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ask-before-deciding

Ask Before Deciding — Mandatory AskUserQuestion Usage

Section titled “Ask Before Deciding — Mandatory AskUserQuestion Usage”

Rule

Section titled “Rule”

BEFORE presenting the user with any multi-option decision, you MUST invoke AskUserQuestion. Prose “A or B?”, bulleted choice lists, and prose checkbox alternatives all violate this rule — STOP and call AskUserQuestion instead. For the strict superset (yes/no, unresolved plan/report items, default values, destructive actions, skill-body decisions), see always-ask-on-unresolved.md; when in conflict, that rule wins.

If AskUserQuestion is deferred

Section titled “If AskUserQuestion is deferred”

AskUserQuestion is auto-deferred in long-context sessions (its NAME appears in the deferred-tools reminder; schema is NOT loaded). Direct call fails with InputValidationError. Required first action:

ToolSearch(query="select:AskUserQuestion", max_results=1)

decision-tools-preload.cjs emits a [t1k:decision-tools] reminder each session. Never use “tool is deferred” to justify prose questions in a skill body — load the schema first. No settings.json knob pins specific tools as eager (verified 2026-04-29).

⛔ Forbidden phrasings — these are rule violations

Section titled “⛔ Forbidden phrasings — these are rule violations”

If you find yourself drafting any of the following, STOP and run ToolSearch(query="select:AskUserQuestion", max_results=1) instead:

  • “AskUserQuestion isn’t available as a deferred tool here. I’ll ask in prose.”
  • “AskUserQuestion is unavailable, falling back to prose questions.”
  • “Since AskUserQuestion isn’t loaded, here are the options: Q1… Q2… Q3…”
  • Any prose Q1/Q2/Q3 list, bulleted “Pick one of:” block, or numbered checkbox-alternatives that would otherwise be a structured AskUserQuestion call.

Deferral is never a justification for a prose fallback — the schema is one ToolSearch call away. After the schema loads, invoke AskUserQuestion with batched options as originally intended. This applies to every skill body and every agent; do NOT duplicate this list into individual skill SKILL.md files (the rule is auto-loaded into every session).

When NOT to use

Section titled “When NOT to use”

Plan-approval flows use ExitPlanMode, not this tool. Factual yes/no questions and pure-acknowledgment replies stay as prose.

Section titled “Related”

always-ask-on-unresolved.md (strict extension, canonical for the broad case) · $HOME/.claude/CLAUDE.md priority #2 (global source).