| name | perspective-swarm |
| description | Protocol specification for multi-perspective brainstorming via 5 parallel agents with confidence-weighted synthesis. Executed by brainstorming-pm orchestrator. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| last_updated | "2026-05-24T00:00:00.000Z" |
| tags | ["brainstorming","multi-agent","synthesis","parallel","decision-support"] |
| orchestrator | brainstorming-pm |
perspective-swarm
Enable rapid multi-perspective brainstorming through parallel agent execution, producing a confidence-weighted synthesis that surfaces convergent insights and divergent alternatives.
Protocol Status
Document type: Protocol specification
Orchestrator: brainstorming-pm/SKILL.md
This document defines the perspective-swarm protocol: the stages, archetypes, state machine, quality gates, and operational parameters for multi-perspective brainstorming. It is a declarative specification, not an executable skill.
For orchestration and execution, see brainstorming-pm/SKILL.md, which handles session management, tool selection, agent delegation, model selection, and user interaction.
Handoff metadata (discovery, categories, payload schema) is defined in the brainstorming-pm skill, which is the discoverable entry point for this workflow.
When to Use
- You need diverse viewpoints on a decision, problem, or creative challenge
- Time is limited (15-30 minutes) but you want rigorous multi-angle analysis
- You want to identify both consensus themes and unique insights
- The problem benefits from optimistic, critical, analytical, innovative, and pragmatic lenses
When NOT to Use
- Deep literature review needed (use lit-pm instead)
- Single-perspective analysis is sufficient
- Implementation or execution is the goal (this produces analysis only)
- Domain-specific expertise required (this uses general archetypes)
Workflow Overview
User
Prompt
|
+-------v-------+
| Stage 1: | Frame problem, validate input
| FRAMING | Generate 5 agent prompts
+-------+-------+
|
| [Optional: User confirms framing]
|
+------------------v-----------------------------------+
| Stage 2: DIVERGING (Parallel) |
| +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ +-----+ |
| |Opt. | |Crit.| |Anal.| |Innov| |Prag.| |
| +--+--+ +--+--+ +--+--+ +--+--+ +--+--+ |
+----+-------+-------+-------+-------+-----------------+
+-------+-------+-------+-------+
|
+------v------+
| Stage 3: | Identify convergent/divergent insights
| CONVERGING | Apply confidence weighting
+------+------+
|
+------v------+
| Stage 4: | Present synthesis
| OUTPUT | Accept / Refine / Handoff to workflow
+-------------+
Detailed Workflow
Stage 1: Problem Framing (2-5 minutes)
State: FRAMING
-
Validate user prompt:
- Minimum 10 characters
- Maximum 1000 characters
- At least one clear question or challenge
- No prohibited content
-
Identify problem type: decision | creative | analytical | strategic
-
Reframe challenge in neutral language (no leading/biasing)
-
Generate 5 archetype-specific prompts (see references/persona-archetypes.md)
-
Create session directory: /tmp/swarm-session-{YYYYMMDD}-{HHMMSS}-{uuid4-8char}/
{uuid4-8char} is the first 8 characters of a uuid4 (e.g., a1b2c3d4)
-
Create session lock: Write .session.lock file with workflow_id and timestamp
- Lock prevents concurrent access to same session
- Stale locks (> 30 minutes) may be overwritten
-
Save framing output: stage-1-framing.yaml
Quality Gate:
Optional Checkpoint: Present reframed challenge to user before proceeding to Stage 2. User can:
- Approve and continue
- Refine the framing
- Abort
Stage 2: Parallel Perspective Generation (5-15 minutes)
State: DIVERGING
The orchestrator launches 5 parallel agents via Task tool. Each agent:
-
Adopts archetype lens (Optimist, Critic, Analyst, Innovator, Pragmatist)
-
Conducts brief research: 1-2 WebSearch queries
- On WebSearch failure: proceed with reasoning-only, reduce confidence by 1
-
Generates perspective report (target ~2000 tokens):
- Key insight (1-2 sentences)
- Supporting evidence (2-3 bullet points with sources)
- Confidence level (1-5, self-assessed)
- Blind spots acknowledged
-
Saves output: perspectives/{archetype}.md
Token Budget Note: The 2000 token target is advisory. Agents are instructed to target ~2000 tokens but enforcement is prompt-based only. Slight overages are acceptable; significant overages should be flagged in validation warnings.
Timeouts:
- Per-agent: 10 minutes
- Stage total: 15 minutes
- On timeout: Mark incomplete, proceed with available
Quality Gate (per agent):
Minimum agents required: 4 of 5
On < 4 agents: The orchestrator presents user options:
PERSPECTIVE GENERATION INCOMPLETE: Only {N} of 5 agents completed
Completed: {list}
Failed: {list with reasons}
Options:
(A) Retry failed agents (estimated +5 min)
(B) Proceed with {N} perspectives (reduced diversity)
(C) Abort workflow
Stage 3: Convergence Analysis & Synthesis (5-10 minutes)
State: CONVERGING
During Stage 3, the orchestrator executes two parallel tracks: (A) convergence analysis (primary), and (B) workflow discovery (secondary, non-blocking). See references/workflow-discovery.md for parallel execution details.
-
The orchestrator collects all perspective outputs
-
The convergence analysis identifies convergent insights:
- Themes appearing in 2+ perspectives
- Apply confidence weighting (see references/convergence-algorithm.md)
-
Identify divergent insights:
- Unique insights from single perspectives
- Attribute to originating archetype
-
Handle missing archetypes (if 4 agents):
| Missing | Compensation |
|---|
| Optimist | Add: "Consider opportunities we may be missing" |
| Critic | Add explicit risk caveat section |
| Analyst | Note reduced quantitative rigor |
| Innovator | Note potentially conservative recommendations |
| Pragmatist | Flag implementation feasibility as uncertain |
-
Conflicts are presented neutrally:
- All sides shown with evidence strength noted
- No forced artificial consensus
-
The orchestrator generates the synthesis document: stage-3-synthesis.md
Quality Gate:
Stage 4: User Review & Optional Handoff
State: AWAITING_USER
Pre-requisite: Discovery results available from Stage 3 (cached in available-workflows.yaml). If Stage 3 discovery did not complete, the orchestrator runs discovery synchronously (5-second timeout) before presenting options.
The orchestrator presents synthesis to user with options:
## Synthesis Complete
[Executive summary]
**Core Options:**
(A) Accept - Workflow complete
(B) Refine - Provide feedback, return to Stage 3
**Continue with another workflow:**
{If handoff-eligible workflows found, display top 3-5 by relevance}
Example output when workflows available:
(C) [research] lit-pm - Comprehensive literature review (4-24 hours)
(D) [implementation] programming-pm - Software implementation (2-8 hours)
(E) [creative] pov-expansion - Cross-domain perspective analysis (2-3 hours)
Example output when NO workflows found:
---
No handoff-eligible workflows detected.
To enable handoffs, add `handoff:` metadata to skill SKILL.md files.
See: references/workflow-discovery.md
---
Select an option:
On Accept: State -> COMPLETED
On Refine: State -> CONVERGING (with user feedback)
On Handoff (C/D/E...):
- Validate selected workflow still available
- Generate handoff-payload.yaml (see references/handoff-schema.md)
- Invoke target skill with payload path
- State -> COMPLETED (on successful handoff)
Relevance Scoring: Workflows are ranked by relevance to synthesis content:
- Category match to problem_type: +3 points
- High uncertainty signals + research category: +2 points
- Implementation keywords + implementation category: +2 points
- Low convergence + research category: +2 points
- Project-scope workflows: +1 point priority bonus
Session Directory Structure
/tmp/swarm-session-{YYYYMMDD}-{HHMMSS}-{uuid4-8char}/
├── .session.lock # Prevents concurrent access
├── workflow-state.yaml # Resumable state
├── stage-1-framing.yaml # Problem framing output
├── perspectives/ # Parallel outputs
│ ├── optimist.md
│ ├── critic.md
│ ├── analyst.md
│ ├── innovator.md
│ └── pragmatist.md
├── stage-3-synthesis.md # Final synthesis
├── available-workflows.yaml # Discovered handoff targets (cached)
└── handoff-payload.yaml # (if handoff requested)
State Machine
States: INITIALIZED | FRAMING | DIVERGING | CONVERGING | AWAITING_USER | COMPLETED | FAILED | ABORTED
Transitions:
INITIALIZED -> FRAMING : on session start
FRAMING -> DIVERGING : on framing complete (+ optional user confirmation)
DIVERGING -> CONVERGING : on min 4 agents complete
DIVERGING -> FAILED : on < 4 agents AND user chooses abort
CONVERGING -> AWAITING_USER: on synthesis complete
AWAITING_USER -> CONVERGING: on user refinement request
AWAITING_USER -> COMPLETED : on user accept
AWAITING_USER -> COMPLETED : on successful lit-pm handoff
ANY -> ABORTED : on user abort
ANY -> FAILED : on unrecoverable error
Note: The state machine has 8 states total (INITIALIZED, FRAMING, DIVERGING, CONVERGING, AWAITING_USER, COMPLETED, FAILED, ABORTED).
Session Lock Protocol
On session initialization:
- Create
.session.lock file in session directory
- Write content:
{workflow_id}\n{ISO8601_timestamp}
- Before any operation, verify lock file matches current workflow_id
On resume detection:
- Check if
.session.lock exists
- If lock timestamp > 30 minutes old, consider stale and overwritable
- If lock is fresh (< 30 minutes), warn user that session may be in use
workflow_id: swarm-20260204-183000-a1b2c3d4
locked_at: 2026-02-04T18:30:00Z
Error Handling
WebSearch Failure
classification:
transient: retry after 30 seconds
rate_limited: exponential backoff (30s, 60s, 120s)
no_results: proceed without search, note "limited research"
service_down: proceed with reasoning-only, reduce confidence by 1
fallback_behavior:
- Agent proceeds with pure reasoning
- Marks output as "unverified by external sources"
- Auto-reduces confidence by 1 level
Session Recovery
On invocation, the orchestrator checks for existing sessions:
Found incomplete session from {timestamp}: {original_prompt}
Session state: {stage} - {status}
Options:
(A) Resume from {checkpoint}
(B) Start fresh (archives previous)
(C) Abort
Resource Limits
resource_limits:
max_concurrent_agents: 5
max_websearch_per_agent: 2
max_webfetch_per_agent: 1
target_tokens_per_perspective: 2000
session_expiry: 24 hours
Timeout Configuration
| Stage | Timeout | Exceeded Action |
|---|
| 1 (Framing) | 5 min | Escalate to user |
| 2 (Perspectives) | 15 min total | Proceed with available (min 4) |
| 2 (per agent) | 10 min | Mark incomplete, proceed |
| 3 (Synthesis) | 10 min | Deliver partial synthesis |
| 4 (User Review) | No timeout | User-controlled |
| Global | 45 min | Safety ceiling, escalate |
Quality Gates Summary
| Gate | Stage | Pass Threshold |
|---|
| Input Validation | 1 | Prompt meets criteria |
| Framing | 1 | All checks pass |
| Per-Agent | 2 | 4/4 required elements |
| Minimum Coverage | 2 | >= 4 of 5 agents |
| Synthesis | 3 | All checks pass |
| User Approval | 4 | Accept, Refine, or Handoff |
Dependencies
- Any skill with
handoff: metadata is a valid handoff target
- Discovery algorithm documented in:
references/workflow-discovery.md
- Handoff schema documented in:
references/handoff-schema.md
- Adapts patterns from:
superpowers:dispatching-parallel-agents, synthesizer
Known handoff-eligible skills (as of implementation):
lit-pm - Comprehensive literature review [research]programming-pm - Software implementation [implementation]pov-expansion - Cross-domain perspectives [creative, analysis]
Orchestration
This protocol is designed to be executed by the brainstorming-pm orchestrator skill. See brainstorming-pm/SKILL.md for:
- Execution instructions and stage-by-stage orchestration
- Tool selection (Task tool for Stage 2, inline for Stage 3)
- Model selection guidance
- Delegation patterns and quality gate evaluation
Model Selection
Model selection guidance for each workflow component is documented in brainstorming-pm/references/model-selection.md. Summary:
| Component | Current | Target |
|---|
| Orchestrator | Inherited | Claude Opus 4.5 |
| Perspective Agents | Inherited | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| LLM Grouping | Inherited (inline) | Claude Haiku 4.5 |
Notes
-
Parallel Independence: Perspective agents MUST NOT see each other's outputs during Stage 2. This preserves diversity and prevents premature convergence (research-validated).
-
No Forced Consensus: The synthesis should present conflicts neutrally. Disagreement between perspectives is valuable signal, not noise.
-
Divergent Value: Unique insights from a single perspective may be the most valuable output. Do not penalize or bury non-convergent views.
-
Research Limitation: This skill provides rapid analysis (15-30 min), not comprehensive research. For deep dives, hand off to lit-pm.
References
Examples
