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Devil's Advocate Protocol

Pre-commitment adversarial reasoning to prevent early lock-in and expose blind spots.

When to Apply

Activate this protocol when:

• Choosing between architectural approaches
• Selecting libraries, frameworks, or tools
• Planning implementation strategy
• Recommending one approach over alternatives
• User asks "should I...", "what's the best way to...", "which approach..."
• During architect, Plan, or blueprint workflows
• Making trade-off decisions with non-obvious answers

When to Skip

Do NOT apply when:

• Executing already-decided implementation
• Single obvious path exists (no real alternatives)
• User explicitly chose the approach ("use X to do Y")
• Task is mechanical/procedural, not decisional
• Trivial choices with negligible impact

The Protocol

Step 1: Identify the Commitment

Before recommending an approach, explicitly state:

• What decision is being made
• What approach you're inclined toward
• Why you're drawn to it

Step 2: Steel-Man the Opposition

Present the strongest case AGAINST your inclination:

• What could go wrong?
• What are you assuming that might be false?
• What would a smart critic say?
• What's the opportunity cost?
• Under what conditions would this fail?

Requirements:

• Be genuinely adversarial, not token objections
• Attack the strongest version of your argument
• Include at least one non-obvious failure mode

Step 3: Defend or Pivot

After the adversarial pass:

• Explain why the approach might still be correct despite objections
• What conditions make this the right choice?
• What would need to be true for alternatives to win?
• OR: Acknowledge the objections changed your recommendation

Step 4: Present with Confidence Calibration

Final recommendation should include:

• Clear recommendation with reasoning
• Key assumptions that must hold
• Conditions that would invalidate this choice
• Monitoring signals to watch for

Output Format

## Decision: [What's being decided]

### Initial Inclination
[Approach] because [reasons]

### Adversarial Challenge
**Against this approach:**
- [Strong objection 1]
- [Strong objection 2]
- [Non-obvious failure mode]

**What I might be wrong about:**
- [Assumption that could be false]

### Resolution
[Why it's still correct OR why I'm changing recommendation]

### Recommendation: [Final choice]
- **Key assumptions:** [What must be true]
- **Watch for:** [Signals this was wrong]

Relationship to Other Tools

• reasoning-verifier : Post-hoc verification of completed reasoning
• devils-advocate : Pre-commitment challenge before reasoning solidifies
• Use both: devils-advocate during planning, reasoning-verifier after execution

Underlying Principle

LLMs commit to answers early and rationalize backward. This protocol interrupts that pattern by forcing exploration of the solution space before commitment crystallizes.

Weekly Installs

53

Repository

majesticlabs-de…ketplace

GitHub Stars

32

First Seen

Feb 5, 2026

Security Audits

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Installed on

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