seemseam/ask

Use this skill when the user asks you to delegate with CCB, or when project memory says to use CCB ask for collaboration.

Decision Card

Before every ask, decide:

1. Need delegation? If no, answer directly.
2. Dependency gate:

• Default: do not use --chain.
• Use --chain only when the current active CCB task cannot finish until

this exact child result arrives. Then stop for continuation.

• Communication tests, batch sends, notifications, and independent work do

not become chain dependencies merely because replies are requested.

1. Result intent:

• --silence: publish/execute task; success result not needed. Failures,

blockers, risks, or required next actions still surface.

• --compact: result wanted, but only distilled

findings/status/risks/blockers/next actions.

• + --artifact-reply: consultation/analysis/report where full text should

be preserved.

• plain ask: short question or short handoff where inline text is enough.

1. Request fidelity:

• + --artifact-request: exact transient input

(logs/output/diffs/copied contents/config/JSON/YAML/table/structured text). Prefer repo paths when the target can read files directly.

• --artifact-io: request and reply both need artifacts.

Guardrails

• Do not probe --chain; if unsure there is an active parent job, use plain

ask.

• If CCB says ask --chain requires an active parent job, retry once with

plain ask for user-requested delegation.

• Never add --chain merely to make a rejected plain ask succeed. If the work

is independent and no success result is needed, use --silence; otherwise report the routing limitation instead of inventing a dependency.

• --chain and --silence usually conflict; avoid mixing unless explicit.
• Avoid --silence --artifact-reply; silence means no caller result needed; artifact-reply preserves one.
• Artifact flags are orthogonal to --chain, --silence, and --compact.

They preserve content, not dependency shape.

• Automatic spill for text over 4 KiB is a fallback, not the primary rule.
• --artifact-* modes are CCB/daemon managed; targets do not write artifact reply files.
• Plain nested ask from an active CCB task is rejected. Use --chain only

for a real child dependency; use --silence for independent no-result work.

• In A --silence -> B, B still runs an active job. B-to-C depends on whether B needs C's result.
• In task chains, each needed-result hop uses --chain; CCB then propagates continuations.
• Finish an inbound CCB task in its current turn.
• If the original caller is a registered CCB agent, CCB routes that turn's

terminal result through the existing lineage; do not open a new ask to report completion to the original caller.

• Direct CLI submitters read terminal results from control output such as

watch or trace.

• If the current task is a CCB result-chain continuation, answer the current task

directly with the final result. Do not use ask, --chain, or --silence to send that final result to the original caller; CCB routes the continuation completion upstream.

• --silence is not an active-job correction channel. Use

ccb followup <active_job_id> --message "<correction>" only when the target provider supports exact active-turn injection; only injected is success. On rejected, too_late, or terminal, cancel and resubmit the complete corrected task instead of queueing a correction as ordinary work.

• A completed CCB job means provider execution ended normally; it does not by

itself prove business acceptance.

• ask get, pend, watch, and ping are diagnostics-only commands for

explicit debugging requests, not normal ask workflow tools.

• Do not manually append output-policy text; stable reply policy comes from managed CCB memory, and ask adds only requested compact/silent mode metadata.

Kimi Receipt Contract

For implementation, review, inventory, or verification work, return one final receipt in this exact shape:

text
status:
inspected:
exact_files:
findings:
reject_cases:
required_tests:
no_open:
blockers:

Use status: complete, status: partial, or status: blocked. Process updates are invalid receipts: do not answer with "I am reading", "I will test", or "completed" without the evidence fields above. If you cannot finish within the current turn, use status: partial or status: blocked and name the exact files inspected, remaining command, and blocker. Keep the reply short. Your output is candidate evidence; the caller owns diff review, verification, final lifecycle judgment, and commits.

Always send MESSAGE through the <<'EOF' ... EOF heredoc below. No other form is allowed. Use no flags or insert selected flags before "$TARGET":

bash
command ask "$TARGET" <<'EOF'
$MESSAGE
EOF

bash
command ask --chain --artifact-reply "$TARGET" <<'EOF'
$MESSAGE
EOF

After the command returns, end the turn. Do not wait for a reply, do not run ask get / pend / ping / watch, do not poll. For --chain, report only that delegation was submitted.