Claude Code: AskUserQuestion Now Displays Markdown

Thariq, developer at Anthropic, just announced a significant improvement to the AskUserQuestion tool in Claude Code: markdown snippet support.

Before: Text-Only Questions

Until now, when Claude Code needed clarification, it asked a simple question with text options. Useful, but limited for complex technical decisions.

For example, to choose between two architectures, you’d get:

Which architecture do you prefer?
1. Microservices
2. Modular Monolith

Hard to make an informed choice without seeing what it actually implies.

Now: Rich Media Visualization

With markdown support, AskUserQuestion can now display:

• Diagrams: Mermaid, ASCII art, architecture schemas
• Code examples: snippets with syntax highlighting
• Comparative tables: to weigh pros and cons
• Mockups: visual representations of interfaces

The same architecture choice becomes:

Which architecture do you prefer?

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Option 1: Microservices                                      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                             │
│   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐                  │
│   │  Auth   │   │  API    │   │  Worker │                  │
│   │ Service │   │ Gateway │   │ Service │                  │
│   └────┬────┘   └────┬────┘   └────┬────┘                  │
│        │             │             │                        │
│        └─────────────┼─────────────┘                        │
│                      │                                      │
│              ┌───────┴───────┐                              │
│              │ Message Queue │                              │
│              └───────────────┘                              │
│                                                             │
│ ✅ Independent scalability                                  │
│ ❌ Operational complexity                                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Option 2: Modular Monolith                                  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                             │
│   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐              │
│   │           Monolith Application           │              │
│   │  ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌─────────┐   │              │
│   │  │  Auth   │ │   API   │ │ Worker  │   │              │
│   │  │ Module  │ │ Module  │ │ Module  │   │              │
│   │  └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘   │              │
│   │              Shared Database             │              │
│   └─────────────────────────────────────────┘              │
│                                                             │
│ ✅ Deployment simplicity                                    │
│ ❌ Limited scalability                                      │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Concrete Use Cases

Choosing a Code Pattern

// Option 1: Factory Pattern
interface UserFactory {
  create(type: string): User;
}

class DefaultUserFactory implements UserFactory {
  create(type: string) {
    switch(type) {
      case 'admin': return new AdminUser();
      case 'guest': return new GuestUser();
      default: return new StandardUser();
    }
  }
}

// Option 2: Builder Pattern
class UserBuilder {
  private user: User;

  withRole(role: string) {
    this.user.role = role;
    return this;
  }

  build() {
    return this.user;
  }
}

Comparing Configurations

Criteria	PostgreSQL	MongoDB
Relations	✅ ACID	❌ NoSQL
Flexibility	❌ Fixed schema	✅ Schemaless
Queries	✅ Powerful SQL	⚠️ Aggregation pipeline

Impact on Workflow

This improvement transforms AskUserQuestion from a simple clarification tool into a true decision-making tool.

Instead of answering “I don’t know, show me more”, you can now make an informed choice by directly seeing the implications.

Usage

Developers creating skills or using Claude Code in agent mode can leverage this feature by including markdown in the markdown parameter of AskUserQuestion options.

Source: Thariq on X