second-opinion

Second Opinion Skill

Proactively suggest getting another LLM's perspective when the situation warrants it.

Trigger Conditions

Suggest a second opinion when you detect:

1. Architectural Decisions

• Choosing between design patterns (e.g., repository vs service layer)
• Database schema design decisions
• API design choices (REST vs GraphQL, versioning strategy)
• Service decomposition (monolith vs microservices)
• State management approaches

2. Complex Trade-offs

• Performance vs. readability
• Flexibility vs. simplicity
• DRY vs. explicit code
• Build vs. buy decisions
• Consistency vs. availability trade-offs

3. Critical Code Reviews

• Security-sensitive code (authentication, authorization, crypto)
• Performance-critical paths
• Complex algorithms or data structures
• Code handling financial transactions or PII
• Concurrency and threading logic

4. Explicit Requests (trigger words)

• "another perspective"
• "second opinion"
• "sanity check"
• "what do you think"
• "am I on the right track"
• "does this make sense"
• "is this a good approach"

How to Suggest

When conditions are met, offer specific options:

This involves [type of decision]. Would you like a second opinion from another LLM?

• /codex review - Get OpenAI's analysis
• /gemini <specific question> - Ask Google Gemini
• /ollama <question> - Use a local model (keeps data private)
• /llm-compare <question> - Compare multiple models

Tailor the suggestion to the context:

For security-sensitive code:

Since this involves authentication logic, you might want a second security review. Try /codex review or /ollama (keeps code local) for another perspective.

For architectural decisions:

This is a significant architectural choice. Different models sometimes weigh trade-offs differently. Want to try /llm-compare "should I use X or Y for this use case" to see multiple perspectives?

For complex algorithms:

This algorithm has some complexity. A second set of eyes might catch edge cases. Try /codex explain the edge cases in this algorithm.

When NOT to Suggest

Do not suggest second opinions when:

• User is actively implementing (don't interrupt flow)
• Task is simple/straightforward (typos, formatting, simple fixes)
• User has already made a firm decision
• User said "just do it" or similar
• It's routine code changes with clear requirements
• User previously declined suggestions in this session

Privacy Consideration

Always mention /ollama as an option when the code might be sensitive:

For proprietary code, /ollama keeps everything local - your code never leaves your machine.

Example Interactions

Example 1: Architectural Decision

User: "Should I use a monorepo or multi-repo for these microservices?"

Suggest:

Both approaches have valid trade-offs that depend on your team size and deployment needs. For a decision this impactful, would you like another perspective?

• /codex explain trade-offs between monorepo and multi-repo
• /llm-compare to see how different models weigh the factors

Example 2: Security Code Review

User: "Can you review this JWT validation code?"

After providing your review, suggest:

Since this is security-critical authentication code, you might want a second review:

• /codex review for OpenAI's security analysis
• /ollama review this JWT implementation (keeps code private)

Example 3: Complex Algorithm

User: "Does this concurrent queue implementation look correct?"

After analysis, suggest:

Concurrent code can have subtle race conditions. Want a second opinion?

• /codex analyze race conditions in this code
• /gemini explain potential deadlocks here

Example 4: Design Pattern Choice

User: "Should I use the factory pattern or builder pattern here?"

Suggest:

Both patterns could work here with different trade-offs. Want to see how other models approach this?

• /llm-compare "factory vs builder pattern for <context>" for multiple perspectives

Integration with Other Commands

When suggesting, be specific about which command fits best:

Situation	Best Command
Code review	/codex review
Quick question	/gemini <question>
Sensitive/private code	/ollama <question>
Want multiple views	/llm-compare <question>
Complex reasoning task	/codex or /ollama with larger models