ask

Query the council of AI coding agents to gather diverse perspectives.

## Progress Tracking

Create a task at the start to show progress throughout the query:

```
TaskCreate:
  subject: "Query council"
  description: "Querying AI providers for diverse perspectives"
  activeForm: "Preparing council query..."

TaskUpdate: status → in_progress
```

Update `activeForm` as you progress through phases:
- `"Gathering context..."` - during auto-context detection
- `"Querying council providers..."` - during query-council.sh execution
- `"Formatting responses..."` - during format-output.sh execution
- `"Synthesizing recommendations..."` - during synthesis generation

Mark `status → completed` when finished.

## Step 0: Local Mode & Provider Availability

Decide up front whether this is a local (Claude-only) council run, before asking
any provider questions:

1. **If `--local` is in $ARGUMENTS → local mode.** Skip the provider and agent
   questions and go straight to "If Local Mode is Active" in Step 2. Local mode
   honors `--roles`, `--file`, `--verbosity`, `--quiet`, and auto-context; it
   ignores `--providers`, `--debate`, `--agents`, and `--async`. When `--roles`
   is not passed, the local-council skill asks the user how many members to
   convene before spawning them.

2. **Otherwise, check what providers are configured:**
   ```bash
   bash ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/query-council.sh --list-default 2>&1 | head -1
   ```
   - If this lists one or more providers → continue with the normal flow below.
   - If it is empty or reports `No providers configured` → do NOT hard-fail.
     Offer the local council:
     ```
     AskUserQuestion:
       Question: "No AI providers are configured. Run a local council instead? It's several Claude subagents, each playing a different role — independent angles, but same-model, not cross-vendor."
       Header: "No providers"
       Options:
         - "Run local council (Recommended) - independent Claude perspectives, no API keys needed"
         - "How to add a provider - show what to configure for a real cross-vendor council"
         - "Cancel"
     ```
     - "Run local council" → local mode (Step 2).
     - "How to add a provider" → show the setup hint (set an API key, or install
       the `codex` / `gemini` CLI; `/claude-council:status` shows what's
       available) and stop.
     - "Cancel" → stop.

**Never pass `--local` to query-council.sh or run-council.sh** — it is a
command-layer flag with no meaning to those scripts. Strip it from $ARGUMENTS
before constructing any script invocation.

## Pre-Query Interaction

Before querying, use AskUserQuestion in these scenarios:

### 1. Provider Selection + Verbosity (if --providers and --verbosity not specified)

First, discover the providers that would be queried by default (post CLI-prefers-API policy — `--list-default` is the right flag here, NOT `--list-available`, which includes shadowed API siblings that won't run by default):
```bash
bash ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/query-council.sh --list-default 2>&1 | head -1
```

**Only show default-queried providers in the question.** If only 1 provider is available, skip the provider question and use it directly. If the user wants a shadowed API provider (e.g., `openai` when codex is installed), they can pass `--providers=openai` explicitly.

**The first option of the providers question must be "All providers" (Recommended)** — this is the most common choice and saves the user from clicking each provider individually. If the user picks it, treat it as selecting every available provider.

**Combine providers + verbosity into a single AskUserQuestion call** (it supports multiple questions per call) so the user resolves both decisions in one screen instead of two:

```
Question 1: "Which AI providers should I consult?"
Header: "Providers"
multiSelect: true
Options:
  - All providers (Recommended) - query every configured provider in parallel
  - Gemini (gemini-3.1-pro-preview) - Google's reasoning model
  - OpenAI (gpt-5.5-pro) - OpenAI's reasoning model
  - Grok (grok-4.20-reasoning) - xAI's reasoning model
  - Perplexity (sonar-reasoning-pro) - search-augmented reasoning

Question 2: "How verbose should the responses be?"
Header: "Verbosity"
multiSelect: false
Options:
  - Standard (Recommended) - balanced thoroughness
  - Brief - 3-5 sentences, bullets only, no code unless asked
  - Detailed - thorough analysis with code examples and trade-offs
```

When the providers list exceeds 4 options ("All" + N providers), AskUserQuestion's 4-option limit forces a different shape — collapse to "All / Fast subset / Custom" presets.

**Skip the verbosity question if `--verbosity` was passed** explicitly. Skip the providers question if `--providers` was passed. Resolve both via flags when both are present.

Map the verbosity selection to the `--verbosity` flag passed to query-council.sh:
- "Standard" → omit the flag (default)
- "Brief" → `--verbosity=brief`
- "Detailed" → `--verbosity=detailed`

### 2. Clarify Ambiguous Questions

If the question is vague or could be interpreted multiple ways, ask for clarification.

**Skip these interactions if:**
- User provided `--providers` flag
- Question is specific and clear
- Context from conversation already clarifies intent

## Step 1: Auto-Context Detection

Unless `--no-auto-context` or `--file=` is in $ARGUMENTS, detect and include relevant files:

1. Extract keywords from the question (function names, domain terms, file patterns)
2. Search with Glob and Grep for matching files (max 5 files, ~10,000 tokens)
3. If relevant files found, show: `Auto-included context (N files): [list]`
4. Append file contents to the prompt sent to providers

Skip auto-context if:
- `--no-auto-context` is specified
- `--file=` is specified (explicit context)
- Question doesn't reference code concepts

## Step 1.5: Agent Mode Detection

Determine if agent-enhanced mode should be used:

### Explicit trigger
If `--agents` is in $ARGUMENTS, us