements. Its low star count suggests it's early, but the rule set is clear and the implementation is simple enough to audit. Track it because it demonstrates a pattern—structured, sequential decision alignment—that could become a standard part of agent workflows. Evaluate it when you find yourself repeating the same clarifying questions across projects, or when your agent's output quality degrades due to unspoken assumptions. For a broader view of agent skills, see x-grill on OpenAgentSkill and compare with similar research-category skills.