tgmarinho/agent-super-powers-matt-pocock-skills-comparasions/ask-matt

Ask Matt

You don't remember every skill, so ask.

A flow is a path through the skills. Most paths run along one main flow, and two on-ramps merge onto it. Everything else is standalone.

The main flow: idea → ship

The route most work travels. You have an idea and want it built.

1. `/grill-with-docs` — sharpen the idea by interview. Start here when you have a codebase: it's stateful, retaining what it learns in CONTEXT.md and ADRs. (No codebase? Use /grill-me — see Standalone.)
2. Branch — can you settle every question in conversation? If a question needs a runnable answer (state, business logic, a UI you have to see), detour through a prototype, bridged by `/handoff` in both directions (see Crossing sessions):

• `/handoff` out, then open a fresh session against that file,
• `/prototype` to answer the question with throwaway code,
• `/handoff` back what you learned, and reference it from the original idea thread.

1. Branch — is this a multi-session build?

• Yes → `/to-prd` (turn the thread into a PRD) → `/to-issues` (split the PRD into independently-grabbable issues). Because the issues are independent, clear context between each one: start a fresh session per issue and kick off `/implement` by passing it the PRD and the single issue to work on.
• No → `/implement` right here, in the same context window.

Context hygiene

Keep steps 1–3 in one unbroken context window — don't compact or clear until after /to-issues — so the grilling, PRD, and issues all build on the same thinking. Each /implement then starts fresh, working from the issue.

The limit on this is the [smart zone](https://www.aihero.dev/ai-coding-dictionary/smart-zone): the window (~120k tokens on state-of-the-art models) within which the model still reasons sharply. If a session approaches it before /to-issues, don't push on degraded — /handoff and continue in a fresh thread.

On-ramps

A starting situation that generates work, then merges onto the main flow.

• Bugs and requests piling up → `/triage`. It moves issues through triage roles and produces agent-ready issues, which `/implement` later picks up.

Triage is only for issues you didn't create — bug reports, incoming feature requests, anything that arrives raw. Issues that /to-issues produced are already agent-ready, so don't triage them.

Codebase health

Not feature work — upkeep.

• `/improve-codebase-architecture` — run whenever you have a spare moment to keep the codebase good for agents to operate in. It surfaces deepening opportunities; picking one _generates an idea_ you can take into the main flow at /grill-with-docs.

Crossing sessions

• `/handoff` — when a thread is full or you need to branch off (e.g. into a /prototype session), this compacts the conversation into a markdown file. You don't continue in place — you open a new session and reference that file to carry the context across. It's the bridge between context windows, in either direction. Use it when you want a fresh session but need the current conversation preserved.
• `/compact` (built-in) — stay in the same conversation, letting the earlier turns be summarized. Use it at intentional breaks between phases, when you don't mind losing the verbatim history. Don't compact mid-phase — the agent can lose its way. /handoff forks; /compact continues.

Standalone

Off the main flow entirely.

• `/grill-me` — the same relentless interview as /grill-with-docs, but for when you have no codebase. Stateless: it saves nothing locally, builds no CONTEXT.md. Reach for it to sharpen any plan or design that doesn't live in a repo.
• `/teach` — learn a concept over multiple sessions, using the current directory as a stateful workspace.
• `/writing-great-skills` — reference for writing and editing skills well.

Precondition

`/setup-matt-pocock-skills` — run before your first engineering flow to configure the issue tracker, triage labels, and doc layout the other skills assume. Custom issue trackers also work.