Setup pstack
On Codex, read the platform mapping, including its per-skill notes, before following this skill.
On another runtime, read Other runtimes below for where the sheet lives and how it loads; the steps are the same.
Write the current runtime's per-role model override sheet, using the path in Other runtimes. Each pstack skill names a default model inline; the override sheet adapts those defaults to the models you actually have access to.
Claude Code has no auto-applied "rules" mechanism like Cursor's .mdc. The Claude Code config directory is $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR when that variable is set and ~/.claude otherwise. This skill calls it <config>. Inclusion is explicit: the user adds a line to <config>/CLAUDE.md (or their project CLAUDE.md) such as:
text@<config>/pstack-models.md
with <config> written as the resolved path, so the file is loaded as context for every session.
The Codex home directory is $CODEX_HOME when that variable is set and ~/.codex otherwise. This skill calls it <codex-home>.
Steps
1. Detect available models
Enumerate the model names the Agent tool's model parameter accepts in this session. That is the dependable source. On Claude Code they are the family names listed in Models below, each running that family's current model, and a full model ID is rejected. The default panel is listed there too. The panel is chosen for cross-family diversity. Ask the user to confirm or paste any additional slugs they want available. Never write a real slug you have not confirmed is available. The aliases inherit-parent and auto are always valid even though they are not detected slugs. Both mean the role runs on the parent session's model, which the Agent call expresses by omitting model.
2. Load current state
The default role-to-model mapping is the rule shape shown in the Write the override sheet step below. If the current runtime's sheet already exists, read it and treat its values as the current choices. Otherwise start from those defaults. A line whose role is not in that shape, such as how critics, is from a retired role. Drop it. An older sheet may name full model IDs that start with claude-, which the Agent tool rejects. Replace each with its family name, the word after claude-.
3. Map and confirm
Show every role with its current model, marking any real slug not in the detected set as needing a choice. Also list each line step 2 dropped or rewrote. Ask whether to accept as-is or change specific roles, offering the detected models plus inherit-parent and auto as the options. Prefer AskUserQuestion over free text. For panel roles (arena runners, architect runners, interrogate reviewers) the value is a list, and one subagent runs per entry, alias entries included, so the list length sets the count. arena cross-judge pool is also a list, but Arena selects one value from it whose model family differs from the parent's when possible. swarm workers is the default model for every worker unless a race or comparison assigns another model per arm.
Then ask for the default reasoning effort, the default effort line. It is session, which keeps the parent session's effort, or one of the levels in Models. Start from the default listed there. Every role value without a suffix runs at it. Then ask whether any role should run at another level. On Claude Code a role value may carry one after its slug, as in <slug> @xhigh; panel entries take their own, as in <slug> @xhigh, <slug> @max. Each level dispatches through the plugin's effort agent of that level, so the choice holds without changing the session. Leave the suffix off for the default effort.
4. Choose whether the session hook routes tasks
On Claude Code and Codex, the plugin's SessionStart hook injects the poteto-mode mandate on startup, resume, clear, and compact. Codex asks the user to trust plugin hooks through /hooks before running them. Ask whether to keep the hook. The default is on. The answer is the session hook line in the current runtime's sheet: on or off. With no sheet or no line, the hook injects. The line is inert on other runtimes.
5. Validate
Every real slug written must be in the detected set. inherit-parent and auto always pass. Validate the slug without any @<level> suffix, and the level against the effort levels in Models. The default effort value is one of those levels or session. On Codex, the levels are the reasoning_effort values your Codex models accept instead. If a chosen real slug or level is not available, stop and ask again.
6. Write the override sheet
Write the current runtime's sheet with the shape below. Overwrite the whole file so re-runs stay idempotent.
markdown# pstack model configuration Per-role model overrides for pstack skills. Each pstack SKILL.md names its defaults in a Models section; the values here override those defaults. Delete a line to fall back to the skill default. A value of `inherit-parent` or `auto` runs that role on the parent session's model (the `Agent` call omits `model`); an alias entry in a panel list still counts toward that panel's fan-out. A model may carry a reasoning effort, as in `opus @xhigh` (levels: low, medium, high, xhigh, max); the role then runs through the pstack effort agent of that level, each entry of a panel list on its own. `default effort` sets the level for a value without one; `session` keeps the parent session's effort. `session hook: off` stops the Claude Code or Codex SessionStart hook from injecting the poteto-mode mandate; any other value, or no line, leaves it on. feature, refactoring: opus bug-fix: fable perf-issue: fable hillclimb: fable judgment and prose: opus strongest judgment: fable how explorer: opus how explainer: opus why investigators: opus why synthesizer: opus reflect tooling: opus reflect judgment, divergent, synthesizer: opus arena runners: opus, fable, sonnet arena cross-judge pool: opus, fable, sonnet swarm workers: opus architect runners: opus, fable, sonnet interrogate reviewers: opus, fable, sonnet default effort: session session hook: on
7. Wire it in
On Claude Code, if <config>/CLAUDE.md does not already include <config>/pstack-models.md, append an @ line naming the sheet's resolved path, such as @~/.claude/pstack-models.md, so the model rows load on every session. If the user prefers project scope, add the include to the project's CLAUDE.md instead.
On Codex, paste the model rows and the default effort line into <codex-home>/AGENTS.md; Codex has no @ include. Do not paste the session hook line there: the plugin hook reads it directly from <codex-home>/pstack-models.md.
8. Confirm
Tell the user where the override was written, how its model rows load, and whether the plugin hook is on. Re-running this skill updates the override sheet.
Other runtimes
The role lines are the same everywhere. What differs is the sheet path, how the runtime loads it, and how you list models. Detect models with the runtime's own tool and never write a slug you have not seen listed. A runtime whose subagent call has no model parameter still gets the sheet, as the record of the user's choice, and applies it where it can. The session hook line applies to the Claude Code and Codex plugins.
| Runtime | Sheet | Load | List models | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | <config>/pstack-models.md | @<config>/pstack-models.md in <config>/CLAUDE.md | the Agent tool's model parameter | verified live |
| Codex | <codex-home>/pstack-models.md | model rows: paste into <codex-home>/AGENTS.md; hook setting: read by the plugin | your configured Codex models, see codex-tools.md | hook contract tested; discovery verified |
| Pi | pstack-models.md in the Pi agent directory, $PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR or ~/.pi/agent | read by the pstack Pi extension, model rows and hook setting both; no include line | pi --list-models, see pi-tools.md and its setup-pstack note | extension contract tested offline; live results in the repository's docs/pi-equivalence.md |
| opencode | ~/.config/opencode/pstack-models.md | add the path to the instructions array in opencode.json | the models slash command in the session | from published docs, no live session |
| Gemini CLI | ~/.gemini/pstack-models.md | @~/.gemini/pstack-models.md in ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md | the model slash command in the session | from published docs, no live session |
| Prime Agent | no documented sheet path; Prime's configuration chooses models | no live session |
Models
Stamped from plugins/pstack/models.json (edit there, rerun tools/generate.mjs).
- Available Claude models:
opus,fable,sonnet,haiku - Default panel:
opus,fable,sonnet - Reasoning effort levels:
low,medium,high,xhigh,max - Default reasoning effort:
session - Single-role default:
opus
