consult-an-expertlisted

# Consult an Expert ## Purpose A consultation has two products: the answer, and the expert. An exchange that yields a good design and leaves the scope no smarter has half-failed — the expert subgraphs are the system, not scaffolding around it. This skill is about **conducting** the exchange. Deciding *whether* a design needs grounding, and reaching the literature scope specifically, is [`ground-in-literature`](../ground-in-literature/SKILL.md). Adding a new expert is [`add-roster-expert`](../add-roster-expert/SKILL.md). ## When to Use - Before minting any `consult_request`, for any scope. - When an answer comes back thin, generic, or agrees with everything you said. - When the question is big enough that one round will not settle it — a new component, a contract, a migration, a measurement design. ## Interview the operator before you mint **Binding, and it comes first.** Before minting the first ticket on a question, ask yourself whether an operator answer would change the ticket. If it would, put the choice to them with `AskUserQuestion` **before** minting — not after the answer comes back, and not "between rounds." An expert answers the question it is given, and it will fill an unstated scope choice with an assumption. Every constraint the operator alone can settle — where output lands, how often something fires, what is in and out, hosted or self-hosted, who arbitrates a conflict — becomes an invented premise if you leave it open, and the expert spends the round