AUQ - Ask User Questions

AskUserQuestion pushed to the max

A complete toolset that enables maximum level of human-(intention-)in-the-loop onto any long-running, multi-agentic AI workflows (like Ralph Loop!).

Single/multiple choice questions, custom options, multi-agent interoperability, question queueing, question rejection with explanation, elaboration requesting, quick recommendations auto-selection, themes, native OS notification, terminal progress bar, multi-language support, agent skills support... and more. You can customize them all too!

Can be used via MCP server / OpenCode plugin / Agent Skills.

Setup • Usage

🤔 I already have question tool in CC/OC/Cursor. Why use this?

What does it do?

AUQ lets your AI assistants ask clarifying questions consisting of multiple-choice/single-choice questions (with an "Other" option for custom input / rejection / ask for elaboration) while coding or working, and wait for your answers through a separate CLI window without messing up your workflow.

This lets you inject your intent into long-running autonomous AI tasks—no more switching windows or babysitting AIs. Turn on the CLI anytime, even remotely via SSH!

In AI-assisted coding, guiding LLMs to ask clarifying questions have been widely recognized as a powerful prompt engineering technique to overcome LLM hallucination and generate more contextually appropriate code [1].

On October 18th, Claude Code 2.0.21 introduced an internal AskUserQuestion tool. Inspired by it, I decided to build a similar tool that is:

• Integration-flexible - Works with MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) and has official OpenCode plugin support
• Non-invasive - Doesn't heavily integrate with your coding CLI workflow or occupy UI space
• Multi-agent friendly - Supports receiving questions from multiple agents simultaneously in parallel workflows

✨ Demo

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3a135a13-fcb1-4795-9a6b-f426fa079674

Setup Instructions

🚀 Install CLI Tool

First, install the AUQ CLI:

Global Installation (Recommended)

Bun (recommended — required for default OpenTUI renderer)

bun add -g auq-mcp-server

npm

npm install -g auq-mcp-server

pnpm

pnpm add -g auq-mcp-server

yarn

yarn global add auq-mcp-server

Note: Bun is recommended for the default OpenTUI renderer. When installed via npm/pnpm/yarn, the shell wrapper auto-detects Bun at runtime. If Bun is not available, it falls back to Node.js with the legacy Ink renderer.

# Install in your project
bun add auq-mcp-server

Sessions are stored globally regardless of installation method. See Troubleshooting for session locations.

🔌 Integrate to your AI

AUQ supports multiple AI environments. Choose between OpenCode plugin and MCP server.

Option A: MCP Server

Note: Due to differences in how some MCP clients are implemented, AUQ may be forcibly cancelled in tools that do not allow extending the global MCP timeout. If that's the case, consider using Agent Skills. Use OpenCode plugin if you use OpenCode.

Method 1: Using CLI (Recommended)

claude mcp add --transport stdio ask-user-questions -- bunx -y auq-mcp-server server

Note: npx also works if you prefer npm.

Method 2: Manual Configuration

Add to .mcp.json in your project root (for team-wide sharing):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask-user-questions": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["-y", "auq-mcp-server", "server"]
    }
  }
}

Or add to ~/.claude.json for global access across all projects.

Note: Replace bunx if you don't use bun.

Verify setup: Type /mcp in Claude Code to check server status.

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.ask-user-questions]
command = "bunx"
args = ["-y", "auq-mcp-server", "server"]
tool_timeout_sec = 99999  // Extend timeout for long sessions

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ask-user-questions": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["-y", "auq-mcp-server", "server"]
    }
  }
}

Replace bunx if you don't use bun.

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Option B: OpenCode Plugin

Direct integration for OpenCode users. Adds working directory viewability feature exclusively.

Configuration

Add to opencode.json:

{
  "plugin": ["@paulp-o/opencode-auq@latest"]
}

Option C: Agent Skills (Experimental)

Usage with Skills-Compatible Agents

Copy the skills/ask-user-questions/ folder to your agent's skills directory.

This skill guides the AI to use AUQ CLI's hidden command, auq ask with raw JSON as parameters. Unlike MCP or proper tool harness systems, malformed JSON healing/schema enforcement aren't supported natively; therefore a less capable model could struggle to call properly.

💻 Usage

Starting the CLI tool

auq       # if installed globally (bun add -g)
# bunx auq
# npx auq

Start by defining your workflow to use AUQ tool for clarifying questions, on AGENTS.md (or CLAUDE.md), like:

Whenever you need clarification on what you are working on, never guess, and call AUQ(ask-user-questions).

When the AI asks questions, you'll see them appear in the AUQ TUI. Answer them at your convenience.

Renderer Selection

AUQ supports two terminal rendering engines:

| Renderer | Description | Status | | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------- | | OpenTUI (default) | Native Zig-based renderer with improved performance | Stable (requires Bun) | | ink | React-based terminal renderer | Fallback (Node.js) |

OpenTUI is the default renderer and requires Bun runtime. When Bun is unavailable, AUQ automatically falls back to the Ink renderer.

To force a specific renderer, set one of the following (in priority order):

1. Environment variable (highest priority):

   AUQ_RENDERER=ink auq    # force ink
   AUQ_RENDERER=opentui auq  # force opentui

2. Config file (.auqrc.json):

   {
     "renderer": "ink"
   }

3. CLI command:

   auq config set renderer ink

Note: OpenTUI provides native CJK character support, built-in markdown rendering with syntax highlighting, and mouse support. The shell wrapper (bin/auq) auto-detects Bun at runtime.

Markdown rendering in question prompts

Question prompts now support Markdown formatting in the prompt text.

• Supported: bold, italic, ~~strikethrough~~, inline code, links, and fenced code blocks (with syntax highlighting)
• Links render as text (url) for broad terminal compatibility
• Code blocks use theme-aware colors (background/text/border)
• Always enabled (no configuration needed)
• Plain text prompts pass through unchanged
• Graceful fallback: if Markdown parsing fails, the raw text is shown

Note: AUQ is an unopinionated tool and doesn't include prompts on HOW AI should leverage it. It is expected that you do your own prompt engineering to make the most out of it in your own workflows. I personally enjoy prompting it to ask at least 30 questions repeatedly before action!

Recommended Setups

It is recommended to disable the built-in questioning tool in your harness (like the question tool in OpenCode or AskUserQuestion in Claude Code) to avoid AI from mixing them up.

Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

| Key | Action | Description | | -------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Space | Select | Select/toggle option without advancing | | Enter | Select & Next | Select option and advance to next question | | R | Recommended | Select recommended option(s) for current question | | Ctrl+R | Quick Submit | Auto-select recommended options for all questions and go to review | | Esc | Reject | Reject the whole question set and optionally explain why to the AI | | Ctrl+T | Theme | Cycle through available color themes | | [/] | Sessions | Switch to previous/next session (OpenTUI: also click session dots) |

Mouse Support (OpenTUI renderer only):

| Action | Description | | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | Click option | Select/toggle option | | Scroll | Scroll through session picker or update overlay | | Click session dot | Switch to that session |

| Key | Action | | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | ↑↓ | Navigate options | | ←→/Tab | Switch between questions | | Space | Select/toggle option without advancing | | Enter | Select option and advance to next question | | R | Select recommended option(s) for current question | | Ctrl+R | Quick submit — auto-fill recommended, go to review | | Esc | Reject the whole question set and optionally explain why | | Ctrl+T | Cycle through available color themes | | Ctrl+S | Open session picker | | 1-9 | Jump directly to session by number | | [/] | Navigate between sessions | | U | Open update overlay (when update available) |

# you won't likely need these at all
auq server       # Start MCP server
auq --version    # Show version
auq update       # Check for and install updates
auq --help       # Show help

CLI Commands

AUQ provides headless CLI commands for managing sessions and configuration without the TUI. Run auq --help for the complete reference.

Answer Sessions

auq answer <sessionId> --answers '{"0": {"selectedOption": "option1"}}'
auq answer <sessionId> --answers '{"0": {"selectedOptions": ["A", "B"]}}'  # multi-select
auq answer <sessionId> --answers '{"0": {"customText": "free text"}}'  # custom text
auq answer <sessionId> --reject --reason "Not applicable"
auq answer <sessionId> --answers '...' --force  # abandoned session
auq answer <sessionId> --answers '...' --json

Manage Sessions

auq sessions list                    # pending sessions (default)
auq sessions list --stale             # stale sessions only
auq sessions list --all               # all sessions
auq sessions show <sessionId>         # session details
auq sessions dismiss <sessionId>      # dismiss stale session
auq sessions dismiss <sessionId> --force
auq sessions list --limit 10 --page 2 # pagination
auq sessions list --json

Session History

auq history                           # list session history
auq history --all                     # include abandoned
auq history --unread                  # unread only
auq history --search "deploy"          # search
auq history --limit 10 --page 2       # pagination
auq history show <sessionId>          # full Q&A detail
auq history --json

Fetch Answers (Programmatic)

auq fetch-answers --unread            # list unread answered sessions
auq fetch-answers <sessionId>         # fetch specific session
auq fetch-answers <sessionId> --blocking  # wait until answered
auq fetch-answers --limit 10 --page 2
auq fetch-answers --json

Configuration

auq config get                        # view all
auq config get staleThreshold         # view specific
auq config set staleThreshold 3600000 # set local
auq config set staleThreshold 3600000 --global  # set global

Update

auq update        # interactive update check
auq update -y     # skip confirmation

Pagination

List commands (sessions list, history, fetch-answers) support:

• --limit <N> — Max items per page (default: 20)
• --page <N> — Page number (default: 1)

| Variable | Description | | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | AUQ_RENDERER | Override renderer ("ink" or "opentui") | | AUQ_SESSION_DIR | Custom session storage directory | | XDG_CONFIG_HOME | Custom config directory (default: ~/.config) | | NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER | Set to "1" to disable update checks |

Stale Session Detection

Sessions that remain unanswered longer than the configured threshold are marked as "stale" (potentially orphaned). This helps identify sessions where the AI may have disconnected or timed out.

• Visual indicators: Stale sessions show a ⚠ warning icon and yellow highlighting in the TUI
• Toast notifications: A notification appears when a session becomes stale (configurable)
• Grace period: Interacting with a stale session provides a 30-minute grace period
• Configurable threshold: Default is 2 hours (7,200,000ms)

Abandoned Session Handling

When an AI client disconnects, associated sessions are marked as "abandoned". These sessions:

• Remain visible in the TUI with a red indicator
• Show a confirmation dialog before answering ("AI가 disconnect되었습니다")
• Can still be answered via CLI with the --force flag
• Are detectable via auq sessions list --all

Auto-Update

AUQ automatically checks for updates and keeps itself up to date.

How it works

• All updates (patch, minor, major): A fullscreen overlay is shown with changelog and options to update, skip, or defer.
• Update checks: Run on every TUI launch (no delay/cache).
• CLI notification: When running non-TUI commands, a one-line update notification is shown if a newer version is available.

Manual update

Run auq update to manually check for and install updates:

auq update        # Interactive update check
auq update -y     # Skip confirmation prompt

Disabling update checks

Disable automatic update checks via config:

auq config set updateCheck false

Or set the environment variable:

NO_UPDATE_NOTIFIER=1 auq ask "question"

Update checks are automatically disabled in CI environments (CI=true).

The auq update command always works regardless of these settings.

Theme System

AUQ supports 16 built-in color themes with automatic persistence. Press Ctrl+T to cycle through themes.

Theme Differences by Renderer

| Feature | ink | OpenTUI | | ---------------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------- | | Header text | Gradient animation | Solid accent color | | Toast animations | setTimeout based | useTimeline based | | Markdown syntax | Basic highlighting | Tree-sitter powered | | Mouse support | No | Yes (click options, scroll, session dots) |

Both renderers support all 16 built-in themes and custom themes. Colors are consistent; only implementation details differ.

| Theme | Style | | ---------------- | ------------------------ | | AUQ dark | Default dark theme | | AUQ light | Default light theme | | Nord | Arctic, bluish | | Dracula | Dark purple/pink | | Catppuccin Mocha | Warm dark pastels | | Catppuccin Latte | Warm light pastels | | Solarized Dark | Low contrast dark | | Solarized Light | Low contrast light | | Gruvbox Dark | Retro groove dark | | Gruvbox Light | Retro groove light | | Tokyo Night | Dark with vibrant colors | | One Dark | Atom-inspired dark | | Monokai | Classic vibrant dark | | GitHub Dark | GitHub's dark mode | | GitHub Light | GitHub's light mode | | Rosé Pine | Warm, cozy pinks |

Your selected theme is automatically saved to ~/.config/auq/config.json and restored on next launch.

Create custom themes by placing .theme.json files in:

• macOS/Linux: ~/.config/auq/themes/

Example custom theme (~/.config/auq/themes/my-theme.theme.json):

{
  "name": "my-theme",
  "colors": {
    "primary": "#ff6b6b",
    "success": "#51cf66",
    "text": "#f8f9fa"
  }
}

Custom themes inherit from the default dark theme—only override the colors you want to change. See the JSON schema for all available properties.

Manual session cleanup

Sessions auto-clean after retention period. However, you can manually clean them up if you want to.

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/auq/sessions/*  # macOS
rm -rf ~/.local/share/auq/sessions/*                  # Linux

To test the MCP server and CLI locally during development:

1. Start the MCP Server (Terminal 1)

# Option A: Run with tsx (recommended for development)
bun run start

# Option B: Run with fastmcp dev mode (includes web inspector at http://localhost:6274)
bun run dev

# Option C: Run the built version
bun run build && bun run server

2. Create a Test Session (Terminal 2)

Use the auq ask command to create a session and wait for answers:

# Run directly with bun during development
bun run bin/auq.tsx ask '{"questions": [{"prompt": "Which language?", "title": "Lang", "options": [{"label": "TypeScript"}, {"label": "Python"}], "multiSelect": false}]}'

# Or pipe JSON to stdin
echo '{"questions": [{"prompt": "Which database?", "title": "DB", "options": [{"label": "PostgreSQL"}, {"label": "MongoDB"}], "multiSelect": false}]}' | bun run bin/auq.tsx ask

This will create a session and wait for the TUI to provide answers.

3. Answer with the TUI (Terminal 3)

# Run the TUI to answer pending questions
bun run bin/auq.tsx

Create Mock Sessions for TUI Testing

To test the TUI with multiple pending sessions:

# Create 3 mock sessions (default)
bun run scripts/create-mock-session.ts

# Create a specific number of sessions
bun run scripts/create-mock-session.ts 5

Then run the TUI to see and answer them:

bun run bin/auq.tsx

Verify MCP and CLI Use Same Session Directory

Both components should report the same session directory path. Check the logs:

• MCP server logs session directory on startup
• auq ask prints [AUQ] Session directory: <path> to stderr

On macOS, both should use: ~/Library/Application Support/auq/sessions

Development Commands

# Regenerate the skill from source
bun run generate:skill

# Validate skill structure and content
bun run validate:skill

Session Storage

Sessions are stored in platform-specific global locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/auq/sessions
• Linux: ~/.local/share/auq/sessions (or $XDG_DATA_HOME/auq/sessions)
• Windows: %APPDATA%\auq\sessions

Can be customized with AUQ_SESSION_DIR environment variable.

AUQ can be configured via a .auqrc.json file. Settings are loaded from (in priority order):

1. Local: ./.auqrc.json (project directory)
2. Global: ~/.config/auq/.auqrc.json (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/auq/.auqrc.json)
3. Defaults: Built-in values

Settings from local config override global config, which overrides defaults.

Default Configuration

{
  "renderer": "opentui",
  "maxOptions": 5,
  "maxQuestions": 5,
  "recommendedOptions": 4,
  "recommendedQuestions": 4,
  "sessionTimeout": 0,
  "retentionPeriod": 604800000,
  "language": "auto",
  "theme": "system",
  "autoSelectRecommended": true,
  "updateCheck": true,
  "notifications": {
    "enabled": true,
    "sound": true
  }
}

| Setting | Type | Default | Range/Values | Description | | ----------------------- | ------- | --------- | ------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | | renderer | string | "opentui" | "ink", "opentui" | Terminal rendering engine (OpenTUI default, ink fallback) | | maxOptions | number | 5 | 2-10 | Maximum options per question | | maxQuestions | number | 5 | 1-10 | Maximum questions per session | | recommendedOptions | number | 4 | 1-10 | Suggested number of options (for AI guidance) | | recommendedQuestions | number | 4 | 1-10 | Suggested number of questions (for AI guidance) | | language | string | "auto" | "auto", "en", "ko" | UI language (auto-detects from system if "auto") | | theme | string | "system" | "system", "dark", "light", etc. | Color theme for TUI | | sessionTimeout | number | 0 | 0+ (milliseconds) | Session timeout (0 = no timeout) | | retentionPeriod | number | 604800000 | 0+ (milliseconds) | How long to keep completed sessions (default: 7 days) | | notifications.enabled | boolean | true | true/false | Enable desktop notifications for new questions | | notifications.sound | boolean | true | true/false | Play sound with notifications | | staleThreshold | number | 7200000 | 0+ (milliseconds) | Time before a session is considered stale (2 hours) | | notifyOnStale | boolean | true | true/false | Show toast notification when sessions become stale | | staleAction | string | "warn" | "warn", "remove", "archive" | Action for stale sessions | | updateCheck | boolean | true | true/false | Enable automatic update checks on startup |

Language Support

AUQ supports multiple languages for the TUI interface:

• English (en) - Default
• Korean (ko) - 한국어

Language is auto-detected from system locale (LANG, LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES environment variables) when set to "auto".

Desktop Notifications

AUQ uses native desktop notifications to alert you when new questions arrive.

Platform Requirements

| Platform | Status | Notes | | -------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | macOS | ✅ Works out of the box | Uses Notification Center | | Windows | ✅ Works out of the box | Uses Action Center | | Linux | ⚠️ Requires libnotify | Install: sudo apt-get install libnotify-bin |

Notifications can be disabled in configuration if needed.

Features:

• Batched Notifications: Rapid session arrivals are batched into a single notification
• Progress Bar: Shows question completion progress in terminal dock icon (supported terminals like iTerm2 and WezTerm)
• Native Integration: Uses system-native notification centers

Configuration:

{
  "notifications": {
    "enabled": true,
    "sound": true
  }
}

• notifications.enabled (default: true): Enable desktop notifications
• notifications.sound (default: true): Play sound with notifications

Set notifications.enabled to false to disable all notifications.

🤔 Why AUQ vs. Built-in Questioning Tools?

A clean decision inbox so you & AI stay in flow.

You're an AI power user, running multiple agents on multiple instances. Highly parallelized, the AIs ask questions to you simultaneously, on multiple threads—scattered across different windows. AUQ enables them to ask anytime, collects everything in one inbox, and lets you respond on your terms—then elegantly routes answers back to each agent.

       Claude Code    Cursor    OpenCode
            │           │           │
            ▼           ▼           ▼
          ┌─────────────────────────────┐
          │        📥 AUQ Inbox         │
          └─────────────────────────────┘
                        │
                        ▼
                      🖥️ TUI
                        │
                        ▼
          ┌─────────────────────────────┐
          │       Your Answers          │
          └─────────────────────────────┘
            │           │           │
            ▼           ▼           ▼
       Claude Code    Cursor    OpenCode

📥 One Inbox for All Agents — Multiple agents ask in one place. One queue, one source of truth.

🧠 Teach the AI — Reject bad questions and tell it why. Turn "no" into better follow-ups.

❓ Fix the Question First — Can't answer because it's vague? Request elaboration before you guess.

⚡ Blast Through the Obvious — Ctrl+R accepts all recommended options. Focus on the hard decisions.

🔔 Pinged When It Matters — Native notifications, batched so you're not spammed.

🌐 Works Where You Work — SSH into a remote server? AUQ runs there too.

• 🎨 16 built-in themes + custom theme support
• 🌍 i18n (English, Korean) with auto-detection
• 📊 Dock progress bar (iTerm2, WezTerm, Ghostty)
• 🔤 Full CJK character support

Power Moves

| Shortcut | What it does | | -------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Space | Select option without advancing | | Enter | Select option and advance to next question | | R | Select recommended option(s) for current question | | Ctrl+R | Quick submit — auto-fill recommended, go to review | | Esc | Reject question set — optionally explain why | | Ctrl+T | Cycle through 16 themes |

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

[1] arXiv:2308.13507 https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.13507