think-it-through

Grill vague ideas into dependency-aware work-items through one-question-at-a-time planning interviews.

5|1|Updated Mar 7, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/ai-hero/hero-skills --skill think-it-through-ai-hero
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: think-it-through
Source: https://github.com/ai-hero/hero-skills/tree/main/skills/think-it-through
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/ai-hero/hero-skills --skill think-it-through-ai-hero

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Vague feature requests and unexamined assumptions cause wasted engineering work. This Skill turns a rough idea or ambiguous task into explicit shared understanding before any code is written, capturing the result as structured, dependency-aware work-items. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Structured grilling interview: Asks one question at a time, each with a recommended answer, walking a design tree until goals, non-goals, failure modes, reversibility, and success criteria are all explicit. - Work-item store: Writes approved plans as markdown files in a private, git-ignored .plans/ directory with depends_on ordering, status lifecycle, and Definition of Done checklists. - Feature and roadmap modes: Re-plans existing store items in place after verifying their premises against the codebase, or plans a set of related items in one shared pass. - Use Case: You receive a ticket saying "add device-flow login." The Skill interviews you about scope, edge cases, and reversibility, then emits ordered work-items with measurable success criteria ready for implementation. ## Quick Start Ask the assistant to think through your feature idea or task, for example by saying "think it through: add OAuth device-flow login to the CLI."

Frequently Asked Questions about think-it-through

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I plan a vague feature request before writing code?▼

Invoke the skill with the idea or task as an argument. It interviews you one question at a time, always proposing a recommended answer, until goals, non-goals, failure modes, and success criteria are explicit, then writes work-items to a .plans directory.

What is a dependency-aware work-item store for planning?▼

It is a git-ignored .plans folder of markdown files where each item has an id, status, and depends_on list of blocking ids. Readiness is derived by checking that every dependency is done, so blocked work is never started prematurely.

When should I skip the grilling interview for a task?▼

Skip it for typos, copy tweaks, dependency bumps, and small changes with one obvious approach in one area. The skill itself writes a one-line approach and moves on when a full grill would produce a plan nobody reads.

Does the planning skill write or commit code automatically?▼

No. It only produces understanding and work-items; implementation is delegated to the separate one-shot skill. The .plans store is private and git-ignored, and items only become buildable after the user explicitly marks them ready.

Why does planning ask one question at a time instead of batching?▼

Batched questions destroy the dependency order between decisions, since an early answer reshapes every later question. Single questions with recommended answers keep the design tree ordered and surface disagreement immediately.