council

name	council
description	Run parallel code reviews with multiple AI agents, then synthesize into one report. Triggers on "review code" or "council review".

Council Code Review Skill

This skill runs the same code review prompt against multiple AI agents in parallel, then synthesizes their findings into a single comprehensive report. It supports Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode, and Cursor as agent backends -- and you can mix them freely.

When to Use

Activate this skill when the user asks to:

• "Review my code"
• "Run a code review"
• "Review the staged changes"
• "Do a council review"
• "Get multiple perspectives on this code"

CRITICAL: Target Directory

You must pass the USER'S PROJECT DIRECTORY as an argument to the script.

The user's project directory is where they started their agent session - NOT this skill's directory. Look for the git repository path in the conversation context (e.g., /Users/.../git/jupyter_server).

Workflow

Step 1: Identify the Target Repository

Determine the user's project directory from the conversation context. This is typically shown at the start of the session or can be found by checking where AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, or similar agent guidance is located. It is NOT /Users/.../skills/council/.

Step 2: Run Parallel Reviews

Run this skill's review script and pass the user's project directory as an argument:

~/.agents/skills/council/scripts/run-reviews.sh /path/to/users/project

IMPORTANT: Always pass the full path to the user's project as the first argument.

Passing review instructions (target branch, focus areas, etc.)

If the user wants the review scoped or focused -- most commonly a target/base branch to diff against, but also things like "focus on the auth flow" or "ignore test files" -- pass those as an optional second argument (or via the REVIEW_INSTRUCTIONS env var). They are appended to the prompt at runtime only; the committed prompt template is never edited.

# Review a PR against its actual base branch
~/.agents/skills/council/scripts/run-reviews.sh /Users/you/git/project "Review the changes on this branch against base branch XYZ (use 'git diff XYZ...HEAD'), not main."

# Focus the review
~/.agents/skills/council/scripts/run-reviews.sh /Users/you/git/project "Focus on security of the new upload endpoint; skip style nits."

Ask the user for the base branch when reviewing a PR, since the default prompt diffs against main. Do NOT edit prompts/review-prompt.md to inject per-run context -- use this argument instead.

The script reads config.yaml from the skill directory to determine which agents to run. Each agent entry specifies its own backend and model, so you can mix and match freely across all four supported backends.

This will:

• Run all configured agents in parallel, each via its own backend
• Save individual JSON results to <project>/.reviews/
• Take 1-3 minutes depending on code size

Step 3: Synthesize Results

After the script completes, read all JSON files from <project>/.reviews/ (in the user's project directory) and synthesize them into a combined report.

Synthesis Rules:

1. Do NOT mention which agent found which issue
2. Deduplicate similar issues (same file + same line + same problem = one entry)
3. If reviewers disagree on severity, use the higher severity
4. Preserve unique findings from each reviewer
5. Present findings as if from a single thorough review

Output Format:

Write the combined report to <project>/.reviews/COMBINED_REVIEW.md using this structure:

# Code Review Report

**Repository:** [repo name from user's directory]
**Date:** [today's date]

---

## Summary

[1-2 paragraph summary]

**Consensus:** [X of Y reviewers recommended changes / approved]

---

## Critical Issues (Require Action)

### 1. [Issue Title]
**Severity:** 🔴 HIGH
**File:** `path/to/file` (line X)

[Description]

**Recommendation:** [How to fix]

---

## Medium Issues (Should Address)

[Same format, 🟠 MEDIUM]

## Low Issues (Consider Addressing)

[Same format, 🟡 LOW]

## Suggested Improvements

[Numbered list]

---

## Verdict

**[🔴 REQUEST CHANGES / 🟢 APPROVE]**

[Priority action items table]

Step 4: Report to User

After writing the combined report, summarize the key findings:

• Total issues found (by severity)
• Top 3 priority items to address
• Overall verdict

Configuration

All configuration lives in ~/.agents/skills/council/config.yaml:

# Each agent specifies its own backend and model.
# Mix and match all four backends freely.
agents:
  - backend: claude-code
    model: sonnet

  - backend: codex
    model: gpt-5.3-codex

  - backend: opencode
    model: google/gemini-3.1-pro