ls-consult

name	ls-consult
description	Query external LLM APIs (GPT, Gemini, LM Studio) and Claude CLI for opinions. Only invoke when the user explicitly says 'consult', 'ask GPT', 'ask Gemini', or specifically requests external model comparison. For expert analysis, code review, or architecture opinions, prefer /consult-polymaths instead — it uses internal agents and works without any external services.
allowed-tools	Bash, Read

/consult — Multi-Model LLM Consultation

You are executing the /consult command. Send the user's question to multiple LLM models and synthesize their responses.

Input

The user's argument is: $ARGUMENTS

Step 1: Load Config

Read the file .claude/consult-config.json to get the model panel configuration, provider URLs, and defaults.

If the file does not exist, create it at .claude/consult-config.json with this default template and continue:

{
  "defaults": {
    "temperature": 0.7,
    "maxTokens": 1024,
    "timeoutSeconds": 60
  },
  "presets": {
    "quick":        ["cc-sonnet"],
    "default":      ["cc-sonnet", "lms-local"],
    "wide":         ["cc-sonnet", "cc-opus", "lms-local"],
    "claude-family":["cc-haiku", "cc-sonnet", "cc-opus"],
    "full":         ["cc-haiku", "cc-sonnet", "cc-opus", "lms-local"]
  },
  "alwaysInclude": [],
  "providers": {
    "claude-cli": {
      "type": "cli",
      "enabled": true
    },
    "lmstudio": {
      "baseUrl": "http://localhost:1234/v1",
      "auth": null,
      "enabled": true
    }
  },
  "models": {
    "cc-haiku":  { "id": "claude-haiku-4-5",  "name": "Claude Haiku 4.5 (CLI)",   "provider": "claude-cli" },
    "cc-sonnet": { "id": "claude-sonnet-4-6", "name": "Claude Sonnet 4.6 (CLI)",  "provider": "claude-cli" },
    "cc-opus":   { "id": "claude-opus-4-8",   "name": "Claude Opus 4.8 (CLI)",    "provider": "claude-cli" },
    "lms-local": { "id": "local-model",       "name": "LM Studio (local)",        "provider": "lmstudio"  }
  }
}

Note: Edit .claude/consult-config.json to add your own API keys and provider URLs (OpenAI, Gemini, etc.). The default config only includes Claude CLI models (uses your Claude subscription) and LM Studio (local, no key needed).

Step 2: Parse Arguments

Parse the following flags from the argument string. Everything that isn't a flag is the question.

Flag	Default	Effect
--preset P	default	Panel preset: quick, default, wide, claude-family, full
--models m1,m2,...	(none)	Override preset with specific model keys from config
--system "..."	(see below)	Custom system prompt for all models
--no-local	off	Skip LM Studio models even if in panel
--no-cli	off	Skip Claude CLI models even if in panel
--temp N	0.7	Temperature for all models

If no question is found, ask the user what they'd like to consult about and stop.

Step 3: Resolve Model Panel

1. If --models was provided, use those model keys (comma-separated).
2. Otherwise, use the preset from --preset (or "default" if not specified) — look up the preset in config.presets.
3. Merge in config.alwaysInclude models (deduplicate).
4. If --no-local is set, remove any models whose provider is "lmstudio".
5. If --no-cli is set, remove any models whose provider is "claude-cli".
6. Look up each model key in config.models to get id, name, and provider.
7. Look up each provider in config.providers to get baseUrl and auth.

For providers with a chatPath field, append that to baseUrl for the completions endpoint. Otherwise use the standard /chat/completions path. Skip providers where enabled is explicitly false. Providers with "type": "cli" use a completely different invocation path (see Step 5).

Step 4: Health Check

For each unique HTTP provider in the panel, run a quick connectivity check:

curl -s --max-time 5 -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" PROVIDER_BASE_URL/models

For claude-cli providers, verify the CLI is available:

claude --version 2>/dev/null

Report which providers are up/down. Remove models whose provider is down, but continue with the rest. If ALL providers are down, report the failure and stop.

Step 5: Query All Models in PARALLEL

This is critical: fire ALL curl calls as parallel Bash tool calls in a single message.

Use the resolved temperature (from --temp or config.defaults.temperature) and max tokens from config.defaults.maxTokens. Use config.defaults.timeoutSeconds as the curl --max-time.

Default system prompt (used when --system is not provided):

You are a technical consultant providing your honest, independent opinion. Be concise but thorough. Focus on practical implications. If you disagree with a premise, say so directly. Provide your reasoning, not just conclusions. Keep your response under 500 words.

Curl pattern for providers WITH auth:

curl -s --max-time TIMEOUT PROVIDER_BASE_URL/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: AUTH_VALUE" \
  -d '{"model":"MODEL_ID","messages":[{"role":"system","content":"SYSTEM_PROMPT"},{"role":"user","content":"QUESTION"}],"temperature":TEMP,"max_tokens":MAX_TOKENS}'

Curl pattern for providers WITHOUT auth (auth is null):

curl -s --max-time TIMEOUT PROVIDER_BASE_URL/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"model":"MODEL_ID","messages":[{"role":"system","content":"SYSTEM_PROMPT"},{"role":"user","content":"QUESTION"}],"temperature":TEMP,"max_tokens":MAX_TOKENS}'

Command pattern for claude-cli providers (Visible Window Process):

For models whose provider has "type": "cli", spawn each in a visible PowerShell window so the user can watch the response stream in. Each CLI model runs as a 3-step process:

Step A: Save the prompt to a temp file

For short prompts, write the question directly. For long prompts (transcripts, code, etc.), save the full content:

cat > "$TEMP/consult-prompt-MODEL_KEY.txt" << 'PROMPT_EOF'
QUESTION_TEXT_HERE
PROMPT_EOF

Step B: Write a PowerShell launcher script

Write one .ps1 script per CLI model. The script must:

• Unset CLAUDECODE env var (blocks nested sessions otherwise)
• Pipe the prompt file to claude -p
• Display the response live in the window
• Save output as UTF-8 (PowerShell defaults to UTF-16 which corrupts the output)

cat > "$TEMP/consult-run-MODEL_KEY.ps1" << 'PS_EOF'
$env:CLAUDECODE = $null
$promptFile = "$env:TEMP\consult-prompt-MODEL_KEY.txt"
$outputFile = "$env:TEMP\consult-response-MODEL_KEY.txt"

Write-Host "=== Consulting MODEL_NAME ===" -ForegroundColor Cyan
Write-Host ""

$prompt = Get-Content $promptFile -Raw -Encoding utf8
$response = $prompt | claude -p --model MODEL_ID --system-prompt "SYSTEM_PROMPT" --no-session-persistence --tools "" --output-format text 2>&1

Write-Host $response
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "=== Done ===" -ForegroundColor Green

[System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($outputFile, $response, [System.Text.UTF8Encoding]::new($false))

Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
PS_EOF

Replace these placeholders with actual values:

• MODEL_KEY — the config key (e.g., cc-opus)
• MODEL_NAME — the display name (e.g., Claude Opus 4.6 (CLI))
• MODEL_ID — the model id from config (e.g., opus, sonnet, haiku)
• SYSTEM_PROMPT — the resolved system prompt (escape double quotes as backtick-double-quote in PS)

Step C: Launch the visible window

cmd.exe //c start "Consulting MODEL_NAME" powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "$TEMP/consult-run-MODEL_KEY.ps1"

Launch ALL CLI model windows in parallel (one cmd.exe //c start per model, all in the same Bash tool call block alongside the HTTP curl calls).

Step D: Poll for responses

After launching all models (HTTP + CLI), poll for CLI response files. HTTP curl calls return immediately; CLI windows write their output files when done:

# Poll until response file exists and has content, max ~3 minutes
for i in $(seq 1 36); do
  [ -s "$TEMP/consult-response-MODEL_KEY.txt" ] && break
  sleep 5
done

Poll for ALL CLI models in a single Bash call. Then read each response:

cat "$TEMP/consult-response-MODEL_KEY.txt"

The response is plain UTF-8 text — no JSON parsing needed.

Cleanup

After presenting results, remove temp files:

rm -f "$TEMP"/consult-prompt-*.txt "$TEMP"/consult-run-*.ps1 "$TEMP"/consult-response-*.txt

IMPORTANT for CLI models: These may take longer than HTTP models (10-60s for Opus). They use the user's Claude subscription credits, not API keys. They spawn a separate Claude process with zero context from the current session, giving a truly independent opinion.

IMPORTANT: Properly escape the question and system prompt for JSON (for HTTP models) or shell/PowerShell (for CLI models). In PowerShell strings, escape double quotes with backtick-double-quote (`").

Step 6: Extract and Present Responses

For each response:

1. HTTP models: Parse the JSON and extract .choices[0].message.content
2. CLI models: Read $TEMP/consult-response-MODEL_KEY.txt — it's plain UTF-8 text, no JSON parsing needed. If the file is empty or missing after polling, record [ERROR: CLI model timed out or failed — check the PowerShell window for details].
3. If the call failed, timed out, or returned an error, record [ERROR: description]

Present ALL responses with clear attribution using this format:

## Consultation Results

**Question:** {the question}
**Models consulted:** {count} ({comma-separated model names})
**Preset:** {preset used}

---

### {Model Name} ({Provider})
> {full response text}

### {Model Name} ({Provider})
> {full response text}

...

---

Step 7: Synthesize

After presenting all raw responses, provide a synthesis:

## Synthesis

### Agreement
- {Points where 2+ models converge on the same conclusion}

### Disagreement
- {Points where models diverge, with attribution — e.g., "GPT recommends X while Gemini prefers Y"}

### Unique Insights
- {Points only one model raised that are worth noting}

### My Assessment
{Your own synthesis weighing all the opinions. Be direct about which arguments you find most compelling and why. Add any considerations the models missed.}

Error Handling

Scenario	Action
A provider is down (health check fails)	Skip its models, note in output, continue with others
A single model errors or times out	Show [ERROR: reason] for that model, continue with others
All models fail	Report failure, suggest checking that LM Studio is running (port 1234) and/or API keys are configured in .claude/consult-config.json
Claude CLI model fails	Show the stderr output as the error. Common causes: not authenticated (claude auth), model unavailable, rate limited
No question provided	Ask the user what they want to consult about
Unknown model key in --models	Warn and skip that key, continue with valid ones
Unknown preset in --preset	Warn and fall back to "default" preset