help

/my-council:help — in-chat usage tour

When invoked, emit the tour below verbatim to the operator. Do not paraphrase or shorten unless the operator explicitly asks for a specific section.

If the operator's message includes a section keyword (e.g. "help me with mixed mode", "help personas", "help panels"), surface only the relevant section. Otherwise emit the full tour.

After emitting, end with: "Full reference: see the plugin's README at ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/README.md, or on GitHub at https://github.com/jcconsult/claude-plugins/tree/main/plugins/my-council."

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Tour content (emit verbatim)

my-council — quick reference

Three commands.

• /my-council — run a panel of critics against a text artefact, emit a synthesised verdict.
• /my-council:add-persona — guided interview that creates a new persona at ~/.claude/agents/<name>.md.
• /my-council:help — this tour.

Four panels.

--type	Critics	When to use
generic (default, 5)	skeptic, pragmatist, strategist, customer-voice, operator	anything not fitting a more specific panel
business-idea (4)	strategist, pragmatist, customer-voice, skeptic	pitches, GTM, market entry, partnership review
research (3)	researcher, skeptic, ethicist	reports, claims, market analyses, lit reviews
decision (2)	skeptic, operator	go/no-go, accept/reject

Eight bundled personas. skeptic, pragmatist, researcher, customer-voice, strategist, operator, ethicist, futurist. Each carries one lens with a load-bearing question and a methodology anchor. Drop your own at ~/.claude/agents/<name>.md or use /my-council:add-persona to create one through a guided interview.

Quick-start examples.

Default panel against a document:

/my-council file:docs/my-pitch.md

Business-idea panel against a GTM plan:

/my-council file:docs/gtm-plan.md --type business-idea

Decision panel for a single go/no-go question:

/my-council "Should we accept the partnership offer in inbox/proposal.md?" --type decision

Custom panel:

/my-council file:docs/X.md --panel strategist,ethicist,futurist

Cross-vendor peer swap (needs codex or gemini CLI on PATH):

/my-council file:docs/X.md --mixed gemini

Truncate the resolved panel:

/my-council file:docs/X.md --n 3

Skip personas from the resolved panel:

/my-council file:docs/X.md --skip ethicist,futurist

Create your own persona via guided interview:

/my-council:add-persona

Environment variables.

Variable	Default	Purpose
MY_COUNCIL_CRITIC_MODEL	opus	Model used for each critic dispatch
MY_COUNCIL_SYNTHESIS_MODEL	opus	Model used for the synthesis pass
MY_COUNCIL_MAX_CRITICS	5	Hard cap; larger panels halt with a "narrow with --skip or --n" message
MY_COUNCIL_DEFAULT_N	3	Default N for natural-language invocations without --type or --panel

Override per-invocation, e.g. MY_COUNCIL_CRITIC_MODEL=sonnet /my-council file:doc.md for a cheaper run.

Discipline.

• One run per input version. Re-running on the same input re-samples noise; address the top blockers, then re-run on the revised input.
• The verdict + top-3 blockers + required patches are the contract. Address them. Don't expand scope mid-cycle.
• Optional patches are operator's call. Most should be skipped.
• revise means "address the named patches, then ship" — not "patch forever."

Troubleshooting.

• Slash command doesn't appear? The plugin didn't load. In Cowork, confirm it shows in the installed-plugins list. If not, re-upload the .plugin.zip.
• --mixed printed a notice and continued without the peer? The peer CLI (codex or gemini) isn't installed or isn't on PATH. Install and authenticate, then retry. Graceful degradation is intentional — the panel runs all-Claude rather than halting.
• A persona you created isn't dispatching? Two common causes: (1) name collision with a bundled persona (plugin-wins rule shadows yours — rename); (2) wrong ~/.claude/agents/ directory if you have a non-standard $HOME.
• The verdict feels off? Don't re-run for noise — that re-samples randomness. Address the named blockers and re-run on the revised input.

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When NOT to emit the tour

• The operator already has the tour in this conversation's context and is asking a specific follow-up question. Answer the follow-up directly instead of re-emitting the whole tour.
• The operator is in the middle of an active /my-council or /my-council:add-persona invocation. Finish that flow first; offer the tour after.

Halt conditions

• If ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/README.md is unreadable for any reason, still emit the tour content above (which is self-contained). Just skip the "Full reference" line at the end.