Next Obvious Question#

A VS Code extension that shows, in the status bar, the next obvious question a reader would ask about the Markdown (.md) or LaTeX (.tex) document you are editing. The question is meant to be simple: the most basic thing a reader would want to know next.

Use#

Click the status bar item (or run "Next Obvious Question: Ask the Next Obvious Question") to ask. The question is only updated when you ask. An empty document gives "What is this?" without calling a model.

Once a question is showing, clicking the status bar opens a menu:

• "Different question" (also the command "Ask a Different Question") asks for another question, excluding every question rejected this way since the last edit or fresh ask.
• "Ask again" starts over with no exclusions.

Editing the document clears the list of rejected questions.

Placeholders such as TODO, TBD, FIXME or \todo{...} are treated as planned content: the model imagines them written as described and asks the next question a reader of that completed draft would have, rather than asking for what the placeholder will provide.

Backends#

Set nextObviousQuestion.backend:

• claudeCode (default): runs the local Claude Code CLI (claude -p) with tools, settings and MCP servers disabled, billed to your Claude subscription. Model: nextObviousQuestion.claudeCodeModel (default sonnet). If VS Code cannot find claude, set nextObviousQuestion.claudeCodePath.
• openrouter: calls the OpenRouter API. Model: nextObviousQuestion.openrouterModel (default anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5). The key is asked for on first use and kept in VS Code's secret storage; OPENROUTER_API_KEY in the environment also works. Change it with "Next Obvious Question: Set OpenRouter API Key".

Build and install#

npm install
npm run package
code --install-extension next-obvious-question-0.0.1.vsix