It sits between Execute and eXamine in the APEX flow, scores itself against an exit threshold (>=90% proceed, 70-89% document gaps, <70% iterate), and persists its findings to .claude/apex/docs/elicit-{task-slug}.json so a later pass can diff against prior verdicts instead of restarting.
</objective>
Elicitation Skill
Purpose
Enable expert agents to self-review and self-correct their code before external validation (sniper). Based on BMAD-METHOD's 75 elicitation techniques.
3 Execution Modes
Mode 1: MANUAL (default)
Expert presents 5 relevant techniques → User chooses → Expert applies
Mode 2: AUTO (--auto)
Expert auto-detects code type → Auto-selects techniques → Applies silently
Mode 3: SKIP (--skip)
Skip elicitation → Go directly to sniper validation
Quick Start
After Execute phase, expert runs:
# Manual mode (default)
> Apply elicitation skill
# Auto mode (no prompts)
> Apply elicitation skill --auto
# Skip self-review
> Apply elicitation skill --skip
Workflow Overview
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ELICITATION WORKFLOW │
│ │
│ Step 0: Init → Load context │
│ Step 1: Analyze Code → Detect code type │
│ Step 2: Select → Choose techniques (or auto) │
│ Step 3: Apply Review → Execute techniques │
│ Step 4: Self-Correct → Fix own issues │
│ Step 5: Report → Summary before sniper │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Auto-Detection Matrix
| Code Type Detected | Auto-Selected Techniques |
|--------------------|--------------------------|
| Authentication/Security | Security Audit, OWASP Check, Input Validation |
| API Endpoints | Error Handling, Type Coverage, API Contracts |
| Database/ORM | N+1 Detection, Migration Safety, Data Integrity |
| UI Components | Accessibility, Edge Cases, Loading States |
| Business Logic | SOLID Compliance, Unit Test Coverage, Edge Cases |
| Refactoring | Breaking Changes, Regression Analysis, Backward Compat |
| Performance Critical | Profiling, Memory Analysis, Complexity Check |
| Config/Docs/Plugin files (.md agents/skills, hooks.json, frontmatter YAML) | CQ-01, DOC-01, INT-01 + validation by the strictest parser in the consumption chain (e.g. js-yaml strict for frontmatter, json.tool for JSON) -- never "looks well-formed" |
Technique Categories (12)
Full catalog: references/techniques-catalog.md
- Code Quality (7): Code review, Pattern detection, Complexity analysis...
- Security (7): OWASP audit, Input validation, Auth check...
- Performance (6): Profiling, N+1 detection, Memory analysis...
- Architecture (6): SOLID check, Dependency analysis, Coupling review...
- Testing (6): Edge cases, Boundary testing, Error paths...
- Documentation (6): API review, Comment check, Type coverage...
- UX (6): Accessibility, Error messages, Loading states...
- Data (6): Schema validation, Migration safety, Data integrity...
- Concurrency (6): Race conditions, Deadlock analysis, State sync...
- Integration (7): API contracts, Backward compat, Breaking changes...
- Observability (6): Logging, Metrics, Error tracking...
- Maintainability (6): Readability, Naming, File organization...
Total: 75 techniques
Integration with APEX
A-nalyze → P-lan → E-xecute → [ELICIT] → X-amine
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
Expert Expert sniper
code self-review (final)
Benefits:
- Expert catches own mistakes before sniper
- Faster validation (less sniper corrections)
- Knowledge retention (expert learns from self-review)
Forbidden
- ❌ Skip init step (must load context)
- ❌ Apply techniques without understanding code type
- ❌ Self-correct without documenting changes
- ❌ Report without listing applied techniques
- ❌ Use techniques outside expertise domain
Exit Criteria (Step 5: Report)
Score = techniques applied / techniques selected, weighted by critical category (Security, Architecture).
| Score | Status | Action | |-------|--------|--------| | ≥ 90% | 🟢 | Proceed to sniper | | 70-89% | 🟡 | Document gaps, then proceed | | < 70% | 🔴 | Iterate before sniper |
Self-correction failure: If a self-correction breaks the code → revert that correction and keep the finding as a report item instead.
Artifact Contract
Step 5 persists .claude/apex/docs/elicit-{task-slug}.json so a later pass
diffs against prior verdicts instead of restarting from scratch. Full
contract, {task-slug} derivation, and JSON schema: references/artifact-contract.md.
Steps Reference
| Step | File | Purpose |
|------|------|---------|
| 0 | steps/step-00-init.md | Load context, detect mode, load prior artifact if present |
| 1 | steps/step-01-analyze-code.md | Analyze written code |
| 2 | steps/step-02-select-techniques.md | Select techniques |
| 3 | steps/step-03-apply-review.md | Apply review |
| 4 | steps/step-04-self-correct.md | Self-correct |
| 5 | steps/step-05-report.md | Generate report, persist elicit-{task-slug}.json |