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