# Advisor Board > Convenes a virtual advisory board of 4-12 personas (default 4) to debate a business or life decision across 3 rounds of parallel subagents. Each agent reads their persona profile, gives an unfiltered take, engages directly with other members, then lands a final recommendation. Output: one debate file with framed question, all rounds, and a synthesis that preserves real disagreement. Use whenever the user brings a decision, strategic question, dilemma, or situation they want stress-tested — especially when they say "convene the board", "ask the board", "board session", "stress-test this", or invoke "/advisor-board [question]". First run walks the user through a one-time setup (name, board size, roster, optional context files) and self-configures. - Skill: `juliajakubowskabiznes/advisor-board` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 4 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add juliajakubowskabiznes/advisor-board` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/juliajakubowskabiznes/advisor-board/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector CAUTION) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: juliajakubowskabiznes (https://skillmd.com/u/juliajakubowskabiznes) - Updated: 2026-09-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/juliajakubowskabiznes/advisor-board --- # Advisor Board N persona subagents (N = 4 to 12, configured in `references/user-config.md`) debate a question across 3 rounds. Clarity over comfort. ## Step -1 — First-run check If `references/user-config.md` does NOT exist → read and follow [references/onboarding.md](references/onboarding.md) before anything else. Onboarding captures the user's name, confirms the board roster, records optional context paths, and self-updates `{{USER_NAME}}` placeholders throughout the skill. If `references/user-config.md` exists → read it to get the user's name, board order, and context paths. Proceed. ## Step 0 — Context Extraction Do not assume anything is loaded. Read the question first, then grep the user's context files (from `user-config.md`) for keywords that match. Pull matching sections only — never full files. Produce a **Context Brief** (max 300 words): values/red lines relevant to the decision, current-state items directly involved, strategy elements that apply, behavioral notes only if they explain a pattern in the question, prior attempts if any. If the user has no context files configured, the Context Brief is built from the question + any conversation history. ## Step 1 — Frame the Question Present this to {{USER_NAME}} and wait for confirmation. **This is the only pause point in the main flow.** ``` FRAMED QUESTION: Situation: [plain-language statement of the decision] Context that matters: [Context Brief — max 300 words] For the board: [crisp, specific version of the question] What would help most: [stress-test / direction clarity / tradeoff map / action recommendation] ``` ## Step 2 — Create Debate File Path: `work/outputs/advisor-board-YYYY-MM-DD-[topic-slug].md` (`topic-slug` = 2-4 word kebab-case summary, e.g. `launch-cohort-now`, `raise-prices`, `take-xyz-deal`) Sections: `## Framed Question`, `## Round 1 — Initial Takes`, `## Round 2 — Rebuttals`, `## Round 3 — Final Positions & Recommendations`, `## Synthesis`. ## Steps 3-5 — Three rounds of debate Read [references/agent-prompts.md](references/agent-prompts.md) for the three round prompt templates. Let N = the number of board members in `user-config.md` (between 4 and 12). For each round: 1. Dispatch all N board members (in the canonical order from `user-config.md`) as subagents **in parallel** — single message, N Agent tool calls, model `sonnet` 2. Each agent writes to a temp file: `work/outputs/[debate-slug]/r[ROUND]-[name-slug].md` 3. Wait for all N confirmations. If any agent returns an ERROR (e.g. persona not found), stop and report to {{USER_NAME}} before proceeding 4. Orchestrator assembles temp files into the debate file in canonical order, then deletes the temp dir 5. Only after assembly is complete, proceed to the next round Rounds are sequential across, parallel within — Round 2 starts only after all Round 1 temp files are assembled. **No substitutions, no invented members.** If an agent cannot find their `## [NAME]` section in `references/board-members.md`, it must stop and return an ERROR. Never fabricate a persona. ## Step 6 — Synthesis Read the complete debate file. Write the synthesis directly into the file: ```markdown ## Synthesis ### Where the board converges [2-4 bullets — only list genuine alignment across a majority of members. Do not pad.] ### Unresolved tensions [2-4 real disagreements that stayed disagreed after Round 3. Name specific members on each side. State the core disagreement plainly.] ### Clearest paths forward **Path A: [name]** — what this path is, which members point toward it, what it requires accepting or giving up. **Path B: [name]** — same format, only if genuinely distinct from Path A. **Path C: [name]** — same format, only if applicable. ### The real question underneath this [One sentence. The decision the debate revealed underneath the surface question.] ``` ## Step 7 — Close Report the debate file path. Offer to go deeper on any specific member's reasoning. ## Rules - All subagents use model `sonnet` - Board roster is fixed per `user-config.md` (N between 4 and 12) — no substitutions, no additions, no invented members during a debate - Each agent writes its own temp file per round; orchestrator assembles after all confirmations — no concurrent writes to the debate file - Orchestrator re-reads files fresh each session — never assume context is already loaded between rounds - Context Brief is max 300 words, built from grep hits — never pass raw full files to agents - Each agent greps for its own `## [NAME]` section in `board-members.md` and reads only that section (offset/limit), never the full file - First person only — agents speak AS the persona, never "Goggins would say" - No softening, no manufactured consensus — preserve real disagreement through to the synthesis - Parallel within rounds, sequential across rounds