answer-open-question

answer-open-question

Resolves a named open question or deferred entry in the current milestone's requirements.md by recording the user's answer and propagating its implications through the document — then chains into try-capture-answer-principle so a reusable rule behind the call can be learned for future autonomous sweeps.

Usage

/answer-open-question <Short Title>. <answer text>

The <Short Title> must match (case-insensitive) the title of an existing Open question or Deferred entry. The . character is the separator. Everything after the first . is the answer.

Example:

/answer-open-question Arc drive technique. Use approach B — two Cinemachine virtual cameras per rail axis, blended by Cinemachine's built-in blend system. RailCameraSnapper will activate the appropriate virtual camera on rail switch rather than calling ForceCameraPosition.

Workflow

1. Parse the input

Split the skill args on the first . character:

• Before: the question Short Title (trim whitespace)
• After: the answer text (trim whitespace)

If no . is found, report a parse error and show the expected format.

2. Record the answer

Read and follow the shared answer-recording procedure at ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/answer-procedure.md (run echo "$CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT" if you need to resolve the path), carrying out every step yourself, in this conversation. Pass it the Short Title and answer text parsed in step 1 as its SHORT TITLE and ANSWER inputs.

That procedure owns resolving the current milestone, locating the matching block, analysing the answer's implications, removing the block, folding the decision into ## Implementation decisions, and cascading to any entries the answer moots. Do not restate those steps here. If the Short Title matches no entry, the procedure stops without changes and reports the mismatch — relay that to the user so they can retry.

3. Report findings

After the procedure finishes, briefly state:

• Which question was resolved and how the document changed (resolved block, implementation-decision updates, cascading resolutions).
• Any new open questions the answer may have introduced — surface these but do not add them to the document without user confirmation.

4. Capture any reusable principle

After recording, always invoke /try-capture-answer-principle with no argument. This chain-off is unconditional — answer-open-question does not judge whether the decision generalizes. Capture runs inline in this same conversation, where the full deliberation is in context; it anchors on the answer just recorded, analyses whether a reusable answering principle lies behind it, and exits quietly on its own when nothing generalizes. So the chain is always taken; the decision about whether a principle is worth recording belongs entirely to capture.

Rules

• Parse on the first . only — Short Title before, answer text after.
• The recording mechanism lives only in ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared/answer-procedure.md; never duplicate or restate its locate / analyse / remove / fold / cascade steps here.
• Always chain into /try-capture-answer-principle after recording — unconditionally, never gated on your own judgment of whether the decision is reusable.
• Do not commit. Leave the document (and any principle-store) changes staged for the user to review.