critique-waves

name	critique-waves
description	Use when needing multi-agent verification of complex work. Runs parallel critique agents until consensus. Covers verification, consensus, multi-agent review, validate work. NOT for: simple code reviews (use coderabbit), single-reviewer tasks.

Critique Waves

Run iterative waves of verification agents until consensus is achieved. Useful for verifying PRs, code changes, or any work that needs multi-agent validation.

Quick Actions

What you want to do	Workflow
Set up verification folder and tracker	workflows/setup.md
Run a wave of parallel agents	workflows/run-wave.md
Handle failures and iterate to consensus	workflows/iteration.md

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Available Scripts

Execute directly - they handle errors and edge cases:

Script	Purpose	Usage
scripts/init-tracker.sh	Initialize verification folder with templates	bash ~/.claude/commands/critique-waves/scripts/init-tracker.sh <branch-name> [goal]

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Core Concept

Critique Waves uses multiple parallel agents to verify code changes. Each agent independently checks the same files against FORBIDDEN/REQUIRED patterns. By requiring multiple consecutive passes from all agents, we achieve high-confidence verification.

                    ┌─────────────────┐
                    │  Setup Phase    │
                    │  - Create folder│
                    │  - instructions │
                    │  - tracker.md   │
                    └────────┬────────┘
                             │
                    ┌────────▼────────┐
              ┌─────│  Launch Wave    │─────┐
              │     │  (3 agents max) │     │
              │     └────────┬────────┘     │
          ┌───▼───┐    ┌─────▼─────┐   ┌───▼───┐
          │Agent 1│    │  Agent 2  │   │Agent 3│
          └───┬───┘    └─────┬─────┘   └───┬───┘
              │              │             │
              └──────────────┼─────────────┘
                             │
                    ┌────────▼────────┐
                    │ Update Tracker  │
                    │ - Log results   │
                    │ - Check passes  │
                    └────────┬────────┘
                             │
              ┌──────────────┼──────────────┐
              │              │              │
        ┌─────▼─────┐  ┌─────▼─────┐  ┌─────▼─────┐
        │  Any FAIL │  │  All PASS │  │  Goal Met │
        │ Reset=0   │  │ Increment │  │  DONE!    │
        │ Fix issue │  │ passes    │  │           │
        └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └───────────┘
              │              │
              └──────────────┘
                    Loop

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Decision Tree

Setting up for a new verification?

• Create verification folder with templates
• Use: workflows/setup.md or scripts/init-tracker.sh

Ready to run agents?

• Launch wave of 3 parallel agents
• Use: workflows/run-wave.md

Agent returned a FAIL?

• Fix issues, reset pass count, iterate
• Use: workflows/iteration.md

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Critical Rules

1. NEVER run more than 3 agents in parallel - Hard limit for Mac performance
2. Agents write to separate files - No shared state (round-N-agent-X.md)
3. Update tracker after EACH wave - Log results immediately
4. Reset pass count on ANY failure - Even one fail = reset to 0
5. All files in ONE folder - docs.local/<BRANCH>/
6. Maximum 10 rounds - Escalate to user if no consensus

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Example Session

Setting up docs.local/feature-branch/...
Created instructions.md and tracker.md

Wave 1: Launching 3 agents...
Results: Agent 1 PASS, Agent 2 FAIL (found forbidden pattern), Agent 3 PASS
Consecutive: 0 (reset due to failure)

Fixing issue found by Agent 2...

Wave 2: Launching 3 agents...
Results: All 3 PASS
Consecutive: 3

Wave 3: Launching 3 agents...
Results: All 3 PASS
Consecutive: 6

...

Wave 7: Launching 3 agents...
Results: All 3 PASS
Consecutive: 21

GOAL ACHIEVED: 21 consecutive passes (exceeded 20 goal)

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