---
name: council
description: "Convene a council of AI advisor agents with distinct perspectives to deliberate on a topic, then synthesize their views into a verdict. Use when: (1) user asks for multi-perspective analysis, (2) wants to brainstorm with diverse viewpoints, (3) requests a council or advisors opinion, (4) needs a balanced decision on a complex question. Supports parallel (default), sequential, and debate flows with configurable round count. NOT for: simple factual lookups, single-perspective tasks, or quick one-liner answers."
---

# Council Skill

Spawn a council of 3 advisor subagents + 1 referee subagent to deliberate on a topic.
Each advisor has a distinct personality/lens. The referee synthesizes their output into a
final verdict with collapsed advisor perspectives.

## Parameters

| Parameter | Default | Description |
|-----------|---------|-------------|
| flow      | parallel | `parallel`, `sequential`, or `debate` |
| rounds    | 1       | Number of deliberation rounds (1-5). Round 1 = opening positions. Round 2+ = rebuttals where advisors see and respond to each other. |
| tier      | light   | Model tier: `light`, `medium`, or `heavy` (see Model Selection) |

**Quick reference:**
- `flow=parallel, rounds=1` — fast single-shot, all advisors in parallel, then referee (default)
- `flow=parallel, rounds=3` — parallel opening + 2 rebuttal rounds + referee (recommended for depth)
- `flow=sequential, rounds=1` — each advisor sees prior outputs, then referee
- `flow=debate, rounds=3` — parallel opening + cross-advisor rebuttals + referee synthesis

## Advisor Roster (default)

| Role         | Lens                            | System stance                    |
|--------------|---------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| Pragmatist   | Feasibility, cost, effort       | "Can we actually do this?"       |
| Visionary    | Long-term potential, innovation | "What if we went bigger?"        |
| Skeptic      | Risk, failure modes, edge cases | "What could go wrong?"           |

The referee is a separate agent: balanced, fair, synthesis-oriented.

## Flows

### 1. Parallel + Synthesis (default)

Single-round version (rounds=1):
1. Spawn all 3 advisors simultaneously via `sessions_spawn` (mode=run).
2. Each advisor receives the same topic prompt with their personality instructions.
3. Wait for all 3 to complete (push-based).
4. Spawn the referee with all 3 advisor outputs.
5. Referee produces the final verdict.

Multi-round version (rounds=N):
1. **Round 1**: Spawn all 3 advisors in parallel with opening position prompt.
2. Collect all outputs.
3. **Round 2..N**: For each rebuttal round, respawn all 3 advisors in parallel. Each receives:
   - Their own prior position(s)
   - All other advisors' prior round output
   - Round-specific instructions (rebuttal prompt for middle rounds, final position prompt for last round)
4. Collect outputs after each round.
5. **Referee**: Spawn referee with the full debate transcript (all rounds, all advisors).

### 2. Sequential Rounds

Single-round (rounds=1):
1. Spawn advisors one at a time, each seeing prior advisor outputs.
2. Spawn referee with full thread.

Multi-round (rounds=N):
1. **Round 1**: Advisors go sequentially, each seeing prior advisors in that round.
2. **Round 2..N**: Each advisor sees ALL prior round outputs before giving their rebuttal/final take.
3. **Referee**: Gets the full thread.

### 3. Debate

Always multi-round (minimum rounds=2, default rounds=3 for this flow):
1. **Round 1**: Parallel opening takes.
2. **Round 2..N-1**: Cross-rebuttals — each advisor responds to all others.
3. **Round N**: Final positions.
4. **Referee**: Gets full debate transcript, notes evolution of positions.

## Model Selection

Pick model tier based on topic complexity:

- **light** (casual brainstorm, simple pros/cons): default model for advisors and referee.
- **medium** (architecture decisions, strategy): default model for advisors, stronger model for referee.
- **heavy** (critical decisions, deep analysis): stronger model for all agents.

The caller (main agent) determines tier before spawning.

## Round-Specific Prompt Guidance

See `references/prompts.md` for all prompt templates. Key points:

- **Round 1 (Opening)**: Full advisor system prompt + topic. Ask for opening position.
- **Middle rounds (Rebuttals)**: Include prior positions from ALL advisors. Ask: where do you agree, push back, or change your mind? Keep shorter (200-300 words).
- **Final round**: Ask for final synthesis — what changed, what held firm, final recommendation in 2-3 sentences. Keep shortest (150-250 words).
- **Referee (multi-round)**: Include the FULL debate transcript organized by round. Ask referee to note position evolution, not just final states.

## Implementation

Read `scripts/council.sh` for the orchestration logic.
For programmatic invocation, the main agent calls `sessions_spawn` directly
following the patterns above.

## Configuration

Advisor personalities can be customized per-invocation by overriding the roster.
Default roster and prompt templates live in `references/prompts.md`.

## TODO (revisit later)
- Revisit subagent personality depth — richer backstories, communication styles
- Revisit skill name — "council" works for now
- Experiment with different round counts and flows to find optimal depth/cost tradeoffs