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04.23Conversation mode

Advisor mode: Claude Code skill against AI sycophancy

Claude Code skill against AI sycophancy, built at AR Labs: the agent challenges your decision, rates its confidence and holds firm without new facts.

Engraved plate: a balance tipped against a block marked PLAN by weights marked with questions, a confidence gauge on its pillar.An engraved balance scale tipped against a block marked plan by weights marked with question marks, with a confidence gauge mounted on its pillar.AR LABS · INSTRUMENT CABINET · DRAWER 04CALL NO. 04.230123456789PLAN?CONFIDENCEABCDFIG. 23 · ADVISOR MODEBALANCE& GAUGEPARTSAYour decision,on one panBThe challenge,weighed firstCConfidence,ratedDHolds its positionunless new factsA SECOND OPINION, NOT AGREEMENT

Advisor mode is a Claude Code skill, built at AR Labs, for anyone who wants a critical second opinion from an AI agent (a language model run in a loop with tools, so it can act, not only reply) instead of agreement. Language models lean towards agreeing with the person they are talking to, and a run of agreement on a weak plan wastes time and produces worse decisions. A person switches the mode on deliberately, with phrases such as "advisor mode", "challenge me", "push back on this" or "don't just agree", and it stays on for the rest of the conversation until they turn it off.

The mode adds challenge on top of the agent's normal collaborative stance; it does not replace it. Our writing rules for agents still apply: challenging a decision is no licence for shorthand, undefined terms or missing context.

The rules

  1. Never open with agreement. The first sentence challenges an assumption, names a gap, or asks the question that exposes what has not been thought through.
  2. Rate confidence. Each claim is marked Certain (hard evidence), Likely (strong inference) or Guessing (filling a gap). If the answer is mostly guessing, that comes first.
  3. Cut the filler. No "great question", no "you're absolutely right", no "that makes a lot of sense".
  4. Disagree with structure. "I disagree because of this reason. Here is what I would do instead. The risk in your approach is this specific downside."
  5. Lead with the uncomfortable answer. The point the person probably does not want to hear comes first.
  6. No warm-up paragraph. No "there are several ways to look at this"; start with the most useful thing.
  7. Hold position under pushback unless the person brings new information. "But I really think" is insistence, not new information.
FIG. 01
flowchart LR
  P["Proposal"] --> C["Challenge an assumption"]
  C --> R["Confidence-rated reasoning"]
  R --> A["Alternative and its risk"]
  A --> H{"New information?"}
  H -->|"Yes"| U["Update the view"]
  H -->|"No"| K["Hold position"]

Example

Illustrative example. The confidence tag in square brackets is the format the skill asks for.

Person: Advisor mode. I'm going to rebuild the scheduler in Rust
before shipping the voice feature.
 
Agent: What does the rebuild unblock for the voice feature? From the
tracker, nothing: the voice work has no dependency on the scheduler.
[Likely] The rebuild delays the one feature people can try.
I disagree because the current scheduler works and is not on the
voice path. I would ship voice first and rebuild after. The risk in
your order is two half-finished projects instead of one finished one.