clarify-first-prompting

clarify-first-prompting is a cursor rule for Cursor from madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules. It costs 20 tokens per session (351 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A set of rules for deciding when an agent should ask questions before coding and when it should inspect the project and proceed.

In plain words
What is it for?
Inspecting files and existing patterns first, identifying decisions with real consequences, choosing safe defaults, and asking one or two focused questions when needed.
Why use it?
It avoids asking users for information already present in the code or runtime, while still pausing for choices that could change security, data, architecture, or product behavior.

Cursor rule for Cursor

Written for Cursor: installed under .cursor/.

Good fit Inspecting files and existing patterns first, identifying decisions with real consequences, choosing safe defaults, and asking one or two focused questions when needed.

Compare 6 cursor rules from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules/clarify-first-prompting
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.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules

Made for: Cursor.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for clarify-first-prompting

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules/clarify-first-prompting/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/rules/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules/clarify-first-prompting)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules/clarify-first-prompting"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules/clarify-first-prompting/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for clarify-first-prompting

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/rules/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules/clarify-first-prompting"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/rules/madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules/clarify-first-prompting.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 20 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 351 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found 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.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00020 $0.00351
Opus 5 $0.00010 $0.00176
Sonnet 5 $0.00004 $0.00070
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00035

Measured 12d ago against content hash 39c128316aab, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

clarify-first-prompting 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 12d 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.

.cursor/rules/clarify-first-prompting.mdc · 59 lines

What it actually says

Clarify-First Prompting

Clarification is for real uncertainty, not for information the repo or runtime already contains.

Inspect Before Asking

Before asking a question, first check whether the answer is available through:

  • project files
  • existing code patterns
  • tool output
  • current docs when version-sensitive behavior matters

Do not ask the user for information you can inspect directly.

When to Ask

Ask only when the answer materially changes the implementation:

  • security or authentication model
  • destructive data or migration strategy
  • major architecture branch
  • user-facing product choice with costly reversal

When to Proceed

Proceed without asking when:

  • project conventions already answer the question
  • the choice is small and reversible
  • a safe default exists
  • the user explicitly asked for a best-effort implementation

Question Rules

  • Ask at most 1-2 critical questions at a time.
  • Use structured questions only when the choice has real tradeoffs.
  • Put the recommended or safest default first when presenting options.
  • Once the user answers, proceed without re-confirming.

Good Pattern

1. Inspect repo and runtime
2. Identify the true unknown
3. Ask only if that unknown changes the architecture or outcome
4. Otherwise choose a safe default and continue

Anti-Patterns

Do not:

  • ask about framework, package, or file structure when the repo can answer it
  • ask about tiny implementation details
  • repeat questions the user already answered
  • use fake <think> or <thinking> blocks as clarification scaffolding
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.

  1. 12d ago First seen · 59 lines · 20 tokens per session scan A 39c128316aab

Subscribe to this mod's changes

clarify-first-prompting is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository madebyaris/advance-minimax-m3-cursor-rules (125 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 20 tokens to every session and 351 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.