# grill-me skill by Matt Pocock

39 Hacker News commenters recommended grill-me skill by Matt Pocock and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Makes the AI question your plan until you both agree on the design, so it builds what you expect. Critics say it still scope creeps and can produce weak code.

## Why people recommend it

- Questions you until design choices are clear (5 comments): "its interviews you to resolve design decisions until you have shared understanding(you and the coding agent)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49921084)) "A planning session without it might be Claude asking you 2 questions, and with it 22." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47804495)) "The grill-me skill is much better for reviewing and clarifying choices" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49851420))
- Builds shared understanding of the architecture (5 comments): "I use the grill me skill and superpowers brainstorming to learn different methods of building stuff as far as architecture goes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48325336)) "I feel like I'm actually building my understanding of the system and helping shape it, and the results are much better" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644460)) "make sure you're thinking about and understanding and signing off on the technical design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49159246))
- Previews the build before coding starts (4 comments): "it's particularly good for complex and big changes, so you actually know what the AI is gonna build before it does" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49860859)) "I can go right into implementation without needing to dump a PRD or some sort of broken up plan" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48644752)) "try /grill-me before getting it to start working on things" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47994497))
- Pairs well with other skills (5 comments): "I've used other people's skills, in particular Matt pococks grill me and Dex hortlys show me. These have helped a bit." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50026947)) "Two skills I rely on are Matt pococks grill-me and his tdd. These massively helped" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48814877)) "I like using grill me in conjunction with obra superpowers spec driven development" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49429465))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Superpowers](https://hackerapproved.com/p/superpowers.md): 138 recommend
- [Claude Skills](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-skills.md): 59 recommend
- [Get Shit Done](https://hackerapproved.com/p/get-shit-done.md): 31 recommend
- [Matt Pocock's skills](https://hackerapproved.com/p/matt-pocock-s-skills.md): 27 recommend
- [Claude Code skills](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-code-skills.md): 21 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "grill-me skill by Matt Pocock", https://hackerapproved.com/p/grill-me-skill/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).