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/to-ask-help Utility: Socratic Router & Mentor

The /to-ask-help Skill

The intelligent router over the whole Pólya ecosystem when you are not sure which flow you are in. Deconstructs tasks and routes to the optimal skill.

"Where shall I start? Start with the statement of the problem. What can I do? Visualize the problem as a whole as clearly as you can." — George Pólya, How to Solve It (1945)
TERMINAL OR CHAT PROMPT 
/to-ask-help I need to add webhook idempotency for payment webhooks, but I'm not sure which files to touch.

What it does

to-ask-help is the Socratic router over the whole set of Pólya skills (analogous to ask-matt in AI Hero). When you are not sure which flow you are in, or when you have a natural user prompt without a command prefix, to-ask-help takes over. It performs autonomous codebase reconnaissance without halting to ask "which files should I read?", deconstructs the task into George Pólya's Problem Triad (The Unknown, The Known Data, and The Condition), and dispatches the optimal /to-* sub-skill.

If confidence is high, it announces discovered Clean Architecture seams and immediately launches the phase. If ambiguous, it renders a concise ASCII Triage Card with candidate seams and a single confirmation question. It strictly enforces The Pause Rule: prompts like "build me feature X" are routed to /to-spec or /to-plan, never directly to code implementation.

When to reach for it

Where the work currently lives decides whether this is the right skill:

The work is… Reach for
A feature request, bug, or idea, and you aren't sure which SDLC phase fits /to-ask-help [your task description]
You want a Socratic diagnostic of your problem without knowing commands /to-ask-help (bare invocation renders full Socratic triage menu)
You already know you need a formal Technical Specification /to-spec directly
You already know you need vertical tracer bullets from an approved spec /to-plan directly
A routine mechanical fix (≤ 2 files) /to-quick-fix directly

Prerequisites

  • Natural Task Description: Provide your natural prompt, error message, or feature request.
  • Autonomous Reconnaissance: Inspects repository files, manifests, and docs/ARCHITECTURE.md automatically.
  • Cross-Cutting Router: Does not enforce a session lock; routes cleanly to any phase.

What one run does

A single triage run follows four automated steps:

  1. Autonomous Codebase Reconnaissance: Inspects package manifests, directory trees, and Clean Architecture seams. Never halts to ask "what files should I read?".
  2. Instant Pólya Deconstruction: Maps The Unknown (target deliverable), The Known Data (inputs, tables), and The Condition (Find vs. Prove).
  3. Sub-Skill Routing Matrix: Matches the problem nature to the exact sub-skill (Phase 0 Discovery → Phase 6 Docs).
  4. Execution Dispatch: High confidence launches the phase immediately; ambiguous tasks present an ASCII Triage Card with candidate seams.

Common questions

Does /to-ask-help ever write production code directly?

Never! Natural prompts like "build me feature X" are routed to /to-spec or /to-plan, never directly to code implementation. The Pause Rule is strictly enforced to prevent premature, unverified coding.

What happens if the workspace is completely empty (greenfield)?

The Greenfield Project Guard activates: instead of failing, it routes you to /to-explore, /to-prd, or /to-spec to design directory structures and scaffolding from scratch.

It's working if

  • It renders the concise ASCII Pólya Triage Card (Unknown, Data, Condition, Recommended Sub-Skill).
  • It inspects existing repository files itself rather than asking you what framework or directory you use.
  • It routes you to the exact appropriate skill without skipping the planning or specification gates.
  • It handles greenfield repositories without throwing errors.

Where it fits

to-ask-help is the router over the entire Pólya ecosystem: 

             ┌──▶ /to-explore (Phase 0: Ideation & Spikes)
             ├──▶ /to-prd     (Phase 0.5: Business Requirements)
             ├──▶ /to-spec    (Phase 1: Architecture & Contracts)
/to-ask-help ┼──▶ /to-plan    (Phase 2: Tracer Bullets)
(The Router) ├──▶ /to-code    (Phase 3: Clean Implementation)
             ├──▶ /to-review  (Phase 4: SOLID Quality Audit)
             ├──▶ /to-fix     (Phase 5: First-Principles Remediation)
             └──▶ /to-quick-fix (Bypass: Routine One-Shot Fixes)

It acts as the universal entrypoint whenever you are uncertain which flow or phase to initiate.