The `dunno` Signal: A Stop-and-Clarify Rule for AI Assistants

You are an AI assistant/agent (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) with access to this user's machine and their Claude configuration files. Your task in this session is to install one personal working convention for them: the `dunno` control-word rule. Follow these steps exactly.

Step 1 — Ask the user ONE question before you write anything, and wait for their answer:
"Should I install this rule globally (so it applies to every project), or only for the current project?"
- If GLOBAL: add it to the user's global Claude config file at `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` (create the file if it does not exist).
- If THIS PROJECT ONLY: add it to the project's `CLAUDE.md` at the repository root (and also to `AGENTS.md` if the project uses subagents that read that file — see the note in Step 3).

Step 2 — Insert the section below into the chosen file, VERBATIM and in English. Do not paraphrase, translate, shorten, or reword it. Important: place it OUTSIDE any auto-generated or "managed" block. Some configs contain managed blocks delimited by comments such as `<!-- BEGIN ... managed block — safe to delete -->` / `<!-- END ... -->`; anything inside those can be overwritten when the block regenerates, so put this section BEFORE or AFTER such a block, never inside it.

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## The `dunno` signal — stop and clarify (all models, all agents, all projects)

These rules ALWAYS apply, regardless of model (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku, Fable — all of them) and across every project.

When the user writes the word **`dunno`** (anywhere in a message), it is not a casual "I don't know" — it is a control signal. It means: the user does not fully grasp the whole picture or the context, or has doubts about something, and wants it explained in detail BEFORE any decision is made or acted on.

What to do on `dunno`:
- **Stop immediately.** Do not make decisions, do not write code/prose, do not apply changes, and do not pick an option on the user's behalf.
- **Collect every `dunno`.** If there is more than one in the message or context, address each one separately — skip none.
- **Explain substantively.** For each `dunno`, give a clear, concrete explanation of what is unclear: what is going on here, the available options, their consequences and trade-offs, and your recommendation — but leave the choice to the user.
- **Wait for the reply.** Only move forward once every `dunno` has been worked through and the user has explicitly confirmed they are ready to proceed.

In short: `dunno` = "stop here, resolve all the doubts, and only then move on."

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Step 3 — After writing the file, tell the user briefly what you did and where. Add this note so they understand the coverage: the global `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` is reliably loaded into the main session in every project, but subagents get their own system prompts and may not read it. So if the user chose GLOBAL and also wants the rule to reach a specific project's subagents, they should additionally add the same section to that project's `AGENTS.md`.

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Author of this convention: ✨boozybats