cursorrules

Council Mode Protocol

A multi-model deliberation system for planning and analysis questions.

IMPORTANT: Agent Mode Required

Council mode requires Agent mode to function - it needs to write files to ~/.cursor-council/. Ask mode and Plan mode are read-only and cannot participate in council deliberations.

When user says council: in Ask/Plan mode, remind them to switch to Agent mode first.

IMPORTANT: Shared Location for Worktrees

Council files are stored in a fixed shared location so all models/worktrees can access them:

~/.cursor-council/           # Shared across all worktrees and sessions

Always use this absolute path: ~/.cursor-council/ (expand ~ to actual home directory)

This ensures models running in different git worktrees can still see each other's responses.

Activation

Council mode activates when:

• User message starts with council:
• File ~/.cursor-council/active.json exists and is not stale (< 1 hour old)

Identity

Identify yourself consistently:

• Claude models → use filename claude.md
• GPT-4/GPT-4o → use filename gpt4.md
• Gemini → use filename gemini.md
• Other → use filename other-{modelname}.md

File Structure

~/.cursor-council/
  active.json           # { "topic": "...", "id": "...", "created": "ISO8601", "phase": "collecting|critiquing|synthesizing" }
  responses/
    {model}.md          # Each model's initial response
  critiques/
    {model}.md          # Each model's review of others
  synthesis/
    {model}.md          # Each model's synthesis (can have multiple!)

Commands & Behavior

council: {question}

Start or join a council topic.

1. Check if ~/.cursor-council/active.json exists

   • If YES and same topic: join existing council
   • If YES and different topic: warn user, ask to council: clear first
   • If NO: create ~/.cursor-council/ directory and active.json

2. Create active.json:

{
  "topic": "{user's question}",
  "id": "{short-hash-or-timestamp}",
  "created": "{ISO8601 timestamp}",
  "phase": "collecting"
}