Council
Guaranteed entry point for a live collaborative brainstorm: named teammates build on each other's ideas via SendMessage, you facilitate, then you harvest the expanded set. Generative — the "yes, and…" counterpart to /debate's "no, but…".
This skill is a thin trigger. The full protocol, spawn-prompt template, anti-groupthink rules, and variants live in the heavy-think skill — read it before spawning:
../heavy-think/references/team-brainstorm.md
When NOT to use this
Heuristic: use teammates when the agents need to talk to each other; use parallel subagents when they don't.
- Just want a quick idea list? → solo parallel agents are cheaper (heavy-think Brainstorm, Stage 3).
- Deciding between options / pressure-testing a call? → that's
/debate, not a council.
Prerequisites (check first)
| Requirement |
Why |
If missing |
| You are the main session |
Agent teams have no nested teams — a subagent can't spawn teammates |
Stop; tell the user to run it from the main session |
CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1 |
Enables teammates + SendMessage |
Fall back to isolated parallel Brainstorm (weaker — no live cross-pollination) |
If either fails, say so explicitly — do NOT silently fall back and pass it off as a live council.
Playbook
- Frame an open question. "How might we…" / "what could we…" — not a yes/no (that's debate). State constraints + what a great idea looks like.
- Assign distinct generative lenses. 2–4 teammates (First Principles, User, Futurist, Operator, Minimalist, Contrarian…). Name them. Designate one wildcard to keep the space open.
- Spawn all in ONE message —
model="opus", each given full context (teammates don't inherit your history), its lens, and collaborators by name. Tell each to contribute via SendMessage, make no file edits, spawn nothing.
- Phase 1 — Diverge. Each posts raw ideas independently first (no early anchoring; quantity over polish).
- Phase 2 — Cross-pollinate. They read each other and BUILD: "yes-and", combine, push further. Every message must ADD, never just approve.
- Phase 3 — Cluster & elevate. Group ideas, surface the most novel, develop the top few together.
- Synthesize + shut down. YOU harvest the expanded set: standout concepts, surprising combinations no single lens produced, ranked by novelty/value, plus what to explore next. Then shut the teammates down.
Rules
- Facilitate, don't generate — you spark with gap prompts, you never add your own ideas.
- Diverge before converge; reject "good idea!" with no extension.
- Keep a wildcard injecting "what if the opposite / what's missing."
- The deliverable is YOUR synthesis of the emergent ideas, not a transcript dump.
Related
1---2name: council3description: Live collaborative brainstorm. Spawns named teammates (agent teams) that BUILD ON EACH OTHER'S ideas directly via SendMessage — generative cross-pollination ('yes, and…'), not one agent listing ideas alone and not an adversarial debate. Heuristic: use teammates when the agents need to talk to each other (build on ideas, hand-offs, debate); use parallel subagents when they don't (independent fan-out). Keywords: council, collaborative brainstorm, brainstorm together, ideate together, build on ideas, expand ideas, expand on this, riff together, group ideation, how might we, what could we build, team brainstorm. Use when: user types /council, says 'brainstorm together', 'expand on this idea', 'ideate as a team', or wants an open question explored by diverse perspectives that compound each other's ideas live. Requires the MAIN session (a subagent cannot spawn teammates) and CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1. Do NOT use for: a quick idea list (use solo agents), deciding between options (use /debate), mechanica4---56# Council78Guaranteed entry point for a **live collaborative brainstorm**: named teammates build on each other's ideas via `SendMessage`, you facilitate, then you harvest the expanded set. Generative — the "yes, and…" counterpart to `/debate`'s "no, but…".910This skill is a thin trigger. The full protocol, spawn-prompt template, anti-groupthink rules, and variants live in the heavy-think skill — **read it before spawning**:11`../heavy-think/references/team-brainstorm.md`1213## When NOT to use this1415> **Heuristic:** use teammates when the agents need to talk to each other; use parallel subagents when they don't.1617- Just want a quick idea list? → solo parallel agents are cheaper (heavy-think Brainstorm, Stage 3).18- Deciding between options / pressure-testing a call? → that's `/debate`, not a council.1920## Prerequisites (check first)2122| Requirement | Why | If missing |23|-------------|-----|------------|24| You are the **main session** | Agent teams have no nested teams — a subagent can't spawn teammates | Stop; tell the user to run it from the main session |25| `CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1` | Enables teammates + `SendMessage` | Fall back to isolated parallel Brainstorm (weaker — no live cross-pollination) |2627If either fails, **say so explicitly** — do NOT silently fall back and pass it off as a live council.2829## Playbook30311. **Frame an open question.** "How might we…" / "what could we…" — not a yes/no (that's debate). State constraints + what a great idea looks like.322. **Assign distinct generative lenses.** 2–4 teammates (First Principles, User, Futurist, Operator, Minimalist, Contrarian…). Name them. Designate one **wildcard** to keep the space open.333. **Spawn all in ONE message** — `model="opus"`, each given full context (teammates don't inherit your history), its lens, and collaborators *by name*. Tell each to contribute via `SendMessage`, make no file edits, spawn nothing.344. **Phase 1 — Diverge.** Each posts raw ideas *independently* first (no early anchoring; quantity over polish).355. **Phase 2 — Cross-pollinate.** They read each other and BUILD: "yes-and", combine, push further. Every message must ADD, never just approve.366. **Phase 3 — Cluster & elevate.** Group ideas, surface the most novel, develop the top few together.377. **Synthesize + shut down.** YOU harvest the expanded set: standout concepts, surprising combinations no single lens produced, ranked by novelty/value, plus what to explore next. Then shut the teammates down.3839## Rules4041- Facilitate, don't generate — you spark with gap prompts, you never add your own ideas.42- Diverge before converge; reject "good idea!" with no extension.43- Keep a wildcard injecting "what if the opposite / what's missing."44- The deliverable is YOUR synthesis of the *emergent* ideas, not a transcript dump.4546## Related4748- [team-brainstorm protocol](../heavy-think/references/team-brainstorm.md) — full protocol, spawn-prompt template, variants49- [debate](../debate/SKILL.md) — adversarial counterpart (decide / pressure-test)50- [heavy-think](../heavy-think/SKILL.md) — Council is the team escalation of Brainstorm mode
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