Skill Council

Council

Use this skill for /octo:council and council-style requests.

EXECUTION CONTRACT: MANDATORY

/octo:council is a runner-backed workflow. Execute the real shell runner by default:

"${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-$HOME/.claude-octopus/plugin}/scripts/orchestrate.sh" council <user arguments>

Sandbox-safe invocation (required under Claude Code's sandbox). orchestrate.sh must be the FIRST token of the command. The sandbox's unsandboxed-command allowlist is a leading-anchored prefix match, so a command that begins with cd …, an inline VAR=… env-assignment, or any other prefix will NOT match an …/orchestrate.sh * entry — the runner then executes sandboxed and its codex/agy seat children fail to write temp files (Operation not permitted, agy mkstemp in /var/folders), so the council abandons the runner and falls back to direct single-provider dispatch. To run against a worktree, pass --dir <path> (the runner already honors -d/--dir) instead of wrapping in cd <path> && …; set any environment in a separate prior step or via a leading env VAR=… /abs/path/orchestrate.sh council … so the resolvable binary path is still first. Never prefix the runner with cd.

Do not simulate a council, role-play all members inside the current model, or answer directly in place of the runner. A single-model simulation must be explicitly requested with --simulate or --single-model; when used, label the output as single-model simulation and keep the generated summary.json path visible. Otherwise, missing provider quorum is a partial/failed council, not permission to silently downgrade.

Phase 0A: Interactive Clarification

If the user invokes /octo:council with an ambiguous task, missing goal/depth intent, uncertain implementation permission, or unclear research/corpus expectations, use AskUserQuestion before running the council runner. If the prompt already includes clear flags and a clear task, skip this phase and execute immediately.

Use 2-4 mutually exclusive choices per question, put the recommended option first, and map the answers to runner flags before execution. Do not end with a free-form question or a set of questions; present the choice interaction and wait for the answer.

Default council clarification:

AskUserQuestion({
  questions: [
    {
      question: "How should the council handle this request?",
      header: "Council Goal",
      multiSelect: false,
      options: [
        {label: "Advice (Recommended)", description: "Return a structured recommendation without implementation"},
        {label: "Decision", description: "Optimize for choosing between specific options"},
        {label: "Implementation plan", description: "Produce a plan but do not edit files"},
        {label: "Review", description: "Critique existing code, docs, or strategy"}
      ]
    },
    {
      question: "How deep should the council go?",
      header: "Depth",
      multiSelect: false,
      options: [
        {label: "Standard (Recommended)", description: "Balanced cost and coverage"},
        {label: "Quick", description: "Faster, lower-cost pass"},
        {label: "Deep", description: "More critique and revision, higher cost"}
      ]
    },
    {
      question: "Should the council use project research or corpus storage?",
      header: "Context",
      multiSelect: false,
      options: [
        {label: "No corpus (Recommended)", description: "Run with the provided prompt and write normal run artifacts"},
        {label: "Research first", description: "Add --research-first before provider fanout"},
        {label: "Append corpus", description: "Use --corpus-mode append for durable project notes"},
        {label: "Require corpus", description: "Use --corpus-mode require and stop if no corpus workspace exists"}
      ]
    }
  ]
})

Translate answers as follows:

• Advice, Decision, Implementation plan, or Review -> --goal advice|decision|plan|review
• Quick, Standard, or Deep -> --depth quick|standard|deep
• Research first -> --research-first
• Append corpus or Require corpus -> --corpus-mode append|require

Phase 0: Preflight

Collect or infer:

• goal: advice, decision, plan, implement, or review
• domain: auto, architecture, product, security, business, research, or docs
• style: balanced, adversarial, implementation, executive, or red-team
• depth: quick, standard, or deep
• members: auto, 3, 5, or 7
• budget cap in USD
• providers and provider availability
• pinned personas
• implementation permission and worktree isolation
• whether research must happen before council fanout (--research-first)
• whether findings, research, synthesis, and plans must be appended to the project corpus (--corpus-mode append|require)

Show the selected council, provider availability, benchmark freshness, quorum requirement, and cost estimate before provider fanout. Re-check the budget before critique, revision, synthesis, and implementation planning so the run stops before the next phase would exceed --max-cost. If the run is a dry run, stop after this preflight and write summary.json.

If --research-first is set, gather local corpus evidence first, then current external sources when allowed. Store concise findings as run artifacts before provider fanout. If --corpus-mode append or --corpus-mode require is set, append the research notes, findings, synthesis, and implementation plan to the project's durable corpus conventions before claiming completion; require must stop when no corpus workspace is available.