External Synthesize Skill

This skill synthesizes implementation plan(s) and exposes disagreements from a multi-agent debate with dual proposers using external AI review.

Modes

1. Standard mode: Determines consensus/disagreement, generates options for disagreements
2. Resolve mode: Same 5 reports but with "User Resolution" section appended, produces unified plan

Key Features

• No Automatic Dropping: AI cannot drop ideas from proposals; all contested ideas become Disagreement sections
• Mandatory Developer Arbitration: Disagreements require explicit developer selection via --resolve mode
• Flexible Options: Minimum 2, recommended 3, no upper limit per disagreement
• Source Attribution: Each option must cite its source (Bold, Paranoia, Hybrid, etc.)
• AI Recommendations: Advisory only; developer must select
• Collapsible Code Drafts: <details> tags for implementation details

Inputs

This skill requires 5 agent report file paths, with optional 6th and 7th arguments:

• Report 1: Bold proposer report (.tmp/issue-{N}-bold.md)
• Report 2: Paranoia proposer report (.tmp/issue-{N}-paranoia.md)
• Report 3: Critique report (.tmp/issue-{N}-critique.md)
• Report 4: Proposal reducer report (.tmp/issue-{N}-proposal-reducer.md)
• Report 5: Code reducer report (.tmp/issue-{N}-code-reducer.md)
• Arg 6 (optional): Previous consensus file (.tmp/issue-{N}-consensus.md)
• Arg 7 (optional): History file (.tmp/issue-{N}-history.md)

Context ordering rationale: The combined report is assembled as: agent reports (1-5) -> previous consensus (6) -> history (7). This ensures the AI sees the history table's last row (current task) as the final context, leveraging LLM recency bias to prioritize the current request.

For resolve/refine modes: Pass both 6th and 7th arguments:

1. consensus.md as arg 6 (previous plan being modified)
2. history.md as arg 7 (operation history with current task in last row)

Outputs

Files created:

• .tmp/issue-{N}-debate.md - Combined 5-agent debate report (7 parts if resolve mode)
• .tmp/issue-{N}-consensus.md - Final plan(s)
• .tmp/issue-{N}-history.md - Accumulated selection and refine history

For resolve/refine mode, the debate file includes additional sections:

• Part 6: Previous Consensus Plan (from consensus.md)
• Part 7: Selection & Refine History (from history file, last row = current task)

Output format:

Section	Description
Agent Perspectives Summary	5-agent position table
Consensus Status	3-condition evaluation with CONSENSUS/DISAGREEMENT verdict
Goal / Codebase Analysis	Problem statement and file changes
Implementation Steps	Agreed changes with code drafts
Disagreement N (if any)	Per-disagreement options with A/B/C choices
Disagreement Summary	Summary table and suggested combination
Validation (resolve mode)	Selection history and compatibility check

See external-synthesize-prompt.md for complete output format specification.

Implementation Workflow

Step 1: Invoke External Synthesize Script

.claude-plugin/skills/external-synthesize/scripts/external-synthesize.sh \
    .tmp/issue-42-bold.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-paranoia.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-critique.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-proposal-reducer.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-code-reducer.md

Script automatically:

1. Validates all 5 report files exist
2. Extracts issue number from first report filename
3. Combines all 5 reports into debate report
4. Invokes external AI (Codex or Claude Opus)
5. Determines if consensus or multiple options
6. Saves result to consensus file

Timeout: 30 minutes (same as external-consensus)

Error Handling

Error Message	Cause	Solution
Report file not found: {path}	Missing agent report	Ensure all 5 reports were generated
External review failed with exit code {N}	API/network issue	Check credentials and retry

Usage Examples

Mode	Arguments	Example
Standard	5 reports	.tmp/issue-{N}-bold.md ... .tmp/issue-{N}-code-reducer.md
Resolve	5 reports + consensus + history	Add .tmp/issue-{N}-consensus.md .tmp/issue-{N}-history.md
Refine	Same as resolve	Same issue-{N} prefix, history records refine operation

# Standard mode
.claude-plugin/skills/external-synthesize/scripts/external-synthesize.sh \
    .tmp/issue-42-bold.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-paranoia.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-critique.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-proposal-reducer.md \
    .tmp/issue-42-code-reducer.md

Output (stdout, last line):

.tmp/issue-42-consensus.md