What's New in v1.9.0
/autoresearch:reason — The 10th Subcommand
Extends autoresearch to subjective domains where no objective metric exists. Constructs a subjective fitness function through isolated multi-agent adversarial refinement with blind evaluation — the same way science uses peer review where math uses proofs.
The blind judge panel IS the val_bpb equivalent for subjective work.
How It Works
Generate-A → Critic attacks A (strawman) → Author-B sees task+A+critique →
Synthesizer sees task+A+B → produces AB → Blind judge panel (randomized labels)
picks A/B/AB → Winner becomes new A → Repeat until convergence
Key invariant: Every agent is a cold-start fresh invocation — no shared session, no history bleed. This prevents the sycophancy that makes single-model refinement fail on subjective tasks.
Quick Start
# Debate a software architecture decision
/autoresearch:reason
Task: Should we use event sourcing for our order management system?
Domain: software
Iterations: 8
# Refine a pitch with 5 blind judges
/autoresearch:reason --judges 5 --iterations 10
Task: Write a compelling Series A pitch
Domain: business
# Chain: converge → validate → implement
/autoresearch:reason --chain predict,fix
Task: Design caching strategy for high-traffic API
Domain: softwareFeatures
- 8-phase protocol: Setup → Generate-A → Critic → Generate-B → Synthesize-AB → Judge Panel → Convergence Check → Handoff
- Context isolation: Each agent spawned fresh — prevents sycophancy and anchoring
- Blind evaluation: Judges receive crypto-random labels (X/Y/Z), forced comparative evaluation
- Convergence detection: N consecutive majority wins (default: 3 rounds)
- Oscillation detection: Forced stop if incumbent changes 5+ times without convergence
- 3 modes:
convergent(default),creative(no auto-stop),debate(no synthesis) - 6 domains: software, product, business, security, research, content
--chainflag: Pipe converged output to debug, plan, fix, security, scenario, predict, ship, or learn
Flags
| Flag | Purpose | Default |
|---|---|---|
--iterations N
| Bounded mode | unlimited |
--judges N
| Judge panel size (3-7, odd) | 3 |
--convergence N
| Consecutive wins to stop | 3 |
--mode
| convergent, creative, debate | convergent |
--domain
| software, product, business, security, research, content | (asked) |
--chain <targets>
| Chain to downstream tools | none |
--judge-personas
| Override default judges | domain-default |
--no-synthesis
| A vs B only | false |
Chain Patterns
reason → predict (converge then stress-test with 5 experts)
reason → plan,fix (converge then implement)
reason → scenario (converge then explore edge cases)
reason → debug (converge then validate empirically)
predict → reason (identify issues then debate solutions)
scenario → reason (discover edge cases then debate how to handle)
Documentation
- Command Guide — comprehensive 341-line guide
- Scenario Walkthrough — 8-round event sourcing debate example
- Chains & Combinations — reason chain patterns
- Protocol Reference — full 8-phase spec
Files Changed
15 files changed, +2,215 lines:
- 6 new files (reason-workflow.md, reason.md command, guide, scenario walkthrough)
- 9 updated files (SKILL.md, README, COMPARISON, guide index, chains, scenario index, manifests)