How to use the Discovery Question Form agent skill

What the skill makes the agent do

Agent skills are folders of instructions that an AI assistant loads when a task matches them. This one covers a narrow case: unresolved requirements that would change the design direction, content structure or delivery format. Instead of guessing, the agent pauses and asks.

The questions appear as a question-form block inside the assistant's message. The host app parses that block and draws it as a form. Your answers come back as the next message, starting with a line that names the form. The skill also limits the form to unresolved items, uses recommended pre-filled answers where it can, and tells the agent not to ask at all when enough information is already available.

• Questions cover things like audience, format or language.
• Each question can carry a sensible default answer based on your brief.
• The skill does not decide on its own whether clarification is needed; the active skill and core prompt set that policy.
• A first turn or new project does not by itself trigger a form.

Install the skill from the ZIP

Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it. The package contains two files: open-design.json and SKILL.md. You can install it in one of two ways.

For a personal setup, unzip the folder into ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, unzip it into the project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/ (available across your projects).
• Project install: the project's .claude/skills/ folder (available only in that project).
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP.

Trigger the skill with natural requests

You do not need a special command. The skill is meant to activate when you ask the assistant to build a deliverable and key details are missing. Ask for the thing you want made, in plain words, and let the agent decide whether the brief is complete.

If you want the form to appear, make the deliverable and its open questions clear. If you want the agent to simply start, say so, because the skill is designed to skip forms when information is sufficient.

• "Make a poster for our spring event. Check the format and audience with me first."
• "Build a landing page for the new app. Ask me anything that changes the layout."
• "Create a slide deck. Confirm the language and audience before you start."
• "Just draft the landing page now, no questions needed."

Answer the form and continue

Each question shows a recommended answer already filled in. Accept the defaults you agree with, change the ones you don't, and submit. Required questions must be answered before work continues. Optional questions, such as a reference file, can be skipped.

After submission the agent treats your answers as context and should not ask the same questions again unless a later message changes them.

• Choose one option for radio or select questions, or several for checkbox questions within the limit shown.
• Upload a reference file only if one exists; the skill leaves it unanswered until you supply it.
• Answered required questions are not asked again in the same discovery step.

Safety notes: scripts and network

The skill declares that it runs no scripts and uses no network access. It is a set of instructions in SKILL.md with a metadata file, open-design.json. Nothing in the source says it installs software or sends data elsewhere.

The skill depends on the open-design host app to parse the question-form block. Without that host, the form will not render as controls.

• Runs scripts: no.
• Uses network: no.
• Requires the open-design host app to show interactive form controls.

Tips for getting good results

Give a complete brief up front. The more the agent can infer from your request, the fewer questions it should ask. Keep the form short by answering only the items that really change the output.

Use the skill for deliverables where format and audience matter. For quick, low-stakes tasks, ask the agent to proceed directly.

If you build your own skills, the form block gives you a reusable pattern for structured questions with stable answer keys.

• State the audience and format early to reduce questions.
• Attach reference files when they exist, so the agent does not need to ask for them.
• Expect a plain-text block if the host app does not parse question forms.