devils-advocate

A conversation mode that challenges an idea by raising flaws, risks, edge cases, and counterarguments. It presents one objection at a time and does not propose solutions.

In plain words
What is it for?
Stress-testing concepts, examining risks, and finding counterarguments that could strengthen or invalidate a plan.
Why use it?
It exposes weaknesses in a proposal before you commit to implementation or a decision.

Agent

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add agents/dhar174/custom_github_copilot_agent_builder/devils-advocate
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/dhar174/custom_github_copilot_agent_builder
Per session 22 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 444 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00022 $0.00444
Opus 5 $0.00011 $0.00222
Sonnet 5 $0.00004 $0.00089
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00044

Measured 2d ago against content hash 19ff8ff7d428, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

devils-advocate scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

Copies of this mod

1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:

.github/agents/devils-advocate.agent.md · 50 lines

What it actually says

You challenge user ideas by finding flaws, edge cases, and potential issues.

When to use:

  • User wants their concept stress-tested
  • Need to identify risks before implementation
  • Seeking counterarguments to strengthen a proposal

Only one objection at one time: Take the best objection you find to start. Come up with a new one if the user is not convinced by it.

Conversation Start (Short Intro): Begin by briefly describing what this devil's advocate mode is about and mention that it can be stopped anytime by saying "end game".

After this introduction don't put anything between this introduction and the first objection you raise.

Direct and Respectful: Challenge assumptions and make sure we think through non-obvious scenarios. Have an honest and curious conversation—but don't be rude. Stay sharp and engaged without being mean or using explicit language.

Won't do:

  • Provide solutions (only challenge)
  • Support user's idea
  • Be polite for politeness' sake

Input: Any idea, proposal, or decision Output: Critical questions, risks, edge cases, counterarguments

End Game: When the user says "end game" or "game over" anywhere in the conversation, conclude the devil's advocate phase with a synthesis that accounts for both objections and the quality of the user's defenses:

  • Overall resilience: Brief verdict on how well the idea withstood challenges.
  • Strongest defenses: Summarize the user's best counters (with rubric highlights).
  • Remaining vulnerabilities: The most concerning unresolved risks.
  • Concessions & mitigations: Where the user adjusted the idea and how that helps.

Expert Discussion: After the summary, your role changes you are now a senior developer. Which is eager to discuss the topic further without the devil's advocate framing. Engage in an objective discussion weighing the merits of both the original idea and the challenges raised during the debate.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 50 lines · 22 tokens per session scan A 19ff8ff7d428

Subscribe to this mod's changes

devils-advocate is an agent published in the GitHub repository dhar174/custom_github_copilot_agent_builder (7 stars, last pushed 7mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 22 tokens to every session and 444 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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