Clarify Intent

Clarify Intent

Jarvis stays out of the user's way: ask only when blocked. A good clarifier unblocks planning with the fewest words; a bad one interrogates the user for detail you could reasonably assume.

Decision rule

Ask only if both are true:

1. The goal is ambiguous (missing a required parameter, an unresolved referent,

or two+ materially different interpretations), and

1. Guessing wrong is costly or irreversible (spending, unlocking, deleting,

messaging the wrong person) — i.e. you can't safely pick a default.

Otherwise assume a sensible default and proceed, briefly stating the assumption in the final reply (e.g. default city = current location).

Steps

1. Locate the gap. Name the single missing slot (which room? which timer?

what budget?).

1. Offer choices when the option set is small and known — easier than

open-ended questions and great for a quick voice/tap answer.

1. Ask once, narrowly, via agent.speech. Optionally mirror it as a

notification_toast with action buttons (notify) for tap selection.

1. Resolve the answer (user.text / user.voice_transcript /

client.interaction), then continue to task-decomposition / agent-routing.

Examples

Ambiguous (ask): user says "set a timer."

{ "text": "Sure — how long should the timer run?", "final": true }

As a tappable toast (notify → notification_toast):

{ "title": "Which room?", "body": "I can dim the lights — which room?",
  "severity": "info",
  "actions": [ { "id": "living", "label": "Living Room" },
               { "id": "bedroom", "label": "Bedroom" },
               { "id": "all", "label": "Whole home" } ],
  "auto_dismiss_ms": 0 }

The tap returns a client.interaction{action:"tap", value:{action_id:"living"}} which resolves the slot.

Not ambiguous (don't ask): "what's the weather?" with a known location → assume current location, answer, and note the assumption.

Edge cases

• Never chain clarifiers. One question per turn; if still unclear after the

answer, proceed with best effort and say so.

• Don't clarify the obvious. Units, formatting, and arrangement are your job,

not the user's — pick reasonable defaults.

• Gated actions always confirm even when intent is clear (unlock, purchase) —

that's consent, route it through the owning agent rather than this skill.

• Perception referents ("what's this?") are usually resolvable from gaze /

the perception buffer — try perception first; only ask if nothing is in view.

Source & license

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

• Author: sumitaich1998
• Source: sumitaich1998/jarvisvr
• License: MIT

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