Intent Sharpening

Execution Steps

Step 0 — Parse Input

/intent-sharpening:intent-sharpening [intention] or /intent-sharpening:intent-sharpening

• If an intention is provided, go straight to Step 1
• If no argument: "What are you planning? Throw me a one-liner."

Options:

• Max rounds (default: 20) — The user can set this in any natural form:
  • --rounds 5 Build a dashboard
  • Build a dashboard, keep it to 3 rounds
  • Build a dashboard (uses default: 20)

Step 1 — First Sharpening (Round 1)

Upon receiving the user's raw input, immediately start Socratic questioning.

🪨 Intent Sharpening — Start

Raw input: "{user input}"

---

Round 1 — First cut

[1–2 questions]

Question Strategy (pick the 1–2 most effective per round):

Question Rules:

• Max 2 questions per round
• Sharpen the most vague axis first
• Skip axes the user has already answered clearly
• Ask "why?" at least once

Step 2 — Clarity Judgment

After the user answers, invoke a separate agent to judge clarity based on the conversation so far. Separating the judge from the questioner ensures objectivity.

Prompt sent to the agent:

You are a judge evaluating how clear a planning intention is.
Rate the clarity of the planner's intention on a 0–100 scale based on the conversation below.

Important: Do NOT evaluate "implementation (How)". Tech stack, architecture, UI, etc. do not affect the score. Judge only the clarity of intent.

## Scoring Rubric (max points per item)

| Item | Max | Criteria |
|------|-----|----------|
| Target (Who) | 15 | The intended audience is specified |
| Motivation (Why) | 20 | There is a grounded reason for doing this |
| Deliverable (What) | 20 | A concrete output or change is visible |
| Scope | 15 | Inclusions and exclusions are distinguished |
| Success Criteria (Measure) | 15 | There is a verifiable success criterion |
| Risk / Constraints | 15 | Key risks or constraints are acknowledged |

## Conversation

{Full conversation so far: raw input + each round's Q&A}

## Output Format (JSON)

{
  "score": 75,
  "breakdown": {
    "who": { "score": 12, "max": 15, "note": "..." },
    "why": { "score": 18, "max": 20, "note": "..." },
    "what": { "score": 15, "max": 20, "note": "..." },
    "scope": { "score": 10, "max": 15, "note": "..." },
    "measure": { "score": 8, "max": 15, "note": "..." },
    "risk": { "score": 12, "max": 15, "note": "..." }
  },
  "weakest": "measure",
  "suggestion": "Defining success criteria with numbers would improve the score"
}

Fallback: If the Agent tool is unavailable in the current environment, the questioner performs the judgment directly. In this case, be extra rigorous — score conservatively and avoid inflating scores for your own questions.

Handling the result:

• 80 or above → Go to Step 4 (Done)
• Below 80 → Share the result with the user and go to Step 3

Step 3 — Next Round

Show the judgment result to the user:

📊 Round {N} Clarity Score: {score}/100

{breakdown visualization — bar chart style}
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░  Who      12/15
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░  Why      18/20
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░  What     15/20
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░  Scope    10/15
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░  Measure   8/15
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░  Risk     12/15

Weakest axis: {weakest}
→ {suggestion}

---

Round {N+1} — Keep sharpening

[1–2 questions targeting the weakest axis]

Then return to Step 2 (loop).

Max rounds: 20 by default (configurable via --rounds N). If still below 80 after max rounds, force-complete with the current state and explicitly note which axes remain weak.

Step 4 — Done: Generate Intent Card

Once the score reaches 80+ (or after max rounds), generate the final Intent Card.

✅ Intent Sharpening Complete — {score}/100 ({rounds} rounds)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

## Intent Card

**One-liner**: {intention in one sentence}

**Target (Who)**: {who is this for}
**Motivation (Why)**: {why this needs to happen}
**Deliverable (What)**: {what specifically changes}
**Scope**: {inclusion/exclusion boundaries}
**Success Criteria (Measure)**: {verifiable criteria}
**Risk**: {key risks and mitigations}

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

{If below 80 after max rounds}
⚠️ Still weak: {weakest axes} — address these before execution

Step 5 — Save & Connect

After showing the Intent Card:

"Want me to save this card? Where should it go?"

When saving:

• File path: user-specified location (default: current working directory)
• Filename: {YYYY-MM-DD} {topic summary} Intent Card.md
• Frontmatter: tags: [intent-card], clarity: {score}, rounds: {N}

Guidelines

Do

• Sharpen only with questions: Never suggest answers or paraphrase the user's intent for them
• Weakest axis first: Prioritize the weakest from the judgment result
• Respect user language: Preserve the user's own words. Don't "translate" them
• Judge every round: Always use a separate agent for judgment (the questioner must not self-score)

Don't

• Suggest answers or lead with "Do you mean...?"
• Ask more than 2 questions per round
• Manipulate scores or judge without the agent
• Give empty praise ("Great idea!")
• Ask implementation (How) questions: Tech stack, libraries, architecture, UI design — "how to build it" is never asked or sharpened. Implementation decisions come after the intent is clear.

Edge Cases

• User doesn't know the answer: "I don't know" is a valid answer. Recognizing what you don't know is itself clarification. → "That's fine. Then this is something to figure out before execution. Let's move on."
• Already clear intent: If Round 1 scores 80+, skip unnecessary questions and complete immediately.
• User requests to stop: "Stop sharpening" → Immediately generate the Intent Card with the current state (force-complete).

Example

User: /intent-sharpening:sharpen I want to add an AI recommendation feature to our service

🪨 Intent Sharpening — Start
Raw input: "I want to add an AI recommendation feature to our service"

Round 1 — First cut
Why do you need this? What's the problem without recommendations?
You said "AI recommendation" — recommending what exactly? Content? Products? People?

User: Our bounce rate is high... we want to recommend related content

📊 Round 1 Clarity Score: 45/100
▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░  Who       5/15
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░  Why      10/20
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░░  What      8/20
▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░  Scope     4/15
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░  Measure    8/15
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░  Risk     10/15
Weakest axis: scope
→ Need to narrow down where and how recommendations appear

Round 2 — Keep sharpening
Where do recommendations show up? Content detail page? Feed? Everywhere?
You mentioned high bounce rate — which page are users bouncing from?

...

Like sculpting stone, sharpen intent with questions. The sharper it is, the faster execution becomes.