Council Mode
Council Mode is a preview workflow for difficult decisions. Instead of sending one prompt to one model, Agenties can convene a small set of participants, moderate the discussion, produce a decision, and turn accepted next actions into tracked issues.
Warning:Council Mode is feature-gated. It is documented here so teams understand the shape of the capability, but it should not be treated as a default production path until it has been enabled and validated for the project.
Lifecycle
| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| draft | The user chooses a template, participants, depth, and scope. |
| moderating | Participants contribute through the configured provider and the moderator keeps the discussion bounded. |
| awaiting_acceptance | Agenties presents a decision summary and recommended next actions. Nothing executes automatically. |
| accepted | The accepted decision is stored, journaled, and can create linked issues. |
| rejected or saved | The user can reject the decision or save it without turning it into work. |
Providers and models
The provider layer is designed so Council participants can come from different model sources. The current preview supports fixture-backed runs and a mixed provider path that can include Claude Code models and local Ollama models where available.
Safety model
Council Mode is advisory by design. Accepting a decision can create issues and continuity records, but it does not automatically start a goal or run agents. The user remains the gate between advice and execution.
Artifacts
| Artifact | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Council session record | Durable session state under the project .agenties/council area. |
| Transcript | A readable record of the debate and moderation. |
| Decision JSON/Markdown | Structured decision summary, tradeoffs, risks, and next actions. |
| Issues | Optional linked issues created only after the user accepts or confirms them. |