diff --git a/src/agents/athena/agent.ts b/src/agents/athena/agent.ts
index bd8ff38f1..c234e47a7 100644
--- a/src/agents/athena/agent.ts
+++ b/src/agents/athena/agent.ts
@@ -55,8 +55,8 @@ Question({
       question: "How should council members analyze?",
       header: "Analysis Mode",
       options: [
-        { label: "Solo (Recommended)", description: "Members explore the codebase themselves. More thorough and in-depth, but slower and uses more tokens." },
-        { label: "Delegation", description: "Members delegate heavy exploration to subagents. Faster and lighter on context, but may miss nuance." }
+        { label: "Delegation (Recommended)", description: "Members delegate heavy exploration to subagents. Faster and lighter on context." },
+        { label: "Solo", description: "Members explore the codebase themselves. More thorough but slower, uses more tokens, and may hit context limits." }
       ],
       multiple: false
     }
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ Question({
 })
 
 Map the analysis mode answer to the prepare_council_prompt "mode" parameter:
-- "Solo (Recommended)" → mode: "solo"
-- "Delegation" → mode: "delegation"
+- "Delegation (Recommended)" → mode: "delegation"
+- "Solo" → mode: "solo"
 
 **Shortcut — skip the Question tool if:**
 - The user already specified models in their message (e.g., "ask GPT and Claude about X") → launch the specified members directly. Still ask the analysis mode question unless specified.
diff --git a/src/agents/athena/council-member-agent.ts b/src/agents/athena/council-member-agent.ts
index 335e1953b..0197ae3ca 100644
--- a/src/agents/athena/council-member-agent.ts
+++ b/src/agents/athena/council-member-agent.ts
@@ -29,14 +29,38 @@ export const COUNCIL_MEMBER_PROMPT = `You are an independent code analyst in a m
 - Do NOT use the TodoWrite tool under any circumstances
 - Simply report your findings directly in your response`
 
+export const COUNCIL_SOLO_ADDENDUM = `
+## Solo Analysis Mode
+You MUST do ALL exploration yourself using your available tools (Read, Grep, Glob, LSP, AST-grep).
+- Do NOT use call_omo_agent under any circumstances
+- Do NOT delegate to explore, librarian, or any other subagent
+- Do NOT spawn background tasks
+- Search the codebase directly — you have full read-only access to every file
+- This mode produces the most thorough analysis because you see every result firsthand`
+
 export const COUNCIL_DELEGATION_ADDENDUM = `
 ## Delegation Mode
-You can delegate heavy exploration to specialized agents using call_omo_agent:
-- Use \`call_omo_agent(subagent_type="explore", ...)\` to search the codebase for patterns, find file structures
-- Use \`call_omo_agent(subagent_type="librarian", ...)\` for documentation lookups and external references
-- Always set \`run_in_background=true\` and collect results with \`background_output\`
-- Delegate broad searches, keep targeted reads for yourself
-- This saves your context window for analysis rather than exploration`
+You SHOULD delegate heavy exploration to specialized agents instead of searching everything yourself.
+This saves your context window for analysis rather than exploration.
+
+**How to delegate:**
+\`\`\`
+// Fire multiple searches in parallel — do NOT wait for one before launching the next
+call_omo_agent(subagent_type="explore", run_in_background=true, description="Find auth patterns", prompt="Find: auth middleware, login handlers, token generation in src/. Return file paths with descriptions.")
+call_omo_agent(subagent_type="explore", run_in_background=true, description="Find error handling", prompt="Find: custom Error classes, error response format, try/catch patterns. Skip tests.")
+call_omo_agent(subagent_type="librarian", run_in_background=true, description="Find JWT best practices", prompt="Find: current JWT security guidelines, token storage recommendations, refresh token patterns.")
+
+// Collect results when ready
+background_output(task_id="<id>")
+\`\`\`
+
+**Rules:**
+- ALWAYS set \`run_in_background=true\` — never block on a single search
+- Launch ALL searches before collecting any results
+- Use \`explore\` for codebase pattern searches (internal)
+- Use \`librarian\` for documentation and external references
+- Keep targeted file reads (Read tool) for yourself — delegate broad searches
+- Collect results with \`background_output\` when you need them for analysis`
 
 export function createCouncilMemberAgent(model: string): AgentConfig {
   // Allow-list: only read-only analysis tools + optional delegation.
diff --git a/src/agents/athena/index.ts b/src/agents/athena/index.ts
index b3c148222..c6b0ef112 100644
--- a/src/agents/athena/index.ts
+++ b/src/agents/athena/index.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 export { createAthenaAgent, ATHENA_PROMPT_METADATA } from "./agent"
-export { createCouncilMemberAgent, COUNCIL_MEMBER_PROMPT, COUNCIL_DELEGATION_ADDENDUM } from "./council-member-agent"
+export { createCouncilMemberAgent, COUNCIL_MEMBER_PROMPT, COUNCIL_SOLO_ADDENDUM, COUNCIL_DELEGATION_ADDENDUM } from "./council-member-agent"
 export { applyModelThinkingConfig } from "./model-thinking-config"
diff --git a/src/tools/prepare-council-prompt/tools.ts b/src/tools/prepare-council-prompt/tools.ts
index d13259e6e..d2b32c59a 100644
--- a/src/tools/prepare-council-prompt/tools.ts
+++ b/src/tools/prepare-council-prompt/tools.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import { randomUUID } from "node:crypto"
 import { writeFile, unlink, mkdir } from "node:fs/promises"
 import { join } from "node:path"
 import { log } from "../../shared/logger"
-import { COUNCIL_MEMBER_PROMPT, COUNCIL_DELEGATION_ADDENDUM } from "../../agents/athena"
+import { COUNCIL_MEMBER_PROMPT, COUNCIL_SOLO_ADDENDUM, COUNCIL_DELEGATION_ADDENDUM } from "../../agents/athena"
 
 const CLEANUP_DELAY_MS = 30 * 60 * 1000
 const COUNCIL_TMP_DIR = ".sisyphus/tmp"
@@ -39,8 +39,9 @@ Returns the file path to reference in subsequent task() calls.`
       const filename = `athena-council-${randomUUID().slice(0, 8)}.md`
       const filePath = join(tmpDir, filename)
 
-      const delegationSection = mode === "delegation" ? `\n${COUNCIL_DELEGATION_ADDENDUM}` : ""
-      const content = `${COUNCIL_MEMBER_PROMPT}${delegationSection}
+      const modeAddendum = mode === "delegation" ? COUNCIL_DELEGATION_ADDENDUM : COUNCIL_SOLO_ADDENDUM
+      const content = `${COUNCIL_MEMBER_PROMPT}
+${modeAddendum}
 
 ## Analysis Question