# I Got Tired of Asking "What Am I Missing?" — So I Made My AI Ask First > Source: > Published: 2026-06-30 20:11:39+00:00 In my [first article](https://dev.to/magithar/stop-guessing-which-library-to-use-i-built-an-ai-capability-discovery-engine-3p7p), I built SKILLmama: an AI skill that finds, scores, and ranks the best library for your exact stack. In my [second article](https://dev.to/magithar/a-high-score-means-nothing-if-the-tool-is-dangerous-so-i-added-a-security-gate-3hpc), I added a security gate — because a high score means nothing if the tool is dangerous. Both of those workflows had the same assumption baked in: **you already know what you're looking for.** You type `/skillmama find me a job queue for Node.js` and it searches, scores, and returns ranked picks. That's great when you have a specific gap in mind. But most of the time, you don't. You're deep in building something and you haven't stopped to ask: *do I have auth? do I have observability? do I have a queue?* You find out the hard way — when a feature ships without rate limiting, or when something breaks and there's no error tracking. So I flipped the workflow. In v1.3, `/skillmama` with no arguments scans your project first and asks what to find. **Before (Flow A — still exists):** ``` /skillmama find me an auth library for Next.js ↓ scan project for stack context ↓ search → score → recommend ``` **Now (Flow B — triggered when no capability is given):** ``` /skillmama ↓ deep scan: reads package files, config, source structure ↓ gap analysis: what's missing for this type of project? ↓ ask 3 questions — STOP and wait for your answer ↓ you pick a gap → search → score → recommend ``` Both flows converge at the same search and scoring pipeline. Flow B just adds the scan and Q&A in front. When you run `/skillmama` with no arguments, it reads: `package.json` , `pyproject.toml` , `go.mod` , etc.)`Dockerfile` , `docker-compose.yml` , `.env.example` , `vercel.json` , `fly.toml` )`README.md` and `CLAUDE.md` From that, it builds a **Stack Profile**: ``` Language: TypeScript Framework: Next.js 14 Database: Postgres via Prisma Auth: none detected Caching: none detected AI/LLM: OpenAI SDK Queue/Jobs: none detected Search: none detected Storage: none detected Email: none detected Payments: none detected Observability: none detected Testing: Vitest ``` Once the Stack Profile is built, SKILLmama doesn't just flag every empty row as a gap. It looks at what the project is actually doing and assigns severity: For a Next.js app with OpenAI already wired up, the output might look like this: ``` ## SKILLmama — Project Scan Stack detected: TypeScript / Next.js 14 / Postgres / OpenAI / no auth Capability gaps found: | # | Gap | Severity | Why it matters for your stack | |---|------------------|----------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 1 | Authentication | High | No auth detected — any route is publicly accessible | | 2 | Rate limiting | High | OpenAI calls with no rate limiting = unbounded cost risk | | 3 | Observability | Medium | No error tracking — you'll find out about failures late | | 4 | Email sending | Medium | Common for Next.js apps with user accounts | | 5 | Vector/RAG layer | Low | OpenAI is present but no vector store — may be intentional | A few quick questions before I search: 1. Which gap(s) would you like me to find options for? 2. Any constraints? (self-hosted, open-source, must have MCP support, etc.) 3. Anything I missed about your project or plans? ``` Then it **stops**. It does not proceed until you reply. The first version of this flow I sketched out just picked the highest-severity gap automatically and ran with it. That was wrong for two reasons: **1. Severity is relative to intent.** A High gap for a consumer SaaS is a Low gap for an internal tool. The scanner doesn't know which one you're building — you do. **2. You might want to address multiple gaps in order.** If you reply "1 and 2", SKILLmama runs the full search and scoring pipeline once per gap and presents each as its own results block. You get ranked picks for auth *and* rate limiting in one session, not just the first one. The hard stop is what makes Flow B collaborative rather than presumptuous. Once you reply — say "1 and 3, open-source preferred" — SKILLmama sets: `capability` = Authentication, Observability`constraints` = open-source preferredAnd jumps straight to Phase 2 (deriving search terms). It **skips Phase 0 and Phase 1** entirely — the stack is already known from the scan, so there's nothing left to parse. From there, the same pipeline runs as always: ``` Phase 2 — derive search terms Phase 3 — 5-tier search (GitHub → MCP → npm/PyPI → Templates) Phase 3.5 — security gate (libraries) Phase 3.6 — companion skills search Phase 3.7 — security gate (skills) Phase 4 — score each candidate Phase 5 — present results ``` For the auth gap on a Next.js + Postgres stack, that produces something like: ``` Scoring all candidates against TypeScript / Next.js 14 / Postgres: | Candidate | Compat | Pop | Maint | Simple | Score | |-------------|--------|-----|-------|--------|----------| | NextAuth.js | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | **9.55** | | Lucia | 9 | 7 | 10 | 8 | **8.75** | | Clerk | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | **8.90** | #1 — NextAuth.js · Score: 9.55/10 The de facto auth layer for Next.js — first-party adapter, zero config for most providers. - Compatibility: 10/10 — built for Next.js, Prisma adapter available - Popularity: 9/10 — 22k stars, 800k npm downloads/week - Maintenance: 9/10 — committed 1 week ago - Simplicity: 9/10 — provider config only, Prisma adapter is one import - Security: PASS - Install: npm install next-auth ``` Flow B is live across all four adapters: | Adapter | How to trigger Flow B | |---|---| | Claude Code | `/skillmama` (no args) | | Claude.ai | `/skillmama` (no args) | | OpenAI Codex | `"scan my project and tell me what I need"` | | Antigravity | `"scan my project and tell me what I need"` | **Any agent (via skills CLI):** ``` npx skills add Magithar/SKILLmama ``` **Claude Code:** ``` cp .claude/commands/skillmama.md /your-project/.claude/commands/skillmama.md ``` Then `/skillmama` in any Claude Code session — no arguments needed. **Claude.ai:** Upload the pre-built `skillmama.zip` from the repo under Customize → Skills. **OpenAI Codex:** Place `codex/AGENTS.md` in your repo root. **Antigravity:** Load `antigravity/PROMPT.md` as system prompt. Apache 2.0. If you used v1.0, v1.1, or v1.2 — pull the latest. The only new behavior is what happens when you run `/skillmama` with nothing after it. Found a gap category that should be in the scanner? Open an [issue](https://github.com/Magithar/SKILLmama/issues) — the list is meant to grow with real project types.