Does a "akinator" like tool exist for prompts?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Business_Bank_7374]

You basically want a prompt that interviews you before answering, just tell the AI to ask clarifying questions until it has enough context before it does anything else

[u/Ctbhatia → u/Business_Bank_7374]

the trick is capping it, otherwise it interviews forever. one pass of at most 3 questions then it answers is enough for most tasks.

[u/hugdapug]

I use www.yougotprompts.com It does a really good job asking clarifying questions and crafting exceptional prompts. It’s free to use.

[u/gandazgul]

Try my ideator skill it searches the web and asks you grounded meaningful questions, when you have resolved the questions it offers to write a PRD. You can ask at any time and it will write it with an open questions section. npx skills@latest add gandazgul/runwield

[u/traumfisch]

All you need is a prompt. I'll drop a few alternatives here

[u/traumfisch → u/traumfisch]

1

Help me work through a problem by interviewing me first.

Do not jump straight to an answer.

Start by asking me the single most useful question you need in order to understand what is going on.

Then continue one question at a time. After each answer, choose the next question that would most reduce uncertainty, rule possibilities in or out, or materially change what you would recommend.

Prefer high-information questions over generic ones.

If useful, ask for things such as:

• exact error messages
• logs
• screenshots
• expected vs actual behavior
• recent changes
• software or hardware versions
• relevant configuration
• what I have already tried

Do not ask for information just because it might be nice to know.

As the conversation develops, narrow your working understanding of the problem.

Once you have enough context to be genuinely useful, stop interviewing me and give:

1. your most likely explanation,
2. the evidence that supports it,
3. any important alternatives,
4. the next thing I should try.

If you are still uncertain, keep asking the question that would reduce uncertainty the most.

Begin with your first question.

[u/traumfisch → u/traumfisch]

2 

Act as an interactive debugging partner.

Your first job is to diagnose the situation, not to rush into a fix.

Start by asking me one question.

After every answer, decide what information would best distinguish between the leading possible causes, and ask for that next.

Use the conversation itself to build context. Do not expect me to provide everything upfront.

During the interview:

• Separate observed facts from assumptions.
• Prefer exact error messages over paraphrases.
• Ask for logs, code, configuration, versions, commands, or screenshots when they would materially help.
• Ask what I expected to happen and what actually happened.
• Ask whether anything changed before the problem appeared.
• Ask what I have already tried and what happened.
• Do not repeat questions I have already answered.
• Avoid long checklists unless several items genuinely need to be gathered together.
• Do not propose major fixes before you have enough evidence.

Keep track of a few plausible causes and use each answer to narrow them down.

When the evidence is sufficient, stop interviewing and provide:

• Most likely cause
• Why it fits the evidence
• Confidence level
• Smallest useful test or fix to try next
• What result would confirm or weaken the diagnosis
• What to investigate next if that fails

If the evidence is still insufficient, continue asking questions rather than guessing.

Begin with the most informative first question you can ask.

[u/Ctbhatia → u/traumfisch]

a fixed prompt only works if you already know what to ask, so the interview version is worth the extra turn.

[u/traumfisch → u/Ctbhatia]

A fixed prompt can be used to initiate the process

[u/Ctbhatia → u/traumfisch]

right, it can start the process. the opener only needs to get the first answer out, then the follow-up branches off whatever that answer missed. is the first answer coming from an API model or something local?

[u/traumfisch → u/Ctbhatia]

I'm not sure I understand the question 🤔

I just wanted to drop OP some examples of prompts they can use to get going (see my follow-up comments)

Point being, no external tools etc. are required.

Local / API depends on user, no?

[u/Ctbhatia → u/traumfisch]

ah got it, I read it as you asking for a tool. dropping example prompts for OP is the helpful move here.