klatch

$klatch

Run a genuine multi-perspective roundtable by spawning independent subagents — each receiving only the topic brief, with no knowledge of the other participants' identities, roles, or outputs. Independence is structural, not simulated.

Preconditions

• .cocoplus/ must be initialized (run $pod init first)

Arguments

• <topic> (required): Free-text description of the decision, question, or problem to analyze
• --participants=N (optional): Number of participants. Range: 2–5. Default: 3.

Step-by-Step Behavior

$klatch <topic> [--participants=N]

1. Verify initialization: Check .cocoplus/ exists. If not, output: "CocoPlus not initialized. Run $pod init first." and exit.

1. Validate participant count: Parse --participants=N. If N < 2 or N > 5, output: "Participant count must be between 2 and 5. Default is 3." and exit. If flag absent, use N=3.

2. Produce structured topic brief from the free-text <topic>:

   • Decision or question being analyzed
   • Options under consideration (if mentioned or inferable)
   • Evaluation criteria (what would make one option better than another)
   • Known constraints stated in the topic

   Write topic brief to lifecycle/klatch/<timestamp>-<topic-slug>-brief.md where:

   • <timestamp> = ISO8601 compact (e.g., 20260517T143022)
   • <topic-slug> = lowercase, hyphenated, max 40 chars (e.g., which-embedding-model-to-use)

3. Assign participant roles based on N:

   N	Roles Assigned
   2	Skeptic, Optimist
   3	Skeptic, Optimist, Pragmatist
   4	Skeptic, Optimist, Pragmatist, Domain Expert
   5	Skeptic, Optimist, Pragmatist, Domain Expert, Contrarian

   Role mandates (injected into each participant's frontmatter):

   • Skeptic: "Interrogate assumptions. Find what could go wrong. Do not be balanced — be adversarial to the proposal."
   • Optimist: "Identify what could go right. Surface opportunities being underweighted. Do not hedge — advocate for the best case."
   • Pragmatist: "Focus on what is actually achievable given the stated constraints. Ignore ideal outcomes — anchor on what can be delivered."
   • Domain Expert: "Apply deep Snowflake and Cortex technical knowledge. Correct any technical misconceptions in the brief. Surface implementation-level consequences."
   • Contrarian: "Take the position least supported by the initial framing. Find the hidden strengths of the least-favored option."

4. Spawn N participant subagents simultaneously (parallel dispatch, background: false, isolation: "worktree"):

   • Each participant receives: the topic brief (lifecycle/klatch/<timestamp>-<topic-slug>-brief.md) and only the topic brief
   • Each participant's system context includes its role frontmatter and role mandate
   • Participants do NOT receive: names, roles, or any outputs of other participants
   • Each participant writes output to: lifecycle/klatch/<timestamp>-<topic-slug>-<role-slug>.md where <role-slug> is lowercase-hyphenated (e.g., domain-expert)

5. Wait for all N participants to complete. If any participant subagent fails:

   • Note the failure in the synthesis step
   • Proceed with remaining participant outputs
   • If ALL participants fail: output error and exit; leave staging files for debugging

6. Spawn synthesis subagent (Sonnet model, sequential — runs after all participants complete):

   • Reads all N participant output files (only after all are available)
   • Produces lifecycle/klatch/<timestamp>-<topic-slug>-synthesis.md with four sections:

   ## Points of Agreement
   [Positions or conclusions shared across ≥2 participants — with participant attribution]
   
   ## Points of Divergence
   [Positions where participants explicitly disagree — each position stated with its participant role]
   
   ## Open Questions
   [Questions raised by participants that no participant resolved]
   
   ## Recommended Decision Path
   [The synthesis agent's recommendation given the full picture, including the primary uncertainty that remains after the roundtable]
   

   If any participant failed: synthesis must explicitly flag: "Note: [role] participant output was unavailable — coverage of that perspective is incomplete."

7. Create git commit: feat(klatch): [topic-slug] roundtable — [N] participants

8. Output:

   ✓ Klatch complete. [N] participants.
   
   See: lifecycle/klatch/<timestamp>-<topic-slug>-synthesis.md
   
   Agreement on: [one-line summary of primary point of agreement]
   Key divergence: [one-line summary of primary disagreement]
   Primary uncertainty: [one-line statement from recommended decision path]
   

Integration Points

• CocoDiscuss: When active, discuss.md can reference the synthesis document as a decision input. The synthesis document URL is surfaced to the developer for manual linking if desired.
• CocoSeed: A deferred idea with a klatch recommendation surfaces as: "This idea warrants a klatch before promotion to spec."
• $pod kb: Notes existence of klatch artifacts in the session summary.

Error Cases

• <topic> missing: Output: "Topic is required. Usage: $klatch <topic> [--participants=N]"
• --participants out of range: Output: "Participant count must be 2–5."
• Any participant fails: Proceed with remaining outputs; synthesis flags incomplete coverage
• All participants fail: Output error; leave staging files at lifecycle/klatch/<timestamp>-*/ for debugging
• synthesis subagent fails: Output error with path to individual participant files so developer can review manually

Exit Criteria

This skill is complete when:

• All participant subagents have completed (or failed with documented coverage gaps)
• Synthesis document exists at lifecycle/klatch/<timestamp>-<topic-slug>-synthesis.md
• Git commit created with participant count and topic slug
• Summary surfaced in session with agreement, divergence, and uncertainty one-liners

Anti-Rationalization

Do NOT:

• Spawn participants sequentially — parallel dispatch is the structural guarantee of independence
• Pass participant identities or role names to other participants — each receives only the brief
• Allow the synthesis agent to run before all participant outputs are available — partial synthesis defeats the purpose
• Reassign or rename a participant's role in the synthesis — roles must match their frontmatter exactly
• Use N > 5 — the role set is fixed at five; additional participants add no new perspectives
• Simulate independence by asking one model to play multiple roles in sequence