workflow-extras

workflow-extras holds three skills that are genuinely useful but not needed on every task: map-system for building a codebase-orientation deck, delegate for dispatching multi-role pipelines, and council for pressure-testing one high-stakes decision through five independent lenses. They live here rather than in starter so that repos that don’t need them pay no loading cost. Add this bundle when you want them.

Why this exists

starter is kept lean on purpose. All three skills are situational: you run map-system when a new teammate joins or after a major architectural change — not on every PR. You use delegate when a task explicitly needs multiple specialist roles in sequence — not on routine implementation. You convene council when a decision is high-stakes and genuinely uncertain — not for routine calls. Making them opt-in keeps the default agent footprint small without hiding them from teams that need them.

What it includes

skills:
  - map-system   # builds a codebase-orientation deck (manual-trigger only)
  - delegate     # dispatches @role pipelines: @architect, @security, @dba, etc.
  - council      # 5-lens pressure-test of one decision (read-only, no files by default)
roles: []

Source: bundles/workflow-extras.yml

Why each one is in

• map-system — produces a structured, navigable orientation deck for a codebase: entry points, major data flows, module responsibilities, key architectural boundaries. Manual-trigger only (it never fires automatically) because a full codebase scan is expensive and context-heavy. Useful once at the start of an engagement and again after major restructuring.
• delegate — enables multi-role @role dispatch pipelines: you specify a sequence of roles (e.g. @architect → @security → @dba) and the skill routes the work through each one, collecting their outputs before returning a consolidated result. Used when a task genuinely crosses role boundaries — not as a substitute for single-role tasks where one role suffices.
• council — runs one high-stakes decision through five ephemeral advisor lenses (Contrarian, First Principles, Expansionist, Outsider, Executor), has them peer-review each other anonymously, and synthesises a chairman verdict. Read-only — it writes no files unless a transcript is explicitly requested. Used for decisions with a real tradeoff, not factual lookups or creation tasks.

Why not in starter

Both skills require explicit invocation and have a non-trivial token footprint. Loading them unconditionally in every repo would add context overhead on tasks that don’t need them. The opt-in boundary also makes it easier for teams to reason about what their agent does by default versus on request.

Workflow this enables

• Onboarding a new teammate — run /octopus:map-system to generate an orientation deck that covers entry points, data flows, and module responsibilities. The output is a structured doc the teammate can read independently before diving into code.
• Cross-cutting review — when a PR touches auth, money, and the data layer simultaneously, run /octopus:delegate @architect @security @dba to route the diff through all three specialists in sequence and collect a consolidated set of findings.
• Post-restructuring alignment — after a significant refactor, re-run map-system to refresh the orientation deck so it reflects the new module layout.

Composes with

• starter — required foundation. delegate dispatches roles that are defined in starter and in other bundles; the roles must be present for dispatch to work.
• quality — delegate is the natural way to invoke @architect and @security manually outside of the automatic audit flow.