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.
npx agentmods add skills/timurgaleev/memex/ask-usernpx skills add timurgaleev/memex --skill ask-usergit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/timurgaleev/memexWrote 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.
[](https://agentmods.dev/skills/timurgaleev/memex/ask-user)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/timurgaleev/memex/ask-user"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/timurgaleev/memex/ask-user.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>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 | $0.00060 | $0.02069 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00030 | $0.01035 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00012 | $0.00414 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00006 | $0.00207 |
Grade A, and why
ask-user 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 3d 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.
This is a copy
94% identical to ask-user — 22 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.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 255 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
Ask User — Choice Gate Pattern
Contract
- Present 2-4 options (no more — decision paralysis kicks in past 4).
- Always include an escape hatch (Skip, Cancel, or "none of these").
- Stop the turn immediately after presenting choices. No follow-up tool calls, no preemptive action, no default-and-proceed.
- The user's response triggers the next turn. Acknowledge briefly, then branch.
- One question per message — never stack multiple choice gates.
- Self-explanatory option labels: action verb plus brief qualifier, not "Option 1".
What This Is
A formalized pattern for presenting users with 2-4 options and stopping execution until they respond. This is the canonical way to gate on user input in any memex-connected agent.
This is NOT a traditional async/await. In an LLM agent, "gating" means:
- Present the choices (buttons or numbered options)
- Explicitly stop the current turn (do not proceed)
- The user's response triggers the next turn
- Read the response and branch accordingly
When To Use
- Ambiguous requests with multiple valid interpretations
- Destructive operations (bulk deletes, overwrites)
- Filing/routing decisions ("where should this go?")
- Priority triage ("which should I do first?")
- Cold-start phase gates ("ready for the next import source?")
- Any fork where the wrong default wastes significant work
When NOT To Use
- Clear, unambiguous instructions → just do it
- Low-stakes decisions → pick the best option and mention it
- Time-critical operations where delay costs more than a wrong choice
- When the user has already expressed a preference
How To Present Choices
Platform-agnostic format (works everywhere)
Present choices as a clear question with numbered or labeled options:
🔀 **How should I handle this?**
[context about the decision — 1-3 lines max]
1. **Option A** — short description
2. **Option B** — short description
3. **Option C** — short description
4. **Skip** — do nothing for now
With inline buttons (Telegram, Discord, Slack)
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.
- 3d ago First seen · 255 lines · 60 tokens per session scan A abd9680c4cad
ask-user is a skill published in the GitHub repository timurgaleev/memex (8 stars, last pushed 9d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 60 tokens to every session and 2,069 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 94% identical to ask-user, differing in 22 lines, and is treated as a copy.
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