Give your AI coding agent a senior engineer on-call. Works with Claude Code | Cursor | Gemini CLI | Cline | Codex | Aider | Continue | Windsurf
A skill plugin that implements Anthropic's Advisor Strategy for any AI coding agent. When your agent faces complex decisions — architecture, security, performance, debugging — it automatically escalates to a stronger model for expert guidance, then returns the advice to your conversation.
No API setup. No MCP server. Just install and go.
Your AI coding agent is fast, but sometimes it needs a second opinion. The Advisor Strategy pairs your current model with a more capable one:
- Claude Sonnet + Opus advisor = near-Opus intelligence at a fraction of the cost
- Claude Haiku + Opus advisor = 85% cheaper than Sonnet with competitive quality
- Any model + stronger advisor = better decisions on the tasks that matter most
Based on Anthropic's research: Sonnet with Opus advisor showed 2.7% improvement on SWE-bench while reducing cost by 11.9%.
- Autonomous escalation — detects when advisor consultation would help
- 6 domain advisors — Architecture, Security, Performance, Debugging, Code Quality, Context Management
- Multi-advisor — dispatch multiple advisors in parallel for complex problems
- Context management — structured protocol keeps advisor prompts under 3000 tokens
- Multi-platform — one plugin, works across all major AI coding tools
- Zero dependencies — pure markdown skills, no external services
- Configurable model — default Opus 4.6, switch to any model your platform supports
# If plugin marketplace is available:
/plugin install advisor-strategy
# Manual install:
git clone https://github.com/aivsomkar/advisor-strategy-skill.git
cp -r advisor-strategy-skill ~/.claude/skills/advisor-strategygit clone https://github.com/aivsomkar/advisor-strategy-skill.git
# Add to your project's .cursor/rules/ or ~/.cursor/rules/
cp advisor-strategy-skill/skills/advisor-strategy/SKILL.md .cursor/rules/advisor-strategy.md# If extension install is available:
gemini extensions install https://github.com/aivsomkar/advisor-strategy-skill
# Manual: clone and reference GEMINI.md in your configgit clone https://github.com/aivsomkar/advisor-strategy-skill.git
# Cline: add SKILL.md content to your custom instructions
# Continue: add to .continue/rules/
# Aider: add to CONVENTIONS.md or .aider.conf.ymlCopy skills/advisor-strategy/SKILL.md into whatever instruction/rules/system-prompt mechanism your tool supports.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Your AI Coding Agent (any platform) │
│ │
│ 1. Detects advisor trigger │
│ 2. Extracts relevant context (not full chat) │
│ 3. Announces: "Consulting advisor..." │
│ 4. Dispatches advisor (stronger model) │
│ │
│ ┌───────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ Advisor (Opus / GPT-4o / etc.) │ │
│ │ │ │
│ │ - Receives focused context │ │
│ │ - Analyzes with domain expertise │ │
│ │ - Returns structured advice │ │
│ └───────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ 5. Presents advisor response (flagged) │
│ 6. Synthesizes: advisor + own assessment │
│ 7. Proceeds with best approach │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
The skill detects these situations and escalates:
| Trigger | Example |
|---|---|
| Architectural decisions | System design, API design, database schema, major refactors |
| Debugging dead-ends | Stuck after 2+ failed attempts |
| Security-sensitive code | Auth, crypto, permissions, input validation |
| High-stakes changes | Production configs, data migrations, CI/CD |
| Performance-critical paths | Hot loops, database queries, caching |
| Trade-off decisions | Multiple valid approaches, unclear which is best |
| Context growing large | Conversation needs summarization and refocus |
Just tell your agent:
- "use advisor" / "consult advisor" / "get a second opinion"
- "ask opus about this" / "escalate this"
- "security review this code" / "architecture check"
Each domain advisor gets a tailored prompt focused on its area of expertise:
| Domain | What It Reviews | When It Triggers |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | System design, patterns, modularity, extensibility | "design", "structure", "refactor", "scale" |
| Security | OWASP top 10, auth flows, input validation, secrets | "auth", "security", "vulnerability" |
| Performance | Profiling, caching, algorithmic complexity, DB queries | "slow", "optimize", "latency", "memory" |
| Debugging | Root cause analysis, hypothesis generation, test strategies | "stuck", "failing", "root cause" |
| Code Quality | Readability, maintainability, testing, patterns | "review", "clean up", "best practice" |
| Context Manager | Distill conversation, identify key decisions, compress | Auto-triggered when context is large |
For complex problems, dispatch multiple advisors in parallel:
"Consult architecture AND security advisors on this API design"
The skill dispatches both, then synthesizes — surfacing conflicts (security vs. performance trade-offs) for your decision.
The skill enforces a strict context protocol. Your advisor gets focused signal, not noise:
| Component | Token Budget |
|---|---|
| Problem statement | ~50-100 tokens (1-3 sentences) |
| Relevant code | ~500-2000 tokens (specific files only) |
| Failed approaches | ~100-200 tokens (brief summary) |
| Constraints | ~50-100 tokens |
| Total per consultation | ~1000-3000 tokens |
No full conversation dumps. No irrelevant files. No tool call logs.
Tell your agent:
"Use sonnet as advisor"
"Advisor model: haiku"
The skill does NOT silently fall back. It:
- Informs you Opus is unavailable
- Explains the trade-offs of proceeding without it
- Asks whether to continue with the current model or wait
"Don't use advisor"
"Skip advisor for this"
| Platform | How the Advisor Is Invoked | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Agent(model: "opus") sub-agent dispatch |
Fully supported |
| Cursor | Model switching via agent mode | Compatible |
| Gemini CLI | Gemini extension with model dispatch | Compatible |
| Cline | Sub-agent with configurable model backend | Compatible |
| Continue | Model switching in config | Compatible |
| Aider | /model command switching |
Compatible |
| Codex | Agent dispatch mechanism | Compatible |
| Windsurf | Cascade model selection | Compatible |
Each platform uses its native mechanism — no external CLI, no MCP server, no API keys beyond what your tool already has.
advisor-strategy-skill/
├── .claude-plugin/ # Claude Code plugin manifest
│ ├── plugin.json
│ └── marketplace.json
├── gemini-extension.json # Gemini CLI extension manifest
├── CLAUDE.md # Claude Code platform instructions
├── GEMINI.md # Gemini CLI platform instructions
├── AGENTS.md # Generic agent instructions (Codex, etc.)
├── hooks/ # Platform hooks (if needed)
├── skills/
│ └── advisor-strategy/
│ ├── SKILL.md # The skill (triggers, templates, protocol)
│ └── examples.md # Usage examples for each domain
├── package.json
└── README.md
- The Advisor Strategy by Anthropic
- Inspired by the Superpowers plugin architecture
- Implements multi-platform skill distribution following the same pattern
PRs welcome. If you've adapted the advisor strategy for a platform not listed above, please contribute the adapter.
MIT