# Find Your Unknowns

> >

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-axel-pm-watch-n-learn-find-your-unknowns`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [axel-pm](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/axel-pm)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [AI & ML](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/ai-and-ml)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [axel-pm](https://github.com/axel-pm)
- **Source:** https://github.com/axel-pm/watch-n-learn/tree/main/examples/find-your-unknowns

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-axel-pm-watch-n-learn-find-your-unknowns
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# find-your-unknowns

A more capable agent traverses more of the codebase, so it hits more decisions you never wrote
down — and drifts. The fix is to find those decisions *before* the big run. Your prompt is a
**map**; the codebase is the **territory**. This skill surfaces everywhere the territory holds
something your map doesn't.

## When to use vs. skip
- **Use** before a large, ambiguous, or architecture-shaping task, or when you (or the user) are
  new to this codebase or domain.
- **Skip** for a small, fully-specified change where the territory is already known — running the
  full battery would be ceremony.

## Inputs
- A **task/goal** (what the user wants built or changed).
- A **target repo or subsystem** you can read.
- Optionally: reference code/mockups, and context about the user's taste, stage, and constraints.

## Workflow

Don't blindly run all six. Pick by the *kind* of unknown in play (see table), run those, then
consolidate. Note the **When** column: only patterns 1–4 run during this scoping pass. Pattern 5
is an instruction you *produce now* but inject into the later build run; pattern 6 runs *after* the
build. Each pattern's full prompt template is in `references/prompt-patterns.md`.

| Kind of unknown | Pattern | When | Skip if |
|---|---|---|---|
| "I don't even know what I don't know here" | **1. Blind-spot pass** | scoping | rarely — this is the anchor |
| Aesthetic / "know it when I see it" | **2. Brainstorm & prototype** | scoping | the surface isn't primarily visual |
| Under-specified requirements | **3. Interview me** | scoping | requirements are already crisp |
| An example is easier than a spec | **4. Reference — give it another map** | scoping | you have no reference to point at |
| Deviations that only appear mid-build | **5. Implementation notes** | build-time | never — it's a cheap always-on trail |
| Do *I* actually understand the result? | **6. Quiz me** | post-build | you already own the result cold |

### The six patterns (in the order you'd typically reach for them)

1. **Blind-spot pass** — Read the target area and enumerate the *unknown unknowns*: the relevant
   things this task touches that the user hasn't mentioned. Output a list of blind spots + better
   prompting suggestions. Works for a new codebase *or* a new domain.
2. **Brainstorm & prototype** — For decisions the user can only judge by reacting: generate a few
   **wildly different** options (e.g. an HTML page with 3–4 distinct design directions) so they can
   point at one instead of specifying it.
3. **Interview me** — Have the agent interview the *user*, and explicitly
   **prioritize questions that would change the architecture**. Under-specified requirements become
   explicit before any code is written.
4. **Reference — give it another map** — Instead of writing a spec, point the agent at existing
   code (even in another language/system) or a mockup: "read this, understand it, use it as the
   starting point." An example often carries intent a spec can't.
5. **Implementation notes** — Inject an instruction into the *main* run: whenever the agent hits a
   decision not covered by the spec, **log the deviation and why** before proceeding. You get a
   visible trail of where the run left the map.
6. **Quiz me** — After the work, have the agent quiz the user on what actually happened, so they
   understand it well enough to own the PR/merge. Keeps the human in the loop.

### Consolidate
After running the chosen patterns, produce one artifact:
- **Unknowns** — the merged list of surfaced blind spots / open questions.
- **Architecture-shaping answers** — what the interview/references settled that affects structure.
- **A logging instruction** to paste into the main agent run (pattern 5), so mid-run deviations
  keep surfacing.

Then proceed to the real build with far fewer hidden decisions.

## Guardrails
- This is **discovery, not the build.** Don't start implementing during the unknown-finding pass —
  the point is to surface decisions, not make them silently.
- **Prefer context over constraints.** When you prompt the agent for these passes, give it context
  and let it reason; avoid piling on "do not do X" rules.
- Treat the model empirically — build intuition about where *this* codebase and *this* model surprise
  you, rather than assuming fixed rules.

## Reference
- `references/prompt-patterns.md` — the full, copy-pasteable prompt template for each of the six patterns.

## Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

- **Author:** [axel-pm](https://github.com/axel-pm)
- **Source:** [axel-pm/watch-n-learn](https://github.com/axel-pm/watch-n-learn)
- **License:** MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** no
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-axel-pm-watch-n-learn-find-your-unknowns
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/axel-pm
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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