Clarifying Questions (AskUserQuestion tool) in Claude Code

When you enter plan mode and give Claude your initial prompt, the next thing that happens might be the most important step in the entire workflow: Claude asks you clarifying questions. Using the Ask User Question tool, Claude generates structured multiple-choice questions with keyboard navigation, recommendations, and explanations under each option. This is exactly what a senior developer or experienced product manager would do at the start of a project — instead of jumping straight into code, they extract knowledge, surface edge cases, and resolve technical trade-offs before writing a single line.

This lesson picks up the live demo from the plan mode video, walking through the full clarifying questions flow for the agency dashboard project. You'll see how Claude asks about tech stack, data sources, visual style, and interactive features, then uses your answers to produce a comprehensive written plan. The lesson also covers how to review the generated plan, where plan files are stored on your system, how to edit them directly, and the two options for transitioning from planning into building.

What's covered:

• The Ask User Question tool interface: multiple choice, multi-select, and free-text input options
• How Claude's questions mirror what a senior developer would ask before starting a project
• Why having Claude suggest ideas for you to evaluate is easier than generating them yourself
• Live walkthrough of answering clarifying questions for the dashboard project
• Where plan files are saved on your system and how to edit them with Cmd+G
• Transitioning from plan to build: clearing context vs. keeping planning context intact
• How context window usage during planning affects your building phase