Advisor mode

⚠️ LEGACY — 2026-07-26 · NOT RECOMMENDED FOR NEW WORK

This skill is retired upstream and is shipped for reference and reversibility, not for use.

Do not invoke it against a live API key. Its cloud path issues a real, billable client.beta.messages.create request using the advisor_20260301 tool with betas=["advisor-tool-2026-03-01"], and hardcodes "model": "claude-opus-4-7". That beta has not been exercised since April 2026, so whether it still exists server-side is unknown, and the model pins throughout this skill (claude-opus-4-7, claude-sonnet-4-6, claude-haiku-4-5) are superseded. An invocation may bill your account for a request that cannot succeed.

Why it is here at all. The tier heuristic below is the durable part and is model-agnostic:

1. Can a smart intern do this in one step? → C
2. Does it need synthesis, structure, or multiple steps? → B
3. Does it involve strategy, irreversibility, or cross-cutting impact? → A
4. Would getting it wrong cost $10K+ or set a wrong direction for months? → A+

Plus two disciplines worth keeping regardless of which models you run: plan before act — the stronger model advises on the plan, the executor carries it out — and treat an advisor budget as a hard ceiling, not a suggestion.

What replaced it upstream. Modern agent harnesses route internally, so an explicit classify-then-dispatch layer has no caller left. The advisor role became a dedicated reviewer subagent; gate-and-escalate became a standing review norm. If you want the capability, wire the heuristic into whatever harness you already run rather than reviving this dispatcher.

Retired 2026-07-26. Scripts are preserved unmodified so nothing you may have built on them breaks.

Advisor Mode

Tiered Model Routing | Plan-First | Budget-Controlled

V1 scope: This skill is a wrapper / classification-and-dispatch harness, not a native model runtime. It selects the tier (A+/A/B/C) and the venue (cloud Anthropic API vs local Ollama) and hands off; it does not own inference. Treat advisor-mode as the HR layer in the executive-stack org chart below — it routes, it doesn't think for you.

This skill routes tasks to the correct model tier and enforces a plan-before-act discipline. Simple tasks stay cheap. Strategic tasks get Opus-level reasoning where it counts.

Core principle: Opus advises on the PLAN. The executor carries out the plan. Never use Opus to execute when it could plan instead.

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EXECUTIVE STACK — Where advisor-mode fits

advisor-mode is one of three orchestration skills, each owning a different layer. They are NOT alternatives — they cover different axes and are usually composed, not swapped:

Org-chart role	Skill	Axis
HR / routing (pick the rank for the task)	advisor-mode (this skill)	Classification + tier selection
Parallel specialist advisors (surface disagreement)	council-mode	Parallel adversarial comparison
Executor + final arbiter (run the chain, gate, escalate)	orchestrator-mode	Sequential gate-and-escalate

Claude tier mapping (canonical): A+ = CEO / Chief Strategist (Opus solo) · A = Director with Advisor (Sonnet + Opus advisor tool) · B = Director / Manager (Sonnet solo) · C = Analyst / Junior Operator (Haiku).

Local layer (US-only model policy): Fleet host + model bindings are canonical at {brain_root}/mission-control/state/fleet-dispatch.json. Override host with OLLAMA_HOST env var.

• C-local: llama3.1:8b (Meta/US) — Operator tier, fast daily driver
• B-local: phi4:14b (Microsoft/US) — Team Lead tier
• Memory rule: one heavy model hot at a time per node. Set OLLAMA_KEEP_ALIVE=1m.

When in doubt: start here (classify), then hand off to council (compare) or orchestrator (execute) if the task shape calls for it.

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TOPOLOGY VOCABULARY — Shared across the stack

Every dispatch call names the agent-graph shape it ran in, using a fixed vocabulary shared across advisor-mode, council-mode, and orchestrator-mode.

Value	Meaning	When it shows here
direct	Single model, single call	Tier C solo, Tier B solo, Tier A+ solo, Tier A with --local
fan-out-1	Executor + one advisor (1-deep fan-out)	Tier A standard: Sonnet executor + Opus advisor tool
parallel-2	Two models answering the same prompt in parallel	--compare flag
parallel-N	N-way parallel on same prompt	council-mode (reserved)
chain-N	Sequential N-step pipeline with gates	orchestrator-mode (reserved)

Where it surfaces in output:

• Run header (Topology: fan-out-1)
• Metadata block at end of run
• Log table column (daily_usage.md)

Design principle: this system is 1-deep fan-out only for v1. If the topology vocab ever shows fan-out-N where N > 1, that's a signal something unintended ran. Tier is who ran it; topology is what shape it ran in. They're orthogonal.

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BRAIN CHECK — Run Before Every Task

Brain root: auto-detected from script location; override with BRAIN_ROOT env var.

1. Load last 2 ops session files → {brain_root}/mission-control/sessions/*-ops.md
2. Load advisor budget log → {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/logs/daily_usage.md (if exists)
3. Check for any cross-dept flags in {brain_root}/mission-control/awareness.md

After loading:

• State current advisor budget status (calls used today vs. cap, if logged)
• Flag any context relevant to the current task
• Then proceed to classification

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COMPANY PROFILE (never prompt the operator for this)

Company:  {{company_name}}
Operator: {{operator_name}}  |  Email: {{operator_email}}
Brain:    {brain_root}/mission-control/
Skills:   {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/
API key:  ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (must be set in environment)

Loaded from ~/.cerebro/profile.yaml at runtime (populated by first-run wizard).

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TIER CLASSIFICATION GUIDE

Tier	Model	When to use	Cost profile
C	Haiku 4.5	Single-step, lookup, format, yes/no, <5 min work	Lowest
B	Sonnet 4.6	Multi-step, analysis, structured output, proposals	Medium
A	Sonnet 4.6 + Opus advisor	Strategic, cross-dept impact, irreversible, complex reasoning	Controlled
A+	Opus solo	Highest stakes, architecture decisions, significant business impact	Highest

Quick classification test:

1. Can a smart intern do this in one step? → Tier C
2. Does it need synthesis, structure, or multiple steps? → Tier B
3. Does it involve strategy, irreversibility, or cross-dept impact? → Tier A
4. Would getting it wrong cost significantly or set wrong direction for months? → Tier A+

See references/tier_decision_guide.md for full matrix with examples.

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STAGE ROUTING

What operator needs	Stage	Reference
"Classify this task"	Stage 1: Classify	references/stage1_classify.md
"Configure the model for tier X"	Stage 2: Configure	references/stage2_configure.md
"Run this task" (new task, all tiers)	Stages 1 → 2 → 3	Read in sequence
"Run this as Tier A" (tier already known)	Stages 2 → 3	stage2_configure.md + stage3_execute.md
"Check my advisor budget"	Stage 4: Monitor	references/stage4_monitor.md
"Result wasn't good enough / escalate"	Stage 5: Escalate	references/stage5_escalate.md

---

WORKSPACE PATHS

Skill root:   {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/
References:   {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/references/
Scripts:      {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/Scripts/
Budget logs:  {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/logs/daily_usage.md
Ops Brain:    {brain_root}/mission-control/sessions/
Awareness:    {brain_root}/mission-control/awareness.md

---

API CONFIGURATION

Advisor tool name:  advisor_20260301
Beta header:        advisor-tool-2026-03-01
Valid executor+advisor pairs:
  - claude-haiku-4-5    + claude-opus-4-7   (Tier A from Haiku base)
  - claude-sonnet-4-6   + claude-opus-4-7   (Tier A standard — preferred)
  - claude-opus-4-7     + claude-opus-4-7   (Tier A+ — Opus advising itself)
Default max_uses:   3  (never set to 1 — give the advisor room to think)
Advisor token output: ~400–700 tokens per call
Extended thinking:  adaptive for Tier A+ (required on Opus 4.7; `type=enabled` 400s)

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KEY RULES

1. Classify before you dispatch. Always. Never skip to execution without a tier assignment.

2. Opus plans. Sonnet executes. The advisor prompt asks Opus for a PLAN and DECISION CRITERIA — not to write the final output. Give Opus the goal. Give Sonnet the plan.

3. The harness matters as much as the model. Log every dispatch: tier used, advisor calls consumed, task type.

4. max_uses defaults to 3. Never set it to 1. A single advisor call often isn't enough for Opus to ask clarifying questions and converge on a good plan. Reduce to 2 for time-sensitive tasks. Never 1.

5. Escalation is not failure. If Tier C output was insufficient, escalate to Tier B. Log it. Two escalations on the same task type = that task type should be re-classified upward permanently.

6. Never run Tier A+ without explicit operator approval. Opus solo is expensive and reserved for architecture-level decisions.

7. Plan mode for Tier A is not optional. Before Sonnet executes a Tier A task, Opus must produce a written plan.

8. Never hardcode the API key. The key lives in the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.

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Scope Contract

Dimension	Scope
Read paths	Task context from caller (inline prompt), {brain_root}/mission-control/skills/advisor-mode/ source files
Write paths	None. Read-only classifier + dispatcher.
MCP / tool surface	Anthropic API (Haiku / Sonnet / Opus), advisor_20260301 native tool for Tier A
Network egress	api.anthropic.com only
Surface	Claude Code
Credentials	ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (env var)
Escalation trigger	If max_uses budget cap exceeded → exit with "budget exhausted" message before dispatching executor

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References (auto-wikilinks)

• [[-ops]]
• [[awareness]]
• [[daily_usage]]
• [[stage1_classify]]
• [[stage2_configure]]
• [[stage3_execute]]
• [[stage4_monitor]]
• [[stage5_escalate]]
• [[tier_decision_guide]]

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