Claude Code AskUserQuestion
Shares rank 7 of 10 coding agent features by recommenders
Lets Claude ask multiple-choice questions instead of plain text, speeding decisions. Main caveat: critics say it was turned on by default without notice and is hard to disable.
Lets Claude ask multiple-choice questions instead of plain text, speeding decisions. Main caveat: critics say it was turned on by default without notice and is hard to disable.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 53%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Replaces plain-text questions with options
“I really enjoy the AskUserQuestion feature and will regularly ask Claude to specifically use it instead of asking me questions in plain text”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Claude Code: Anatomy of a Misfeature” “through liberal use of the AskUserQuestion tool”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: Is anyone experimenting with different ways of using LLMs for coding?” “this is the behavior I desire”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Claude's AskUserQuestion: "No response after 60s – continued without an answer"” Cuts explanation and speeds decisions
“Claude and open code both have an AskUserQuestionTool which is really nice for this and cuts down on explanation a lot.”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “Vibe Coding Kills Open Source” “makes decision-making a breeze”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “The Year of Internal Tools”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Turned on by default unannounced
“it would be possible to turn it off, but it doesn't appear to be at this moment”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Claude's AskUserQuestion: "No response after 60s – continued without an answer"” “it is never warranted to change such an important thing unannounced”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Claude's AskUserQuestion: "No response after 60s – continued without an answer"” “Turning this on by default is insane.”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Claude's AskUserQuestion: "No response after 60s – continued without an answer"” Options selector annoying, breaks dialogue flow
“the "options" selector is the most annoying thing in CC for me, plain-text is the only way”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Claude Code: Anatomy of a Misfeature” “that tool is extremely annoying as it creates a gap in the dialogue”
Comment from 31 Jul 2026 in “The Session You Cannot take with you” Seen as incorrect behavior
“this did not meet our bar and does not represent how we plan to ship on Claude Code”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Claude Code: Anatomy of a Misfeature” “it was quite clearly incorrect behavior”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Claude's AskUserQuestion: "No response after 60s – continued without an answer"”
Other coding agent features people recommend
The four most recommended other coding agent features, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code plan mode | 41 | 22 | 65% | 11 | — | — |
| Claude Code auto mode | 20 | 29 | 41% | 6 | — | — |
| Claude Code Routines | 16 | 27 | 37% | 2 | — | — |
| Claude Code Dynamic Workflows | 13 | 10 | 57% | 4 | — | — |
| Claude Code AskUserQuestionThis page | 8 | 7 | 53% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
14 of the 15 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“makes decision-making a breeze”
“that tool is extremely annoying as it creates a gap in the dialogue”
“the "options" selector is the most annoying thing in CC for me, plain-text is the only way”
“I really enjoy the AskUserQuestion feature and will regularly ask Claude to specifically use it instead of asking me questions in plain text”
“this did not meet our bar and does not represent how we plan to ship on Claude Code”
“through liberal use of the AskUserQuestion tool”
“it was quite clearly incorrect behavior”
“it definitely resolves a frequent annoyance of mine”
“it is never warranted to change such an important thing unannounced”
“it would be possible to turn it off, but it doesn't appear to be at this moment”
“60 seconds is too short though, imo.”
“this is the behavior I desire”
“Turning this on by default is insane.”
“Claude and open code both have an AskUserQuestionTool which is really nice for this and cuts down on explanation a lot.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.