Understanding Debate Rounds
Crucible sessions follow a structured debate protocol with distinct rounds. Understanding these rounds helps you interpret the debate and final artifacts.
The Debate Structure
Each session progresses through several phases:
- Research: Agents independently investigate the topic
- Claims: Agents present their opening positions
- Challenges: Agents challenge each other's claims
- Red Team: Final stress-testing of arguments
- Convergence: Agents synthesize consensus
- Artifact Generation: Decision Brief and Minutes are created
Research Phase
Before the debate begins, every Agent investigates the topic separately. They gather real-time evidence and cite their sources. This ensures that when the argument starts, it is based on verified data, not just opinion.
What happens: Agents use retrieval to find relevant information, analyze context, and prepare their initial positions.
Claims Phase (Opening Positions)
Each Agent presents their case based on the evidence they found. We map out their specific claims, ensuring clear battle lines are drawn before the cross-examination begins.
What to look for: Clear positions, supporting evidence, initial recommendations.
This is where you'll see the initial divergence of opinions and different approaches to the question.
Challenges Phase (Debate Rounds)
Just like a courtroom, the Agents challenge each other's evidence. They spot contradictions, rebut attacks, and refine their points. It is a disciplined process designed to filter out weak ideas and keep the focus on the truth.
What happens: Agents identify weaknesses, ask clarifying questions, present counter-evidence, and refine their positions.
This is where the real debate happens. Watch for how Agents respond to challenges and whether they adjust their positions based on new information.
Red Team Phase
We look for the holes in the argument one last time. Red Team Agents specifically try to find flaws, edge cases, and risks that might have been missed.
Purpose: Final stress-testing to ensure the recommendation is robust and risks are fully identified.
Convergence Phase
We bring the different viewpoints together into a clear summary, noting where the Agents agree and rating the certainty of the final decision.
Output: A converged recommendation with consensus areas, dissent points, and confidence scores.
Not all Agents will fully agree. The convergence phase explicitly documents where there's consensus and where there's disagreement, which is valuable information for decision-makers.
The Moderator
Throughout the debate, a moderator Agent ensures:
- Turn-taking is enforced
- Token limits are respected
- Debate stays on topic
- Guardrails are followed
- Time limits are managed
Typical Timeline
Research: 5-10 minutes
Claims: 10-15 minutes
Challenges: 15-25 minutes
Red Team: 5-10 minutes
Convergence: 5-10 minutes
Total: 45-60 minutes