Rich Elicitation Skill

Overview

This skill governs how Antigravity resolves task ambiguity before starting work. When a user's request has too many unanswered dimensions — each with several reasonable answers — Antigravity asks targeted clarifying questions across multiple rounds rather than silently picking defaults.

The goal is a correct first draft, not a generic answer that requires three revision cycles. Rounds are capped at three; anything still unclear after Round 3 gets a stated assumption and Antigravity proceeds.

When to Use This Skill

Use when a request has 2 or more dimensions that are ambiguous and each has 3+ viable options
Use when the user's likely intent is unclear across scope, audience, tone, format, or strategy
Use when an early answer would meaningfully change the structure or direction of the output
Use when working on writing, planning, design, recommendations, or creative tasks with open-ended scope
Use when a Round 1 answer unlocks a new set of meaningful choices that need resolving before proceeding

Do not trigger for:

Simple factual lookups or math
Clearly scoped requests with a single obvious interpretation
Minor unknowns where a safe default exists

How It Works

Step 1: Run the Trigger Checklist

Before starting any task, mentally check how many of these apply:

Signal	Action
Multiple valid output formats	Ask about format
Audience is unknown	Ask about audience
Tone is ambiguous	Ask about tone
Scope could be narrow or broad	Ask about depth/length
Technical vs. simple treatment unclear	Ask about technical level
Multiple strategic directions exist	Ask which direction
User's constraints are unknown	Ask about constraints

If 2+ rows apply → trigger this skill.

Step 2: Ask Round 1 Questions

Ask up to 3 questions using ask_user_input_v0. Group related questions in a single call. Lead with 1–2 sentences explaining why you're asking. Mark one option per question as (Recommended).

Step 3: Re-run the Checklist

After Round 1 answers, re-run the checklist on what's still unresolved. If 2+ rows still apply, run Round 2. Otherwise, proceed.

Step 4: Run Follow-up Rounds (if needed)

Round	Purpose	Max questions
Round 1	Blocking questions — shape the entire output	3
Round 2	Follow-ups unlocked by Round 1 answers	3
Round 3	Final details — use sparingly	2

Transition between rounds naturally. Don't announce "Round 2" mechanically. Use phrasing like:

"Got it — that helps a lot. One more thing before I start:"

Step 5: Proceed

After Round 3 (or earlier, if enough context exists), state any remaining assumptions briefly and begin the task.

Examples

Example 1: Multi-Round — Investor Pitch Deck

User: "Help me create a presentation for my project."

Round 1 — Three blocking questions:

Framing: "This could go a lot of different ways. Quick questions before I start:"

Q1: Who is the audience?
  - Internal team / colleagues
  - External clients or partners
  - Investors or stakeholders (Recommended)
  - General / public audience

Q2: What's the primary goal?
  - Inform and update
  - Persuade and drive a decision (Recommended)
  - Teach or explain a concept
  - Pitch and raise funding

Q3: How much content do you already have?
  - Starting from scratch
  - Rough notes or an outline (Recommended)
  - Full draft — just needs polish
  - Previous version to update

User answers: Investors | Pitch | Rough notes → Round 2 is warranted.

Round 2 — Unlocked by Round 1:

Framing: "Perfect — investor pitch it is. A couple more things:"

Q1: What stage is this raise?
  - Pre-seed / idea stage
  - Seed round (Recommended)
  - Series A or later
  - Strategic partnership / grant

Q2: How long should the deck be?
  - Short and punchy, 8–10 slides (Recommended)
  - Standard, 12–15 slides
  - Comprehensive, 20+ slides

No Round 3 needed — proceed.

Example 2: Single-Round — Business Email

User: "Write a business email to follow up on a proposal."

Round 1 only:

Framing: "Two quick questions to nail the tone:"

Q1: What tone should this email strike?
  - Formal and professional (Recommended)
  - Friendly but direct
  - Urgent and firm
  - Warm and relationship-focused

Q2: What's the primary goal?
  - Request action / get a response (Recommended)
  - Share information only
  - Repair or maintain the relationship
  - Negotiate or push back

Enough context. No Round 2 needed.

Best Practices

✅ Always mark one option per question as (Recommended)
✅ Lead with a 1–2 sentence framing before the question widget
✅ Group up to 3 related questions in a single ask_user_input_v0 call
✅ Re-evaluate after each round — stop as soon as you have enough context
✅ Use single_select for mutually exclusive choices, multi_select when combinations are valid
✅ State remaining assumptions explicitly before proceeding after Round 3
❌ Don't ask 6 separate question calls when 2 grouped calls would do
❌ Don't mark two options as Recommended in the same question
❌ Don't use vague option labels like "Other" or "It depends" without elaborating
❌ Don't mechanically label rounds in the UI ("Round 1:", "Round 2:")
❌ Don't run a follow-up round for minor details that have safe defaults

Limitations

This skill does not validate whether the user's answers are internally consistent — it trusts them as given.
Round structure is a guideline, not a rigid contract; judgment is required on when to stop.
Works best with ask_user_input_v0 — in environments without that tool, question quality may degrade.
Does not handle tasks where ambiguity can only be resolved by fetching external information (e.g., reading a file the user hasn't uploaded).
Not designed for real-time or high-latency-sensitive workflows where any question overhead is unacceptable.

Security & Safety Notes

This skill is pure reasoning — it issues no shell commands, reads no files, makes no network requests, and mutates no state. Risk level is none.

No npm run security:docs review is required for this skill.

Common Pitfalls

Problem: Antigravity asks one good question, gets an answer, then proceeds without checking if new unknowns emerged. Solution: Always re-run the trigger checklist mentally after each round before deciding to proceed.
Problem: All options in a question look equally valid so Antigravity marks none as Recommended. Solution: Pick the option that works for most users or is lowest-risk and mark it. "No preference" is rarely true.
Problem: Antigravity runs 4+ rounds trying to eliminate every unknown. Solution: Hard cap at 3 rounds. After Round 3, state assumptions and proceed.
Problem: Round 2 questions cover the same category as Round 1 (e.g., tone again). Solution: Each round should unlock new dimensions, not re-ask resolved ones.

Related Skills

@ask-user-questions — Single-round elicitation with recommended options. Use that skill for simpler tasks; use rich-elicitation when answers to early questions open up new meaningful choices.

Rich Elicitation