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The Four Councils¶
One deliberation engine, four domains. Each council has its own slash command, conductor persona, specialist roster, and session directory — and they never mix (mixed-roster sessions are prohibited by the positioning charter).
| Council | Command | Conductor | Specialists | Cap | Decisions it's for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | /council |
Steward (Platinum) | 19 | 7 | Features, architecture, migrations, audits |
| Finance | /finance-council |
Comptroller (Verdigris) | 7 | 5 | Close, tax, treasury, capital, disclosure |
| People | /people-council |
Chair (Linen) | 6 | 5 | Hiring, comp, ER, org design, compliance |
| Revenue | /revenue-council |
Quartermaster (Cobalt) | 7 | 5 | Deals, expansion, churn, pipeline, partners |
All four share the same session flow (interview → assembly → 3-round deliberation → synthesis → planning), the same --profile cost controls, and the same session-management commands (--list, --resume, --archive, …). The conductor is a persona the main session adopts — it facilitates and synthesizes but never votes.
Engineering — /council¶
The flagship. 19 specialists; the Architect is always seated, and Advocate, Skeptic, Guardian, and Tuner get bonus weight in scoring.
Engineering & systems: Architect (Blue — systems, APIs, data models) · Craftsman (Purple — testing, code quality) · Operator (Orange — DevOps, infra) · Tuner (Amber — performance, scale) · Alchemist (Indigo — data/ML) · Sentinel (Titanium — IoT, embedded) · Pathfinder (Coral — mobile, cross-platform)
Product & design: Strategist (Gold — scope, MVP) · Advocate (Green — UX, accessibility) · Artisan (Rose — visual design) · Herald (Bronze — growth, monetization) · Scout (Cyan — research, precedent) · Chronicler (Ivory — documentation)
Risk & integrity: Skeptic (Red — devil's advocate) · Guardian (Silver — compliance, privacy) · Cipher (Obsidian — cryptography, PQC) · Warden (Slate — kernel security, isolation) · Prover (Pearl — formal methods) · Oracle (Violet — AI/LLM integration, RAG)
Each specialist owns 2–4 department skills (59 engineering skills total — architect-schema-design, skeptic-threat-model, oracle-rag-architecture, …). Action paths: Ship, GitHub issues export, team execution, Ralf/Launch handoff, deep audit.
Finance — /finance-council¶
Intake: "What's the financial decision?"
| Specialist | Color | Lens |
|---|---|---|
| Controller | Forest | GAAP/IFRS, journals, reconciliation, monthly close |
| Tax | Mustard | Federal/state/international tax, transfer pricing |
| FP&A | Sky | Forecasting, variance analysis, scenario modeling |
| Treasurer | Bronze | Cash, liquidity, working capital, FX |
| Auditor | Onyx | Internal controls, SOX, audit evidence |
| Capital | Indigo | Capital allocation, M&A, investor relations |
| RegRep | Slate | SEC filings, regulatory reporting, disclosures |
Theme action paths: Path G — finance memo + draft journal-entries worksheet ready for GL import; Path H — FP&A handoff package (forecast revisions + variance commentary). Six skills shipped (finance-reconciliation, finance-journal-entries, finance-close-checklist, finance-variance-analysis, finance-tax-research, finance-controls-audit); eight more tracked.
People — /people-council¶
Intake: "What's the people decision?"
| Specialist | Color | Lens |
|---|---|---|
| Talent | Coral | Recruiting, interview-loop design, offer mechanics |
| PeoplePartner | Sage | Employee relations, performance, manager coaching |
| TotalRewards | Gold | Comp bands, equity, benefits, geo differentials |
| LearnDev | Teal | L&D, career frameworks, skills development |
| DEI | Plum | Belonging, accessibility, equitable practice design |
| PeopleOps | Slate | HRIS, payroll, employment-law compliance, leave |
Theme action paths: Path I — job-description package (role spec, success criteria, comp band reference, interview rubric); Path J — employment-decision memo with jurisdiction-specific considerations (flags external legal/finance sign-off rather than assuming facilitation closes it). One skill shipped (people-job-description); twelve more tracked.
Revenue — /revenue-council¶
Intake: "What's the revenue decision?"
| Specialist | Color | Lens |
|---|---|---|
| AE | Crimson | Deal mechanics, MEDDPICC, negotiation |
| SDR | Amber | Outbound prospecting, qualification |
| SE | Blue | Technical sales, demos, POC design |
| CSM | Green | Adoption, expansion, churn signals, renewals |
| Support | Cyan | Ticket triage, escalation, SLA |
| RevOps | Indigo | Pipeline, forecast methodology, territory design |
| Partnerships | Bronze | Channel, alliances, ecosystem co-sell |
The seven cleave into pre-sale / post-sale / system tracks — rarely do all need to speak, hence the 5-agent cap. Theme action paths: Path K — account-plan package; Path L — deal-room brief for executive engagement (MEDDPICC scoring, asks, risks); Path M — QBR deck for joint CSM/AE presentation. One skill shipped (revenue-account-plan); thirteen more tracked.
Cross-council handoffs¶
When a session surfaces a question outside its council's domain — an engineering design with a revenue-recognition implication, a hiring plan with a budget question — the conductor does not seat a foreign specialist. It emits a structured handoff block naming the receiving council, the question, and the context to carry over; you then open a session there. See references/cross-council-handoff.md for the block format.
Session data is isolated per council: .claude/council/, .claude/finance-council/, .claude/people-council/, .claude/revenue-council/.
Next: Cost guide — profiles, token estimates, and which to pick for your billing model.