Why it matters
Agents either ask too much or guess too much. Both come from the same place: nobody wrote down which decisions are theirs.
Riker answers a worker’s question only when the answer follows from something you already said: the goal, the repo’s instructions, your standing preferences, an earlier decision, or a choice that’s easy to undo. Anything else comes to you as a real decision.
Riker also never silently sends messages, deploys, merges, or touches production. Being in a repo tells an agent what you mean. It doesn’t give it permission.
Exercise: write the rules
Add a section like this to your project’s AGENTS.md (Codex) or CLAUDE.md (Claude Code):
## Decide on your own
- Naming, file layout, and small refactors that follow existing patterns
- Choices that are easy to undo
## Ask me first
- Anything that changes what the user sees or the product's scope
- Deleting files, data, or tests
- Sending, posting, deploying, or merging anything
- Requirements that conflict with each other
## When you ask
Give me your recommended answer and why, so I can reply in one word.Check yourself: run your task again. Count how often it asked you something. Was each question a real decision? If not, add that case to “Decide on your own.”