Route ANY ask through this 3-step protocol:
Step 1 — Classify intent
Parse $ARGUMENTS for verb. Match against these classes:
Execution verbs (route to: reasoning + swarm)
build, ship, deploy, fix, elevate, create, refactor, migrate, scaffold, wire, sync, audit-and-fix, redesign, rebuild, generate, render
Reasoning verbs (route to: reasoning only)
think, plan, compare, analyze, should, what if, why, evaluate, audit, research, explore, decide
Bare topic (no verb)
Route to: reasoning only, then ASK "Should I dispatch a swarm to execute this?"
Step 2 — Invoke /superintelligence
Always. Pass $ARGUMENTS as the topic. Capture the reasoning output.
Cost: ~5K input + ~3K output tokens, ~$0.05. Cheap enough to always run.
Step 3 — Route based on Step 1 classification
If execution intent
After /superintelligence returns, dispatch the appropriate swarm:
- "build / scaffold / create / generate" → BUILD lane (e.g., /v BUILD or feature-dev or frankx-website-builder agent)
- "deploy / ship / sync" → DEPLOY lane (e.g., /v DEPLOY)
- "fix / refactor / migrate" → FIX lane
- "elevate / redesign / rebuild" → ELEVATE lane (e.g., /v ELEVATE)
- "audit-and-fix" → /v ELEVATE
- Multi-domain ambiguity → ask which lane
If reasoning intent
Return /superintelligence verdict directly. Surface a one-line "Want to execute this?" footer.
If bare topic
Return /superintelligence verdict. Surface explicit "Should I dispatch a swarm to execute this?" question with 3 options (yes-execute / no-thinking-only / scope-first).
Cost discipline
- Never auto-dispatch a swarm on a bare-topic ask
- Never skip /superintelligence on execution intent (the framing is the value)
- Per-invocation cost budget: $0.05 reasoning + variable swarm cost ($0.30-$3 per agent × N agents)
- Compare to: a pure /v ELEVATE run is ~$1.50-$5 — /si adds $0.05 of reasoning at the front for better orchestration
Anti-patterns
- Auto-dispatching swarm on every /si call (burns money on tasks that needed only thinking)
- Skipping /superintelligence on execution (loses multi-perspective framing)
- Treating /si as an alias for /superintelligence (it's a router, not a duplicate)
Cross-references
[[feedback_si_router_design]]— the design memory/superintelligenceskill — the reasoning primitive/vskill — the Vercel/Next.js excellence swarm/ultrawork— parallel agent execution/ao— model routing