skillfactor-pipeline/pipeline/templates/intake.template.md

TEMPLATE — references/intake.md

Reference example: skills/recruitment-consultant/references/intake.md.

Purpose

The questions the agent must ask (or confirm from context) BEFORE producing anything. Prevents confident-but-wrong deliverables. This file is loaded at conversation start, so it must be short and mandatory in tone.

Structure (exactly this)

# Intake — mandatory questions before starting <occupation> work

Ask (or confirm from context) before producing anything. Do not guess on 1-N.

## <Topic group 1, e.g. the core object of work>
1. ...
2. ...

## <Topic group 2: process & constraints>
...

## <Topic group 3: tools/compliance/channels>
...

## Existing material
N-1. Is there a previous <artifact> to reuse?
N.   <who else must be considered / involved>

Fill rules

1. 10-14 numbered questions in 3-4 groups. First group = the work object (the patient, the building, the campaign, the dataset). Last group is always "Existing material" (reuse before recreate).
2. Mark the questions that must never be guessed ("Do not guess on 1-6") — typically identity of the work object, safety-relevant facts, budgets, legal constraints.
3. Derive questions from the occupation's actual failure modes: what would make the deliverable wrong or dangerous if assumed? Use tasks.md + quality.md as source; compliance questions from the occupation's regulation reality (works council, HACCP, building codes, GDPR ...).
4. Each question one line, concrete, answerable by a layperson client. Parenthetical examples allowed, max one per question.
5. English. No question that the agent could answer itself from the skill package or the conversation so far.

Do

• "Salary band and benefits envelope (and who may see them)?" — concrete, includes the confidentiality trap.
• Group headers that mirror the occupation ("Role", "Site & permits", "Patient context").

Don't

• "What are your goals?" — vague, universal, useless.
• 25 questions — nobody answers them; the agent must triage to <= 14.
• Questions about facts the evidence store already settles (e.g. "which ATS is common?" — that's market.md's job, not the client's).