ask-internal

Ask Internal

Answer team-internal questions by reading .internal-docs/ and the codebase, synthesizing a direct answer with file:line citations, and optionally running surfaced commands with confirmation.

Announce at start: "I'm using the ask-internal skill to answer this from internal-docs and the codebase."

When to use

• "How do I reset my dogfood profile?"
• "What's the deal with the OpenClaw VM startup?"
• "Where do we configure release signing?"
• Any question whose answer lives in setup runbooks, feature notes, architecture docs, or the code that produced them.

Hard rules — never do these

• NEVER execute a state-mutating command without per-command y confirmation from the user.
• NEVER edit BrowserOS code or docs in response to an ask-internal question. The skill answers; it does not write files.
• NEVER guess. If grep finds nothing useful in docs or code, say so plainly.
• NEVER run this skill if .internal-docs/ is missing. Stop with the init command.
• NEVER cite a file or line number you have not actually read.

Voice rules

Apply these voice rules to the synthesized answer:

• Lead with the point.
• Concrete nouns. Name files, functions, commands.
• Short sentences. Active voice. No em dashes.
• Banned words: delve, crucial, robust, comprehensive, nuanced, multifaceted, furthermore, moreover, additionally, pivotal, landscape, tapestry, underscore, foster, showcase, intricate, vibrant, fundamental, significant, leverage, utilize.
• No filler intros.

Workflow

Step 0: Pre-flight

if git submodule status .internal-docs 2>/dev/null | grep -q '^-'; then
  echo "internal-docs submodule not initialized. Run: git submodule update --init .internal-docs"
  exit 0
fi
[ -d .internal-docs ] && [ -n "$(ls -A .internal-docs 2>/dev/null)" ] || {
  echo ".internal-docs/ missing or empty. Submodule not configured?"
  exit 0
}

Step 1: Parse the question

Pull the keywords from the user's question. Drop stop words. Identify intent:

• Setup-question ("how do I", "how to", "where do I configure"): bias the search toward setup/.
• Feature-question ("what is X", "why does X work this way"): bias toward features/ and architecture/.
• Free-form ("anything about Y"): search all categories.

Step 2: Multi-source search

Run grep in parallel across two sources.

Internal docs:

grep -rni --include='*.md' '<keyword>' .internal-docs/

Search each keyword separately. Collect top hits by relevance (more keyword matches = higher).

Codebase (skip vendored Chromium and node_modules):

grep -rni --include='*.ts' --include='*.tsx' --include='*.js' --include='*.json' --include='*.sh' \
     --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=chromium --exclude-dir=.grove \
     '<keyword>' packages/ scripts/ .config/ .github/

Read the top 3-5 doc hits and top 3-5 code hits. Do not skim — read the relevant section fully so citations are accurate.

Step 3: Synthesize answer

Structure the response:

1. Direct answer. First sentence answers the question. No preamble.
2. Steps if applicable. Numbered list with exact commands.
3. Citations. Every factual claim references path/to/file.md:42 or path/to/code.ts:117. Run the voice self-check before printing.

If multiple docs cover the topic at different layers (e.g., a setup runbook and a feature note both mention dogfood profiles), reconcile them in the answer rather than dumping both.

Step 4: Offer execution (only if commands surfaced)

If Step 3 produced executable commands the user could run, ask:

Run these for you? (y / n / dry-run)

• y: Execute one at a time. For any command that mutates state (writes a file, modifies config, kills a process, deletes anything), ask "run this? " before each. Read-only commands (ls, cat, git status) run without per-command confirmation but still print before running.
• n: Skip. Done.
• dry-run: Print the full sequence as a bash block. Do not execute.

Step 5: Doc-not-found path

If Step 2 returned nothing useful (no doc hits AND no clear code answer):

1. Tell the user: "No doc covers this. Tangentially relevant files: ."
2. Ask: "Draft a short internal-doc outline in this chat?"
3. On yes: write the outline in the response only, using the code-grep findings as context. Do not create files or invoke another skill.

Step 6: Completion status

Report one of:

• DONE — answer delivered, citations verified.
• DONE_WITH_CONCERNS — answered, but flag uncertainty (e.g., docs and code disagreed; user should reconcile).
• BLOCKED — submodule missing or other pre-flight failure.
• NEEDS_CONTEXT — question too vague to search effectively. Ask one clarifying question.

Citation discipline

Every "X is at Y" claim in the answer must point to a file:line that the skill actually read. Do not approximate. If you didn't read it, don't cite it.

If a doc says one thing and the code says another, surface the conflict explicitly:

The setup runbook (setup/dogfood-profile.md:23) says to delete ~/.cache/browseros/dogfood, but the actual code path in packages/cli/src/cleanup.ts:47 removes ~/.local/share/browseros/dogfood. The doc looks stale. Recommend updating it.

Common Mistakes

Skimming and then citing

• Problem: Citation points to a line that doesn't actually contain the claim.
• Fix: Read the section fully before citing. If you didn't read line 117, don't cite line 117.

Executing without per-command confirmation for mutations

• Problem: User says "y" to "run all", skill blasts through rm -rf-style commands.
• Fix: "y" means "run this sequence with per-mutation confirmations". Per-command y is required for writes.

Searching only docs, not code

• Problem: Doc says X but code does Y; answer is wrong.
• Fix: Always grep both sources in Step 2.

Red Flags

Never:

• Cite a file:line you haven't read.
• Run mutations without per-command confirmation.
• Modify BrowserOS code or docs from this skill.

Always:

• Pre-flight check before any search.
• Reconcile doc vs code conflicts in the answer, don't hide them.
• Plain "no doc covers this" when grep is empty — never invent.