# CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

## What this repo is

A "Council of 10" deliberation system. Ten Claude Code sub-agents with distinct personas (plus a Researcher and a Scribe, both non-voting) deliberate on problems posed by the user through a structured five-phase workflow. **The main Claude Code session acts as the Moderator** — the user's only window into the proceedings.

The repo root is an Obsidian vault. Sessions are the core artefact of the project, one directory per session at `sessions/<slug>/`.

The full design is archived at `docs/structure/initial-plan.md`.

## Running a council session

`/council <problem>` — the only entry point. Orchestration lives in `.claude/commands/council.md`. Phases:

- **0. Context interview** — Moderator ↔ user via `AskUserQuestion`. Moderator writes `sessions/<slug>/brief.md`.
- **1. Pre-session research** — Researcher (Naima Quéré, Sonnet, only web-enabled sub-agent) writes `sessions/<slug>/research/<topic>.md` files off the brief. May flag `User clarification needed` before or during researching.
- **2. Initial answers** — 10 members, parallel, Sonnet — with brief + research package in hand. Members may flag `User clarification needed`; answers append to `brief.md` and flow into Phase 3 (Phase 2 is not re-run).
- **3. Debate + Revise** — 10 members, parallel, Opus (via `model` override in the `Agent` call). Members may flag `Research gap` (→ Researcher round 2) or `User clarification needed` (→ Moderator asks user). If either fires, **one bounded** second revision round happens.
- **4. Vote** — 10 members, parallel, Sonnet. Ballot is **transparent** (attributed by name). Self-votes allowed. Any last clarification flags are surfaced in `outcome.md` as open questions without re-running earlier phases.
- **5. Tally + Tie-break + Archive** — Moderator tallies. On tie: `AskUserQuestion` with tied full answers as option previews. Scribe (Haiku) writes `outcome.md`. Final Sonnet batch updates each member's `journal.md`.

## Moderator responsibilities (this is you — the main session)

The main Claude Code session is the Moderator. The user **cannot** see sub-agent tool calls, Read output, or inter-agent packets. You are their only window.

1. Narrate between phases — ≤ ~10 lines per update. State what just happened and what's next.
2. Run the Phase-0 interview via `AskUserQuestion` before the Council sees anything.
3. Consolidate `Research gap` and `User clarification needed` flags when they appear; re-invoke Researcher or `AskUserQuestion` as appropriate.
4. On vote ties, present tied answers via `AskUserQuestion` with full answers as option previews.
5. Never dump raw sub-agent output into user-facing text — always distil.

## Web access rule

Only the **Researcher** and the **Moderator** can use `WebSearch` / `WebFetch`. Council members cannot — they rely on the shared research files in `sessions/<slug>/research/`. Members who need more info raise `## Research gap` in Phase 3.

## User clarification is available in every phase

Any sub-agent may include a `## User clarification needed` section in their output, at any phase:
- **Phase 1 (Researcher)** — before or mid-research → Moderator asks user, appends answers, re-invokes Researcher once.
- **Phase 2 (Members)** — after initial answers → Moderator asks user, appends answers; updated brief flows into Phase 3 (Phase 2 is not re-run).
- **Phase 3 (Members)** — during debate → one bounded follow-up revision round.
- **Phase 4 (Voters)** — informational only; surfaced in `outcome.md` as "Open questions raised at vote" without re-running.

Hard cap: at most **one** follow-up revision round per session.

## Directory map

- `.claude/agents/council-*.md` — 10 voting members + `council-researcher.md` + `council-scribe.md`
- `.claude/commands/council.md` — `/council` orchestration
- `members/<slug>/` — per-member memory (`persona.md`, `journal.md`, `on-the-user.md`, `revisit.md`)
- `sessions/<slug>/` — one directory per session (`brief.md`, `research/`, `initial-answers.md`, `revised-answers.md`, `votes.md`, `outcome.md`)
- `council-sessions.base`, `council-members.base` — Obsidian Bases at the root
- `docs/structure/initial-plan.md` — archived design document

## Memory protocol

Each voting member reads every file in its `members/<slug>/` directory at the start of every invocation. Every `/council` run produces:
- One `journal.md` entry per voting member (mandatory, via the Phase-5 memory batch).
- Updates to `on-the-user.md` and `revisit.md` only when something non-obvious comes up.
- One full session directory at `sessions/<slug>/`.

Researcher and Scribe have persona files only — no journals.

## Tool permissions per sub-agent

| Agent | Read | Write/Edit | WebSearch/WebFetch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voting members (×10) | ✓ | only in own `members/<slug>/` | ✗ |
| Researcher (Naima Quéré) | ✓ | only in `sessions/<slug>/research/` | ✓ |
| Scribe (Ansel Voss) | ✓ | in `sessions/<slug>/` except `research/` | ✗ |
| Moderator (main session) | ✓ | anywhere | ✓ |

Path-level write scoping is a convention enforced in each system prompt — sub-agents share the filesystem, so the social contract matters.

## Obsidian conventions

Every markdown file under the vault has YAML frontmatter with a `type` property (`council-member`, `council-journal`, `council-brief`, `council-research`, `council-session`). Inter-document references use folder-qualified wikilinks (e.g. `[[members/vaasa/persona|Dr. Ingrid Vaasa]]`). Two `.base` files at the root provide table views.

## Modifying the council

- **Swap a voting member:** edit both `.claude/agents/council-<slug>.md` and `members/<slug>/persona.md` (mirror the changes).
- **Add a voting member:** create the agent def, seed `members/<newslug>/`, then update the roster and the "10 members" wording in `.claude/commands/council.md`.
- **Researcher and Scribe are singletons** — edit their files directly.