CLARIFY v2.0 — Ask/Answer Decision Engine (Premium)

Mathematical Compliance: This skill implements the DEPTH-MATHEMATICS specification. It computes and outputs ADS phase activation, CEI components, SI components, cognitive traces (clarification calculus, readiness ), and verifies Gates V1, V3. It formalizes the ask/answer decision as a value calculus.

Every prompt is either ready for an answer or missing something that would dramatically improve it. You must decide: ask now, or answer now and refine later?

The wrong choice costs:

• Asking when you could answer: Wastes user's time, breaks flow, signals incompetence
• Answering when you should ask: Delivers wrong thing, requires revision cycles, erodes trust

This skill decides. Now it quantifies the decision.

The Failure Mode You Must Recognize

You are about to either:

• Ask a question the user already answered (implicitly or in prior context)
• Answer a question that will require 3 follow-up messages to converge

Both signal the same underlying failure: you assessed the prompt's information state incorrectly.

Cargo cult clarification asks generic questions without scoring their value. This skill rejects it.

The Protocol

0 — PARAMETERIZE: Read Thinking Parameters

Read thinking_parameters:

• min_questions (default 1) — minimum questions to generate if asking
• value_threshold (default 3) — minimum total value score to ask
• require_calculus (default true) — compute clarification calculus
• require_readiness_ (default true) — issue answer readiness
• recursion_depth (default 1) — recursive self-audit rounds

1 — ASSESS INTENT READINESS

Write your assessment of the incoming prompt:

INTENT ASSESSMENT
────────────────────────────────────────
Explicit request:    [what user literally asked]
Inferred intent:    [what they probably need - write one sentence]
Missing pieces:     [what you don't know that would change the answer]
Confidence:         [0-100% that you understand what they need]
Urgency signal:     [does prompt contain "urgent", "asap", "right now"?]
Prior context:      [relevant conversation history - yes/no]
Information State:  [COMPLETE / PARTIAL / FRAGMENTED / UNKNOWN]
────────────────────────────────────────

Artifact: Intent assessment.

CEI Component: Intent Assessment (weight 1.0)

2 — CLARIFICATION CALCULUS (if require_calculus = true)

NEW IN v2.0 — Formal value calculus for each potential question.

For each potential question, calculate its value:

QUESTION VALUE CALCULUS
────────────────────────────────────────
Question: [write the question]

Information Impact (II):
  If I knew the answer, how much would my response change?
    - Substantially (different approach): II = 2.0
    - Moderately (refinement): II = 1.0
    - Minimally (same answer either way): II = 0.0

User Cooperation Likelihood (UCL):
  How likely will the user answer this?
    - High (obvious gap, easy to answer): UCL = 1.0
    - Medium (reasonable to ask): UCL = 0.5
    - Low (intrusive, unclear): UCL = 0.0

Delay Cost (DC):
  What is the delay cost?
    - Low (quick answer): DC = 1.0
    - Medium (some back-and-forth): DC = 0.5
    - High (derails conversation): DC = 0.0

Prior Answer Probability (PAP):
  How likely is the user to have already answered this implicitly?
    - Low (genuinely unknown): PAP = 1.0
    - Medium (might be in context): PAP = 0.5
    - High (likely answered): PAP = 0.0

TOTAL VALUE = II × UCL × PAP + DC
  [0.0 - 3.0]

Decision Threshold: [value_threshold, default 3.0 scaled]
  If TOTAL VALUE ≥ threshold → ASK
  If TOTAL VALUE < threshold → ANSWER (with caveats if 1-2)
────────────────────────────────────────

Minimum min_questions questions evaluated.

Artifact: clarification_calculus — formal value calculus for each question.

CEI Component: Clarification Calculus (weight 3.0)

3 — DELIVER VERDICT

Write your final decision and reasoning:

ASK/ANSWER VERDICT
────────────────────────────────────────
Decision:          [ASK / ANSWER / ANSWER-WITH-CAVEATS]
Primary question:  [if asking - write it]
Reasoning:         [2-3 sentences why this is the right call, referencing calculus]
What happens next: [if asking - wait for response]
                     [if answering - deliver and note what I'd ask if I could]
────────────────────────────────────────

Artifact: Ask/Answer verdict.

CEI Component: Verdict (weight 1.0)

4 — ANSWER READINESS (if require_readiness_ = true)

NEW IN v2.0 — Formal of answer readiness.

ANSWER READINESS 
────────────────────────────────────────
 ID: arc_<timestamp>_<hash>
Prompt: [description]
Information State: [COMPLETE / PARTIAL / FRAGMENTED / UNKNOWN]

Questions Evaluated: [N]
Questions to Ask: [N]
Total Value Score: [0.0-3.0]
Threshold: [value_threshold]

Readiness: [READY / NOT_READY / CONDITIONAL]

If NOT_READY:
  Missing Information: [list]
  Questions to Ask: [list]
  Expected Value Gain: [value]

If CONDITIONAL:
  Caveats: [list]
  Questions to Ask if Time Permits: [list]

Validity: [date or condition]
────────────────────────────────────────

Artifact: readiness_ — formal verification of answer readiness.

CEI Component: Readiness (weight 2.0)

5 — METRICS: Compute and Output Depth Metrics

5.1 Phase Activation (for ADS)

{
  "phase": 1,
  "skill": "clarify",
  "artifact_completeness": 0.XX,
  "gate_pass_rate": 0.XX,
  "external_validity": 0.XX,
  "human_eval": 0.XX,
  "phase_activation": 0.XX
}

5.2 CEI Components

{
  "cei_components": {
    "intent_assessment": 1.0,
    "clarification_calculus": 3.0,
    "verdict": 1.0,
    "readiness_": 2.0,
    "total_complexity_weight": 7.0,
    "output_tokens": N,
    "wall_time_seconds": T,
    "cei": 0.XX
  }
}

5.3 SI Components

{
  "si_components": {
    "c2_c3_count": 0,
    "contrarian_viable": false,
    "fatal_attacks": 0,
    "boundary_violations": 0,
    "assumption_reversals": 0,
    "si_total": 0
  }
}

5.4 Cognitive Traces

Clarification Calculus:

{
  "type": "clarification_calculus",
  "questions": [
    {"question": "...", "II": 2.0, "UCL": 1.0, "DC": 1.0, "PAP": 1.0, "total": 3.0, "decision": "ASK"},
    {"question": "...", "II": 1.0, "UCL": 0.5, "DC": 0.5, "PAP": 0.5, "total": 0.625, "decision": "ANSWER"}
  ],
  "threshold": 3.0,
  "questions_to_ask": N
}

Readiness : (as defined in Step 4)

5.5 Depth Contribution

{
  "skill": "clarify",
  "version": "2.0",
  "metrics": {"ads_contribution": 0.XX, "cei": 0.XX, "si": 0, "ec": 0.XX},
  "gates_verified": {"V1": true, "V3": true},
  "limitations": ["..."]
}

6 — GATES: Verify Before Delivery

MANDATORY — Verify these gates PASS:

If any gate FAILS: Return to relevant step and fix. Do not deliver.

7 — RECURSIVE SELF-AUDIT (if recursion_depth > 1)

If recursion_depth > 1, apply this entire protocol to your own output from Steps 1-4.

For each recursion level d = 2 to recursion_depth:

1. Treat your previous output as the "answer under review"
2. Run Steps 1-4 on it
3. Compute RSM (Recursive Stability Metric):

   RSM = 1 - Semantic_Distance(output_d, output_{d-1})

4. Convergence Check:
   • If RSM > 0.95 AND SI_d ≥ SI_{d-1} for 2 consecutive depths → CONVERGED, stop
   • If RSM < 0.80 OR SI_d < SI_{d-1} for 2 consecutive depths → DIVERGED, stop, use best depth
   • If d = max_depth → stop, use current

Artifact: recursion_log with RSM and SI at each depth.

CEI Component: Recursive Audit (weight 5.0 per level)

8 — INTERFERENCE: Receive and Provide

Receive from prior skills:

Provide to later skills:

Artifact: interference_log (received and provided).

The Deeper Purpose

The model defaults to answering — it's what it's built to do. But sometimes the highest-value action is to slow down and ask. This skill makes that decision explicit and scored, rather than relying on intuition. The scoring system captures: (1) information impact, (2) user cooperation likelihood, (3) delay cost, (4) prior answer probability. When in doubt, the framework defaults to answering with caveats over asking unnecessarily. Now it's a formal calculus with s.

MATHEMATICS COMPLIANCE

Phase Activation Output

This skill contributes to Phase 1. It outputs:

{
  "phase": 1,
  "skill": "clarify",
  "artifact_completeness": 0.XX,
  "gate_pass_rate": 0.XX,
  "external_validity": 0.XX,
  "human_eval": 0.XX,
  "phase_activation": 0.XX
}

CEI Components

• Artifacts produced: intent_assessment (1.0), clarification_calculus (3.0), verdict (1.0), readiness_ (2.0)
• Total complexity weight: 7.0

SI Components

• C2/C3 assumptions: 0
• Contrarian viable: false
• Fatal attacks: 0
• Boundary violations: 0
• Assumption reversals: 0

Cognitive Traces Produced

• Clarification Calculus
• Readiness
• Decision Landscape

Gates Verified

• V1 [ ] V2 [x] V3 [ ] V4 [ ] V5 [ ] V6
• Human Eval [ ] Held-Out [ ] Ensemble

Required Interferences

• From BOUNDARY-DETECTOR: Knowledge gaps → missing pieces
• From DEEP-THINK: Assumptions → missing pieces
• From EXCAVATE: C2/C3 assumptions → missing pieces