| name | skill-consult |
| description | Route design consultations to domain-specific design partner agents |
| allowed-tools | Agent, Bash, Edit, Read, Write |
Consult Skill
Thin wrapper that routes design consultation requests to domain-specific design partner agents.
IMPORTANT: This skill implements the skill-internal postflight pattern. After the subagent returns,
this skill handles all postflight operations (artifact linking, git commit) before returning.
Context Pointers
Reference (do not load eagerly):
- Path:
.claude/context/formats/subagent-return.md
- Purpose: Return validation
- Load at: Subagent execution only
Note: This skill is a thin wrapper. Context is loaded by the delegated agent, not this skill.
Trigger Conditions
This skill activates when:
Direct Invocation
- User runs
/consult --legal command
Routing
domain=legal routes to legal-analysis-agent
- Future:
domain=investor, domain=technical, domain=competitor
When NOT to trigger
Do not invoke for:
- Contract review (use skill-legal / legal-council-agent)
- Market research (use skill-market)
- Competitive analysis (use skill-analyze)
Execution Flow
Stage 1: Input Validation
Validate required inputs:
domain - Required, currently only "legal" supported
input_type - Required, one of: file_path, inline_text, design_question, task_number
task_number - Required (always provided by consult.md Gate In)
session_id - Required
case "$domain" in
legal) agent="legal-analysis-agent" ;;
*) return error "Unsupported domain: $domain. Currently supported: legal" ;;
esac
case "$input_type" in
file_path|inline_text|design_question|task_number) ;;
*) return error "Invalid input_type: $input_type" ;;
esac
Stage 2: Resolve Task Context
Resolve task directory for artifact storage. task_number is always provided by the command's Gate In:
task_data=$(jq -r --argjson num "$task_number" \
'.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == $num)' \
specs/state.json)
if [ -z "$task_data" ]; then
return error "Task $task_number not found"
fi
project_name=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.project_name')
padded_num=$(printf "%03d" "$task_number")
task_dir="specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}"
metadata_file="${task_dir}/.return-meta.json"
mkdir -p "$task_dir"
Stage 3: Prepare Delegation Context
{
"task_context": {
"description": "{description or input summary}",
"task_type": "founder"
},
"domain": "legal",
"input_type": "{file_path | inline_text | design_question | task_number}",
"file_path": "{file path if applicable}",
"inline_text": "{inline text if applicable}",
"design_question": "{design question if applicable}",
"task_number": "{task_number}",
"metadata_file_path": "{metadata_file}",
"metadata": {
"session_id": "{session_id}",
"delegation_depth": 1,
"delegation_path": ["orchestrator", "consult", "skill-consult"]
}
}
Stage 4: Invoke Agent
CRITICAL: You MUST use the Agent tool to spawn the agent.
Required Tool Invocation:
Tool: Agent (NOT Skill, NOT Plan)
Parameters:
- subagent_type: "{agent}" (e.g., "legal-analysis-agent")
- prompt: [Include all delegation context fields]
- description: "Legal design consultation"
The agent will:
- Understand user intent via Socratic dialogue
- Translate document language to attorney perspective
- Identify translation gaps
- Suggest reframings with rationale
- Write consultation report
- Write metadata file
- Return brief text summary
Stage 4b: Self-Execution Fallback
CRITICAL: If you performed the work above WITHOUT using the Agent tool (i.e., you read files,
wrote artifacts, or updated metadata directly instead of spawning a subagent), you MUST write a
.return-meta.json file now before proceeding to postflight. Use the schema from
return-metadata-file.md with the appropriate status value for this operation.
If you DID use the Agent tool, skip this stage -- the subagent already wrote the metadata.
Postflight (ALWAYS EXECUTE)
The following stages MUST execute after work is complete, whether the work was done by a
subagent or inline (Stage 4b). Do NOT skip these stages for any reason.
Stage 5: Read Metadata File
if [ -f "$metadata_file" ] && jq empty "$metadata_file" 2>/dev/null; then
status=$(jq -r '.status' "$metadata_file")
artifact_path=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].path // ""' "$metadata_file")
artifact_type=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].type // ""' "$metadata_file")
artifact_summary=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].summary // ""' "$metadata_file")
else
status="failed"
fi
Stage 6: Link Artifacts
Link the consultation artifact to the task in state.json:
if [ -n "$artifact_path" ]; then
bash .claude/scripts/state-write.sh \
'(.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == $num)).artifacts += [{"path": $path, "type": $type, "summary": $summary}]' \
--session-id "$session_id" \
--arg path "$artifact_path" \
--arg type "$artifact_type" \
--arg summary "$artifact_summary" \
--argjson num "$task_number"
fi
Stage 7: Git Commit
Apply targeted staging per .claude/context/standards/git-staging-scope.md — never a repo-wide
add:
git add "${task_dir}/" "specs/TODO.md" "specs/state.json"
git commit -m "task ${task_number}: legal design consultation
Session: ${session_id}
"
Stage 8: Return Brief Summary
Design consultation complete ({domain}):
- Input: {input type and description}
- Translation gaps: {N} identified
- Consultation report: {artifact_path}
- Task: #{task_number}
- Advisory: recommend attorney review for high-stakes materials
Return Format
Brief text summary (NOT JSON).
Error Handling
Unsupported Domain
Return immediately with supported domain list.
Task Not Found
Return error, do not proceed.
Metadata File Missing
Return partial status with progress from agent output.
Git Commit Failure
Non-blocking: Log failure but continue.