Advisor Mode

⚠️ LEGACY — 2026-07-26 · NOT RECOMMENDED FOR NEW WORK

This skill is retired upstream and is shipped for reference and reversibility, not for use.

Do not invoke it against a live API key. Its cloud path issues a real, billable client.beta.messages.create request using the advisor_20260301 tool with betas=["advisor-tool-2026-03-01"], and hardcodes "model": "claude-opus-4-7". That beta has not been exercised since April 2026, so whether it still exists server-side is unknown, and the model pins throughout this skill (claude-opus-4-7, claude-sonnet-4-6, claude-haiku-4-5) are superseded. An invocation may bill your account for a request that cannot succeed.

Why it is here at all. The tier heuristic below is the durable part and is model-agnostic:

1. Can a smart intern do this in one step? → C
2. Does it need synthesis, structure, or multiple steps? → B
3. Does it involve strategy, irreversibility, or cross-cutting impact? → A
4. Would getting it wrong cost $10K+ or set a wrong direction for months? → A+

Plus two disciplines worth keeping regardless of which models you run: plan before act — the stronger model advises on the plan, the executor carries it out — and treat an advisor budget as a hard ceiling, not a suggestion.

What replaced it upstream. Modern agent harnesses route internally, so an explicit classify-then-dispatch layer has no caller left. The advisor role became a dedicated reviewer subagent; gate-and-escalate became a standing review norm. If you want the capability, wire the heuristic into whatever harness you already run rather than reviving this dispatcher.

Retired 2026-07-26. Scripts are preserved unmodified so nothing you may have built on them breaks.

Advisor Mode

Tiered Model Routing | Plan-First | Budget-Controlled

V1 scope: This skill is a wrapper / classification-and-dispatch harness, not a native model runtime. It selects the tier (A+/A/B/C) and the venue (cloud Anthropic API vs local Ollama) and hands off; it does not own inference. Treat advisor-mode as the HR layer in the executive-stack org chart below — it routes, it doesn't think for you.

This skill routes tasks to the correct model tier and enforces a plan-before-act discipline. Simple tasks stay cheap. Strategic tasks get Opus-level reasoning where it counts.

Core principle: Opus advises on the PLAN. The executor carries out the plan. Never use Opus to execute when it could plan instead.

EXECUTIVE STACK — Where advisor-mode fits

advisor-mode is one of three orchestration skills, each owning a different layer. They are NOT alternatives — they cover different axes and are usually composed, not swapped:

Claude tier mapping (canonical): A+ = CEO / Chief Strategist (Opus solo) · A = Director with Advisor (Sonnet + Opus advisor tool) · B = Director / Manager (Sonnet solo) · C = Analyst / Junior Operator (Haiku).

Local layer (US-only model policy): Fleet host + model bindings are canonical at {brain_root}/mission-control/state/fleet-dispatch.json. Override host with OLLAMA_HOST env var.

• C-local: llama3.1:8b (Meta/US) — Operator tier, fast daily driver
• B-local: phi4:14b (Microsoft/US) — Team Lead tier
• Memory rule: one heavy model hot at a time per node. Set OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE=1m.

When in doubt: start here (classify), then hand off to council (compare) or orchestrator (execute) if the task shape calls for it.

TOPOLOGY VOCABULARY — Shared across the stack

Every dispatch call names the agent-graph shape it ran in, using a fixed vocabulary shared across advisor-mode, council-mode, and orchestrator-mode.

Where it surfaces in output:

• Run header (Topology: fan-out-1)
• Metadata block at end of run
• Log table column (daily_usage.md)

Design principle: this system is 1-deep fan-out only for v1. If the topology vocab ever shows fan-out-N where N > 1, that's a signal something unintended ran. Tier is who ran it; topology is what shape it ran in. They're orthogonal.

BRAIN CHECK — Run Before Every Task

Brain root: auto-detected from script location; override with BRAIN_ROOT env var.

1. Load last 2 ops session files → {brain_root}/mission-control/sessions/*-ops.md
2. Load advisor budget log → {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/logs/daily_usage.md (if exists)
3. Check for any cross-dept flags in {brain_root}/mission-control/awareness.md

After loading:

• State current advisor budget status (calls used today vs. cap, if logged)
• Flag any context relevant to the current task
• Then proceed to classification

COMPANY PROFILE (never prompt the operator for this)

Company:  {{company_name}}
Operator: {{operator_name}}  |  Email: {{operator_email}}
Brain:    {brain_root}/mission-control/
Skills:   {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/
API key:  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (must be set in environment)

Loaded from ~/.cerebro/profile.yaml at runtime (populated by first-run wizard).

TIER CLASSIFICATION GUIDE

Quick classification test:

1. Can a smart intern do this in one step? → Tier C
2. Does it need synthesis, structure, or multiple steps? → Tier B
3. Does it involve strategy, irreversibility, or cross-dept impact? → Tier A
4. Would getting it wrong cost significantly or set wrong direction for months? → Tier A+

See references/tier_decision_guide.md for full matrix with examples.

STAGE ROUTING

WORKSPACE PATHS

Skill root:   {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/
References:   {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/references/
Scripts:      {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/Scripts/
Budget logs:  {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/logs/daily_usage.md
Ops Brain:    {brain_root}/mission-control/sessions/
Awareness:    {brain_root}/mission-control/awareness.md

API CONFIGURATION

Advisor tool name:  advisor_20260301
Beta header:        advisor-tool-2026-03-01
Valid executor+advisor pairs:
  - claude-haiku-4-5    + claude-opus-4-7   (Tier A from Haiku base)
  - claude-sonnet-4-6   + claude-opus-4-7   (Tier A standard — preferred)
  - claude-opus-4-7     + claude-opus-4-7   (Tier A+ — Opus advising itself)
Default max_uses:   3  (never set to 1 — give the advisor room to think)
Advisor token output: ~400–700 tokens per call
Extended thinking:  adaptive for Tier A+ (required on Opus 4.7; `type=enabled` 400s)

KEY RULES

1. Classify before you dispatch. Always. Never skip to execution without a tier assignment.

2. Opus plans. Sonnet executes. The advisor prompt asks Opus for a PLAN and DECISION CRITERIA — not to write the final output. Give Opus the goal. Give Sonnet the plan.

3. The harness matters as much as the model. Log every dispatch: tier used, advisor calls consumed, task type.

4. max_uses defaults to 3. Never set it to 1. A single advisor call often isn't enough for Opus to ask clarifying questions and converge on a good plan. Reduce to 2 for time-sensitive tasks. Never 1.

5. Escalation is not failure. If Tier C output was insufficient, escalate to Tier B. Log it. Two escalations on the same task type = that task type should be re-classified upward permanently.

6. Never run Tier A+ without explicit operator approval. Opus solo is expensive and reserved for architecture-level decisions.

7. Plan mode for Tier A is not optional. Before Sonnet executes a Tier A task, Opus must produce a written plan.

8. Never hardcode the API key. The key lives in the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.

Scope Contract

References (auto-wikilinks)

• [[-ops]]
• [[awareness]]
• [[daily_usage]]
• [[stage1_classify]]
• [[stage2_configure]]
• [[stage3_execute]]
• [[stage4_monitor]]
• [[stage5_escalate]]
• [[tier_decision_guide]]