Claude Consult

Get expert help from Claude specialist agents during implementation. Each agent has domain-specific skills pre-loaded and tools scoped to its role.

This is NOT a replacement for the review gates. The agent-loops skill defines formal code review (specialist-review) and test audit (diff-test-audit) gates that run after implementation. This skill is for asking questions during implementation — before you've written code, while you're writing it, or when you're stuck.

When to Use

• "How does this module work?" — before implementing
• "Does my approach match existing conventions?" — while implementing
• "Is this pattern secure?" — before committing to a design
• "Why is this test failing?" — when stuck
• "What do the testing standards say about X?" — before writing tests
• "Is this component accessible?" — during UI work

How to Invoke

claude -p --agent <agent-name> "<your question>"

All agents run headless (-p / print mode). They read the codebase, apply their loaded skills, and return an answer to stdout. Capture or pipe as needed:

# Direct invocation
claude -p --agent debugger "Why is test_auth_flow failing in src/auth/tests.py?"

# Capture to variable
ANSWER=$(claude -p --agent security-auditor "Is the input validation in src/api/handler.py safe?")

# Save to file
claude -p --agent architect-reviewer "Does adding a cache layer between api and db match the existing architecture?" > /tmp/arch-advice.md

Agent Roster

Codebase Understanding

Code Quality & Patterns

Security

Testing

Debugging

Performance

Frontend & UI

Language Specialists

Infrastructure

Data

Documentation

Coordination & Meta

Operating Rules

1. Consult, don't delegate implementation

These agents advise — they don't write your code. Read the answer, apply it yourself. The agent may suggest approaches, but you implement them.

2. Scope your questions

Bad: "Review everything in src/" Good: "Is the input validation in src/api/handler.py:45-60 safe against injection?"

Narrow questions get better answers and use fewer tokens.

3. Don't replace review gates

Consulting security-auditor during implementation doesn't skip the formal specialist-review gate afterward. The review gates exist for independent verification — consulting during implementation is for getting guidance early.

4. Use the cheapest agent that works

For factual lookups (where is X, what does the standard say), prefer search-specialist or the language-specific agents. Reserve security-auditor, debugger, and performance-engineer for questions that need deeper analysis.

5. One question per invocation

Each claude -p --agent call is a cold start. Don't try to batch multiple unrelated questions in one call — they'll get shallow treatment. Ask one focused question per invocation.

Relationship to agent-loops

agent-loops                          claude-consult
─────────────                        ──────────────
Formal review gates                  Mid-implementation help
Runs AFTER implementation            Runs DURING implementation
Produces reports with P0-P3          Answers questions directly
Required before merge                Optional, use as needed
specialist-review + test-review      Any agent from the roster

Both skills are designed to work together. Consult agents while implementing to prevent issues, then run the formal review gates to verify nothing was missed.