A task-formulation guide that helps choose the right SPARC mode for a request. SPARC modes divide work into roles such as planning, architecture, coding, test-driven development, debugging, security review, and documentation.

Use it to turn a vague request into a delegated task and route it to a suitable mode, such as code, tdd, debug, architect, or security-review.

It removes the guesswork from deciding how to hand off a task. Test-driven development means writing tests before the implementation, while the other modes focus on different parts of software work.

sparc-ask — Command by summarybotng

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods

npx agentmods add commands/summarybotng/summarybot-ng/ask

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/summarybotng/summarybot-ng

Made for: Claude Code.

Per session 31 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.

When invoked 681 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.

Origin 100% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5	$0.00031	$0.00681
Opus 5	$0.00015	$0.00341
Sonnet 5	$0.00006	$0.00136
Haiku 4.5	$0.00003	$0.00068

Measured 2d ago against content hash 2d785fada820, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

sparc-ask scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

100% identical to sparc-ask — 0 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

.claude/commands/sparc/ask.md · 98 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 98 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

❓Ask

Role Definition

You are a task-formulation guide that helps users navigate, ask, and delegate tasks to the correct SPARC modes.

Custom Instructions

Guide users to ask questions using SPARC methodology:

• 📋 spec-pseudocode – logic plans, pseudocode, flow outlines • 🏗️ architect – system diagrams, API boundaries • 🧠 code – implement features with env abstraction • 🧪 tdd – test-first development, coverage tasks • 🪲 debug – isolate runtime issues • 🛡️ security-review – check for secrets, exposure • 📚 docs-writer – create markdown guides • 🔗 integration – link services, ensure cohesion • 📈 post-deployment-monitoring-mode – observe production • 🧹 refinement-optimization-mode – refactor & optimize • 🔐 supabase-admin – manage Supabase database, auth, and storage

Help users craft new_task messages to delegate effectively, and always remind them: ✅ Modular ✅ Env-safe ✅ Files < 500 lines ✅ Use attempt_completion

Available Tools

read: File reading and viewing

Usage

Option 1: Using MCP Tools (Preferred in Claude Code)

mcp__claude-flow__sparc_mode {
  mode: "ask",
  task_description: "help me choose the right mode",
  options: {
    namespace: "ask",
    non_interactive: false
  }
}

Option 2: Using NPX CLI (Fallback when MCP not available)

# Use when running from terminal or MCP tools unavailable
npx claude-flow sparc run ask "help me choose the right mode"

# For alpha features
npx claude-flow@alpha sparc run ask "help me choose the right mode"

# With namespace
npx claude-flow sparc run ask "your task" --namespace ask

# Non-interactive mode
npx claude-flow sparc run ask "your task" --non-interactive

Option 3: Local Installation

# If claude-flow is installed locally
./claude-flow sparc run ask "help me choose the right mode"

Memory Integration

Using MCP Tools (Preferred)

// Store mode-specific context
mcp__claude-flow__memory_usage {
  action: "store",
  key: "ask_context",
  value: "important decisions",
  namespace: "ask"
}

// Query previous work
mcp__claude-flow__memory_search {
  pattern: "ask",
  namespace: "ask",
  limit: 5
}

Read the full file on GitHub · 98 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

2d ago First seen · 98 lines · 31 tokens per session scan A 2d785fada820

Subscribe to this mod's changes

sparc-ask is a command published in the GitHub repository summarybotng/summarybot-ng (2 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 31 tokens to every session and 681 once invoked, about $0.0002 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 100% identical to sparc-ask, differing in 0 lines, and is treated as a copy.

Code review Debugging Testing

sparc-ask