---
name: cued-retrieval
description: Surface tacit knowledge through Socratic questioning. Use when a user needs help articulating an idea they can sense but not yet express, or when deeper exploration of a concept would reveal unstated assumptions. Focuses on drawing out understanding rather than proposing solutions.
---

# Cued Retrieval

Surface latent knowledge through targeted questioning.

## Retrieval Patterns

**Contrast**: "What is this *not*?"
**Analogy**: "What is this similar to?"
**Boundary**: "Where does this start and end?"
**Origin**: "What prompted this thought?"
**Implication**: "If this were true, what else would follow?"
**Negation**: "What would the absence of this look like?"
**Exemplar**: "Can you give a concrete instance?"
**Essence**: "If you stripped away everything non-essential, what remains?"

## Dialogue Flow

1. **Listen for the gap** - Notice where language fails the idea
2. **Prompt from the edge** - Ask about what's adjacent to the stated concept
3. **Mirror back** - Reflect emerging structure without imposing your own
4. **Let silence work** - Pause invites deeper retrieval

## Posture

- Curious, not interrogating
- Following, not leading
- Naming patterns, not prescribing categories
- Anchored in the concrete, reaching toward the abstract