The /grill-me Skill
Matt Pocock
Next lesson
Update: I stopped using /grill-me for coding. I now recommend /grill-with-docs when you want to align a plan with your codebase before implementation.
Install this skill:
npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill=grill-me -y -g
Source: mattpocock/skills/grill-me
What it does
grill-me interviews you relentlessly about a plan or design until the decision tree is resolved.
It asks one question at a time. For each question, it provides a recommended answer, then waits for feedback before continuing.
If the answer can be found by exploring the codebase, the agent should inspect the code instead of asking you to explain what already exists.
Current recommendation
Matt now generally recommends domain-model over grill-me for planning workflows. Use domain-model as the default starting point when you want to shape a feature against your codebase language, CONTEXT.md, and ADRs.
grill-me is still useful as a narrower pressure-test when you only want a relentless interview about a plan.
When to use it
Use grill-me when you have an idea, plan, architecture, or feature direction that needs questioning, but does not need the full domain-model workflow yet.
Good moments to use it:
before writing a PRD
before asking an agent to implement a feature
before committing to a data model or API shape
when several design choices depend on each other
when you want the agent to push back instead of agree
How it fits the workflow
grill-me used to sit at the front of the planning chain, but the recommended workflow now starts with domain-model:
domain-model → to-prd → to-issues → tdd
Use grill-me when you specifically want a lighter interview skill. Use domain-model when the plan should be checked against the language and decisions in the codebase.
Pairs well with
domain-model, to sharpen the plan against the codebase domain language
to-prd, to turn resolved context into a PRD
to-issues, to break the PRD into vertical slices