Documentation

Getting Started

What is Councily?

Councily.app lets you assemble a “council” of AI agents — multiple AI models that respond to your questions from different perspectives simultaneously. Instead of asking one AI, you ask many.

Each agent can have a distinct role, personality, and model powering it. You can watch them agree, disagree, and build on each other's ideas — giving you a richer, more balanced view of any problem.

Quick Start

1. Create an account at councily.app
2. On the main screen, click an empty agent slot to add your first AI
3. Choose a provider (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.)
4. Add at least one agent, then click Save Council
5. Type your question in the chat input and press Send
6. Each agent in your council will respond independently

Connecting AI Providers

Agent Setup

Adding an Agent

Click any empty slot in the council diagram. Choose a provider if you're on BYOK, or select from the OpenRouter model list if you have an active subscription. Give your agent a name and save.

Agent Roles

Assign a role to shape how each agent frames its responses. Available on Mid and Pro plans.

• Devil's Advocate — challenges every argument
• Critic — demands evidence and data
• Supporter — finds merit and builds on ideas
• Researcher — brings context and real-world examples
• Optimist / Pessimist — frames issues through their respective lens
• Visionary — thinks long-term and connects big ideas

Agent Colors

Click the color dot next to an agent in the Agent Control panel to customize their message bubble color. Useful for quickly distinguishing agents in long conversations.

Muting Agents

Toggle the speaker icon next to an agent to mute them. A muted agent stays in your council but won't respond to new messages. Useful when you want to temporarily focus on a subset of agents.

AI Debate Mode

What is Debate Mode?

When enabled, agents see each other's replies and respond to them — creating a back-and-forth discussion rather than independent parallel answers. The result is a dynamic exchange where agents can agree, push back, and refine each other's reasoning.

How to Use It

1. Enable the AI Debate toggle in the Agent Control panel
2. Ask your question — or assign specific positions using @mentions: @Claude argue that remote work is better, @Gemini argue for office
3. Agents will respond, then react to each other's arguments
4. Click Freeze to stop the debate at any time
5. Each agent delivers a closing argument
6. Vote for the winner

Tips for Better Debates

• Assign opposing roles (Devil's Advocate vs. Supporter)
• Use @mentions to give agents specific positions to defend
• Ask comparative questions: “A vs B”, “pros and cons of X”
• Keep councils to 2–4 agents for the clearest debates; larger councils produce richer but longer exchanges

@Mentions

Direct a message to a specific agent using @AgentName. Only the mentioned agent will respond to that message. You can mention multiple agents in a single message.

@Mentions work in both normal and debate mode. In debate mode, an @mention temporarily overrides the rotation order.

Plans & Limits

Troubleshooting

“Invalid API key” error

Your API key may be incorrect, expired, or entered for the wrong provider. Go to Settings → AI Access and re-enter your key. Make sure you're copying the full key with no extra spaces.

Agent not responding

Check that the agent is not muted (speaker icon in Agent Control). Verify you have a valid API key or active subscription credits for that provider.

Debate mode not working

Ensure at least 2 agents are active and unmuted. Check that the AI Debate toggle is enabled in Agent Control.

Credit limit reached

Your monthly token allowance has been used. Upgrade your plan or wait for the next billing cycle to reset. You can still use BYOK agents regardless of credit balance.

Still stuck?

Email us at support@councily.app and we'll get back to you within 24–48 hours.