paircode 0.11.1

Adversarial journey framework — orchestrate multiple LLM peers through research, plan, and execute stages with file-trace peer review.

paircode

Multi-LLM peer review for your code, with file-traces on disk. One primary LLM (alpha) + any number of peer LLMs (Codex, Gemini, Ollama, …) running independent research, plans, and code, with structured cross-review rounds stored entirely as Markdown on disk.

Born from 31 iterations of dual-LLM silent-agreement hunting on a real ML project. See diary/001-step-a-architecture.md for the full design rationale.

Install

pipx install paircode       # or: pip install --user paircode
paircode install            # registers /paircode in every detected LLM CLI

After install, /paircode is available in all three:

CLI	File installed
Claude Code	~/.claude/commands/paircode.md
Codex CLI	~/.codex/prompts/paircode.md
Gemini CLI	~/.gemini/commands/paircode.toml

Open any of them and type /paircode. In Gemini, you may need /commands reload the first time.

As of v0.8.0, paircode delegates all CLI invocation to cliworker — one place to own the speed flags, MCP strip tricks, skip-cache, and subscription-first fallback logic. paircode adds the peer-review orchestration on top (file-traces, stages, gates, journey).

Use it — three entry points

1. From Claude Code (or any supported LLM) as a slash command

Inside a Claude Code session:

/paircode drive "build a KISS PHQ-9 depression risk engine"

Claude relays that to the CLI. paircode opens a focus, runs research → plan → execute with peer-reviewed rounds, writes everything to .paircode/ as Markdown.

2. From the shell directly

paircode init                                   # bootstrap .paircode/ in cwd
paircode handshake --write                      # detect CLIs + write peer roster
paircode drive "refactor the auth middleware"   # full loop
paircode status                                 # see where you are

3. Piece by piece

paircode focus "try GitHub Actions migration"
paircode stage research --rounds 2              # cold v1 + one review/revise round
paircode seal research                          # mark research FINAL
paircode stage plan --rounds 3
paircode seal plan
paircode stage execute
paircode seal execute

What ends up on disk

your-project/
  .paircode/
    JOURNEY.md                    # fleet log (auto-updated)
    peers.yaml                    # who's on the team
    peers/
      peer-a-codex/               # peer's profile (and code if full-fork mode)
    focus-01-<slug>/
      FOCUS.md                    # this focus's goal, roster override, gate config
      research/
        alpha-v1.md ... alpha-vN.md
        peer-a-codex-v1.md ...
        reviews/round-01-peer-a-codex-critiques-alpha.md
        alpha-FINAL.md            # sealed exit artifact
        peer-a-codex-FINAL.md
      plan/
        (same shape)
      execute/
        (same shape)
    focus-02-<slug>/
      ...

Every LLM's every thought lands as a Markdown file. That's how heterogeneous LLM tools communicate reliably across vendors, sessions, and days.

Three peer modes

Mode	What the peer does	When to use
full-fork	Writes its own cold codebase + markdown artifacts	Silent-agreement hunting, safety-critical code
pair-code	Contributes directly to alpha's codebase via patches + reviews	Feature work, regular dev
opinion-only	Reads alpha's work, writes reviews, never touches code	Budget peers, quick sanity checks

Configured per peer in .paircode/peers.yaml.

Model compatibility

CLI	Slash command	Subprocess driver	Status
Claude Code (claude)	✓ /paircode via ~/.claude/commands/paircode.md	✓ claude -p <prompt>	stable
Codex (codex)	✓ context rule via ~/.codex/rules/paircode.rules	✓ codex exec <prompt>	stable
Gemini CLI (gemini)	✓ reference file at ~/.gemini/paircode.md	✓ gemini -p <prompt>	stable
Ollama (ollama)	— (local models, no slash-cmd primitive)	✓ ollama run <model> <prompt>	stable
Aider / others	—	best-effort, PRs welcome	planned

Commands

paircode --help           full command list
paircode install          register /paircode in all detected LLM CLIs
paircode uninstall        remove /paircode from LLM CLIs (idempotent)
paircode handshake        detect CLIs, propose peer roster
paircode handshake --write save roster to .paircode/peers.yaml
paircode init             bootstrap .paircode/ in cwd
paircode status           summarize current state
paircode focus <name>     open a new focus
paircode focus            list existing focuses
paircode stage <name>     run one stage N rounds on active focus
paircode seal <stage>     seal stage — copy each peer's latest vN to {peer}-FINAL.md
paircode drive <topic>    full loop: research → plan → execute

Why this exists

See diary/001-step-a-architecture.md for the full backstory. The short version: running two LLMs adversarially surfaces silent-agreement bug classes that neither engine alone can catch, because cross-engine agreement is not the same as correctness when both share the same blind spot.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.