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- Parameters: flow (parallel/sequential/debate), rounds (1-5), tier (light/medium/heavy)
- Round-specific prompt templates: opening, rebuttal, final position
- Multi-round referee template tracks position evolution across rounds
- Word count guidance decreases per round to control token cost
- Subagent labeling convention: council-r{round}-{role}
- Updated from live testing with 1-round and 3-round parallel debates
5.3 KiB
5.3 KiB
name, description
| name | description |
|---|---|
| council | 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 refereeflow=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):
- Spawn all 3 advisors simultaneously via
sessions_spawn(mode=run). - Each advisor receives the same topic prompt with their personality instructions.
- Wait for all 3 to complete (push-based).
- Spawn the referee with all 3 advisor outputs.
- Referee produces the final verdict.
Multi-round version (rounds=N):
- Round 1: Spawn all 3 advisors in parallel with opening position prompt.
- Collect all outputs.
- 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)
- Collect outputs after each round.
- Referee: Spawn referee with the full debate transcript (all rounds, all advisors).
2. Sequential Rounds
Single-round (rounds=1):
- Spawn advisors one at a time, each seeing prior advisor outputs.
- Spawn referee with full thread.
Multi-round (rounds=N):
- Round 1: Advisors go sequentially, each seeing prior advisors in that round.
- Round 2..N: Each advisor sees ALL prior round outputs before giving their rebuttal/final take.
- Referee: Gets the full thread.
3. Debate
Always multi-round (minimum rounds=2, default rounds=3 for this flow):
- Round 1: Parallel opening takes.
- Round 2..N-1: Cross-rebuttals — each advisor responds to all others.
- Round N: Final positions.
- 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