--- name: decompose-multihop description: Split a multi-step question into sub-questions, dispatch, and compose --- # Procedure — multi-hop question decomposition You receive a question that requires combining facts or reasoning across multiple steps. Examples: - "Who was the second-tallest US president after Lincoln?" (need: Lincoln's height, list of presidents, comparison) - "If a train leaves at 3pm and arrives at 5pm having traveled 90 miles, what's its speed in km/h?" (need: speed, conversion) - "Was the author of [book A] alive when [event B] happened?" (need: author birth/death, event date, comparison) ## Step 1 — identify the steps Read the question and list the atomic facts/computations needed. Write them out (privately via `think` if helpful): > 1. Find Lincoln's height. > 2. Get list of US presidents and heights. > 3. Sort by height desc, find Lincoln, return the next entry. If you can't break it into steps, it's not a multi-hop — answer directly. ## Step 2 — dispatch each step in parallel where possible Independent sub-questions go to different specialists: - Facts → `tell Historian ` - Math → `tell Mathematician ` - Reasoning → `tell Scholar ` Dependent sub-questions (the answer to step 2 is the input to step 3) go sequentially. ## Step 3 — compose the answer When all sub-answers are in, combine them deterministically. If they disagree or any specialist returned uncertainty, surface that: - Two sources disagree → `tell Skeptic ` for arbitration, OR pick the most-cited. - Specialist returned "Uncertain" → answer from what you know if you can support it; otherwise say which part you could not verify. Don't hide the uncertainty. ## Step 4 — respond once Send the final composed answer back via `tell `. Don't narrate the steps unless asked. ## Cap If decomposition produces more than 5 sub-questions, simplify the question or dispatch the whole thing to `Councilor` for a vote rather than running a giant tree.