--- name: council-mode description: Run a bounded supervisor-mediated advisor council. Use when the user asks for council mode, asks to convene advisors, debate a decision, cross-examine recommendations, or run /council. --- # Council Mode This skill is for the parent supervisor only. Do not inject it into advisors. The parent selects the roster, curates all cross-advisor communication, decides which feedback is valid, and writes the decision memo. Advisors do not talk directly or see peer transcripts by default. This is not free-form agent chat. Use council mode for a material decision with real tradeoffs. Do not use it for a trivial or settled question, or for implementation work. Read `skills/pi-subagents/references/execution-controls.md` before you launch advisors. ## Roster and limits Use advisor profile names directly. A `council-*` profile defines model, tools, context, output defaults, and any persistent stance in the profile body. Its profile configuration or explicit invocation owns its context choice. Package advisors can also join the roster only when their package Pi extension is installed and their external-job provider is registered. For Surf, `gpt-pro` is available only after the `surf-cli` Pi extension loads Surf's `surf-oracle` provider. Treat it as a normal advisor name in `runs.all` after that provider is visible. It is background-only, so omit `async` unless you explicitly want detached receipt semantics; workflow execution will await the terminal provider result. External runners can lack repo tools, structured-output support, or resumability. For them, include the needed evidence or file excerpts in the task, use the text JSON contract below instead of `outputSchema`, and use the fresh-context fallback path for cross-exam when the run is not resumable. Create model-based profiles in your user or project agent directory. Do not add them to this package. This is a valid example: ```markdown --- name: council-sol description: Read-only fresh-context advisor for bounded council decisions tools: read, grep, find, ls model: openai-codex/gpt-5.6-sol thinking: high systemPromptMode: replace inheritProjectContext: true inheritSkills: false defaultContext: fresh acceptanceRole: read-only --- Analyze the council question independently. Inspect evidence directly. Do not edit, run mutating commands, commit, push, contact peers, or spawn subagents. Return concise, cited advice using the report contract in the council task. ``` After `subagent({ action: "list" })`, prefer 2–3 executable names that start with `council-`. The prefix is a naming convention, not runtime selection. If fewer than two profiles are available, fill the roster with `oracle`, then `reviewer`, until it has two advisors. Launch fallback `oracle` with `context: "fork"` so global defaults cannot remove its parent-chat context. Let fallback `reviewer` use its normal profile context. Note the fallback and known context modes in the memo. Use the normal single-oracle consultation loop only when a requested roster or unavailable builtins leaves fewer than two advisors. Label that result as degraded mode. Never use more than four advisors. Pass 1 is independent reports. Pass 2 is one cross-exam. The default pass cap is 2. Run pass 3 only when `--max-passes 3` was requested and a material dispute can be settled by evidence an advisor can produce. Never run an unbounded loop. ## Protocol 1. The parent writes a brief with the question, scope, non-goals, evidence targets, roster, known advisor context modes, and pass cap. If the user wants a specific lens, keep it in the question, scope, or profile body instead of inventing a per-advisor label. 2. Before Pass 1, tell the user the roster, requested or known context modes, and pass cap. Use a stable key, `phase`, and concise `label` for every workflow child. For example, use `advisor-oracle`, `phase: "Council pass 1"`, and `label: "Oracle — intent and consistency"`. 3. Launch one async `workflowScript` with `runs.all` for independent advisor reports. Set `context` when the selected advisor has a known profile context or a fallback rule requests one, because a global default can otherwise override that profile. Set `context: "fork"` for fallback `oracle`. If no advisor context is known, omit `context` and disclose the unknown runtime default in the memo. Each advisor is read-only and must not spawn children, edit files, run mutating commands, commit, or push. Set `output: false` unless separate advisor artifacts are explicitly requested or useful for the decision. When separate artifacts are useful, give advisors relative output paths so the runtime stores them under its managed artifact directory; do not ask them to write root-level council report files. For installed external-runner advisors such as Surf `gpt-pro` after `surf-oracle` is registered, do not pass `outputSchema`; put the schema request in the task text and accept `result.output` as the report. 4. Return one aggregate Pass 1 receipt. After it completes, tell the user the completion count, agreement count, dispute count, and whether Pass 2 is needed. 5. The parent synthesizes a claim matrix in session. It contains agreements, disputed claims, missing proof, owner decisions, and a relay set of at most five high-impact claims per advisor. Do not delegate this synthesis. 6. Before Pass 2, tell the user how many claims are relayed and why each is material. Launch a second async `workflowScript` with `runs.all` resume calls. Each task is a curated challenge packet, not a peer transcript. A resume requires a retained run id and a non-empty task. It excludes `agent` and rejects `gate`. Record the new run id from every resume. Pass 3 resumes those latest ids. Return one aggregate Pass 2 receipt. 7. After Pass 2, tell the user whether the council converged or which owner decisions remain. The parent writes the final memo. Do not delegate it. If an advisor is not resumable, run the same profile in fresh context with its own pass-1 report and the challenge packet. Label that response as a fresh-context fallback, not a true cross-exam. Do not set `clarify`, `worktree`, `gate`, turn budgets, tool budgets, or tight usage budgets on advisors. Bound work through the roster, pass cap, and report length. ## Advisor contracts and pass receipts Pass-1 reports are at most about 600 words. Give native Pi advisors the same `outputSchema`, so reports are comparable without heading cleanup. For external-runner advisors, do not pass `outputSchema`; ask them to return compact JSON text with the same fields. The following shape is a contract template. Use the runtime schema syntax supported by the workflow for native advisors and keep narrative fields as strings: ```js const pass1OutputSchema = { type: "object", required: [ "recommendation", "evidence", "assumptions", "risks", "confidence", "challengeClaims", "ownerDecisions", "changeMyMind" ], properties: { recommendation: { type: "string" }, evidence: { type: "array", items: { type: "object", required: ["claim", "sources"], properties: { claim: { type: "string" }, sources: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } } } } }, assumptions: { type: "array", items: { type: "object", required: ["assumption", "status"], properties: { assumption: { type: "string" }, status: { enum: ["verified", "unverified"] } } } }, risks: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } }, confidence: { type: "object", required: ["level", "reason"], properties: { level: { enum: ["high", "medium", "low"] }, reason: { type: "string" } } }, challengeClaims: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" }, maxItems: 3 }, ownerDecisions: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } }, changeMyMind: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } } } }; ``` Include this contract in each Pass 1 task: inspect supplied evidence directly; do not see or ask about other advisors; stay read-only; do not spawn children; return only the structured report. For external-runner advisors, say `Return only JSON matching this shape. Do not wrap it in Markdown.` and include any evidence they cannot read through tools. After `runs.all`, return one aggregate receipt rather than making the parent find separate artifacts. Preserve the result order or map it by stable key so each row contains the advisor identity and report: ```js return { pass: 1, advisors: results.map((result, index) => ({ key: result.key, agent: result.agent, requestedContext: roster[index].context ?? "runtime-default-unknown", runId: result.runId, report: result.structuredOutput ?? result.output })) }; ``` Do not replace `runtime-default-unknown` with a guessed context. It records that the launch intentionally omitted context. A challenge packet contains only disputed claims, strong conflicting evidence, missing proof, owner decisions, and high-impact risks. Attribute peer content as "another advisor". Do not include full peer reports. Use a common Pass 2 contract: ```js const pass2OutputSchema = { type: "object", required: ["responses", "recommendationChanged", "outOfScopeFindings"], properties: { responses: { type: "array", items: { type: "object", required: ["claimId", "disposition", "reason", "sources"], properties: { claimId: { type: "string" }, disposition: { enum: ["accept", "reject", "refine", "owner-decision"] }, reason: { type: "string" }, sources: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } } } } }, recommendationChanged: { type: "object", required: ["changed", "reason"], properties: { changed: { type: "boolean" }, reason: { type: "string" } } }, outOfScopeFindings: { type: "array", items: { type: "string" } } } }; ``` Use stable resume keys such as `cross-oracle`, `phase: "Council pass 2"`, concise labels, and `output: false` unless separate artifacts are requested or useful. Keep any artifact outputs under the managed run artifact directory. Do not pass `outputSchema` to external-runner fallback launches; ask for compact JSON text instead. The aggregate Pass 2 receipt uses the same row shape as Pass 1, with the new `runId` and `structuredOutput ?? output`. ## Stop and memo Converged means no disputed claim remains that both materially affects the recommendation and can plausibly be settled by evidence. Stop at convergence, the pass cap, failed fallback, or user interruption. Put unresolved disputes in owner decisions. Never add a round for polish or symmetry. The parent memo states the question and scope, recommendation, rationale, accepted and rejected feedback with reasons, owner decisions, evidence and run ids, confidence, what would change the decision, and the roster, passes, fallbacks, and known advisor context modes. Identify advisors by profile name or model-based profile, not by invented role labels. State that fallback `oracle` is context-aware and forked. Council mode is not agent-to-agent chat, a transcript dump, mutation authority, auto-escalation to writer lanes, or a council UI. Escalate to a writer only after the parent memo and only when the user explicitly requests it.