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home / skills / bdambrosio / cognitive_workbench / is-question

is-question skill

/src/tools_out/is-question

This skill detects whether input text is a question and returns a boolean signal to guide conversational flows.

npx playbooks add skill bdambrosio/cognitive_workbench --skill is-question

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

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Skill.md
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---
name: is-question
description: Check if text contains a question
type: prompt_augmentation
parameters: none
examples:
  - '{"type":"if","condition":{"type":"tool_condition","tool":"is-question","target":"$input"},"then":[...]}'
---

# Is Question

Determines if the input text is a question or contains a question.

## Purpose

Boolean condition for identifying interrogative content in control flow.

## Input Format

Accepts:
- Plain text string

## Output Format

**CRITICAL**: Return ONLY the word "true" or "false", nothing else.

- Return "true" if the text is a question or contains a question
- Return "false" if the text is not a question

Do NOT include explanations, punctuation, or any other text. Only output "true" or "false".

## Examples

Input: "What is the weather like today?"
Output: true

Input: "The weather is nice today."
Output: false

Input: "I wonder if it will rain. Should I bring an umbrella?"
Output: true

Overview

This skill detects whether a given text is a question or contains one. It returns a strict boolean indicator to drive control flow or filters in pipelines. The output is deliberately minimal to support automated decision-making. Use it wherever you need an unambiguous question/non-question signal.

How this skill works

The skill analyzes the input plain text for interrogative patterns, punctuation, and common question words to determine if the text is a question or contains a question. It supports single sentences and multi-sentence inputs and flags true if any part appears interrogative. The skill returns ONLY the word "true" or "false" with no extra characters or explanation.

When to use it

  • Routing chat messages to question-answering modules
  • Filtering content that requires a response vs statements
  • Triggering follow-up prompts when user intent appears interrogative
  • Preprocessing transcripts to extract questions for summarization
  • Conditional logic in automation where a boolean question flag is needed

Best practices

  • Provide clear, plain-text input; avoid passing structured objects unless serialized
  • Supply the full user utterance so the skill can detect questions embedded in longer text
  • Treat the output as a strict control token: only "true" or "false" are returned
  • Post-process multi-sentence inputs separately if you need per-sentence granularity
  • Combine with intent classifiers when you need both question detection and intent type

Example use cases

  • Detecting whether a chat message should be handled by an FAQ bot
  • Automatically queuing items for human review when users ask clarifying questions
  • Routing voice-transcript sentences into Q&A vs logging streams
  • Triggering help tips when a tutorial user asks a question
  • Extracting questions from forum posts to populate an answer queue

FAQ

What exactly does the skill return?

It returns only the word "true" or "false" with no additional text or punctuation.

Can it handle multi-sentence inputs?

Yes — it returns true if any sentence in the input appears to be a question.

Should I expect contextual or intent classification?

No — this skill strictly detects interrogative form; use additional classifiers for intent.