Parallel peer review for CLI coding agents — fully live, no API keys required.
When you edit code with Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini, this MCP gate routes the diff to multiple independent peer reviewers running in background tmux sessions. Each reviewer checks the change from a fresh context, findings are saved to SQLite, and the host assistant reads all results directly — no redundant synthesis pass, no extra token cost.
Your coding session
│
▼
Host edits code → must_call_after_code_changes
│
┌───────────┼───────────┐
▼ ▼ ▼
codex-live gemini-live claude-live ← parallel, tmux
│ │ │
└───────────┴───────────┘
│
All findings delivered
directly to host
│
▼
Host reviews findings & improves code
Live (*-live) |
Headless | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | Subscription pool ✅ | API credit pool ❌ |
| Auth | OAuth login — no API key needed | API key required |
| Session | Persistent tmux session, warm | New process every call |
| Review history | Accumulates — reviewer learns the repo 📈 | Wiped on every call |
| Parallelism | All reviewers run concurrently ✅ | Each process blocks the next |
| Startup | Instant (session already running) | Cold start every time |
| Fallback | Auto-falls back to headless if unavailable | N/A |
Every reviewer defaults to live mode. You only need to log in once per CLI:
claude # Claude Code login
codex # Codex login
gemini # Gemini CLI login — OAuth, no API key neededNo API keys. No credit pool charges. Reviews run on your subscription.
Live sessions keep conversation history by default. The reviewer builds up knowledge of your codebase across multiple reviews in the same session:
Review #1 → "This function lacks null checking" (learns the codebase)
Review #2 → "Good fix. The same pattern exists on line 42 too." (accumulated knowledge)
Review #3 → "Consistent with the null-check pattern you've been applying" (contextual)
Each session is scoped per (reviewer, repo) — reviewers for different repos are completely isolated.
To reset history between reviews (old behavior):
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEWER_CLEAR=always# 1. Install
bun install
# 2. Auto-detect available CLIs and register MCP
bun cli.ts setup claude --peers=auto
# 3. Verify
bun cli.ts doctorInside Claude Code or Codex, make any code change — the review gate triggers automatically.
Everything is pre-configured for live mode:
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
PEER_ASSISTANTS |
codex-live,gemini-live,claude-live |
All three as independent peer reviewers |
| History | Keep (never clear) | Reviewers remember previous reviews |
| Host passes | Live session | Self-review uses host's live session |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_WORKFLOW |
review_only |
Peer reviews and reports findings |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEW_MODE |
normal |
Standard review mode |
| Mode | Description | Use when |
|---|---|---|
normal |
Find bugs, regressions, missing tests | Default |
adversarial |
Challenge assumptions aggressively | Security-critical changes |
gate |
Binary ALLOW / BLOCK decision | CI gates, pre-merge checks |
collaborative |
Host and peer compare perspectives | High-stakes architecture |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEW_MODE=adversarial| Workflow | Description |
|---|---|
review_only |
Peer reviews and reports findings (default) |
peer_fix |
Peer proposes concrete fix patches alongside findings |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_WORKFLOW=peer_fixFirst review in a session
│
▼ Worker creates tmux session → CLI boots (one-time)
│
▼ Review job delivered to session
│ ├── Reviewer writes .peer-review/<id>-output.md (primary path)
│ └── Reviewer also prints to terminal (fallback)
│
▼ Worker reads result → broker → MCP → host
│
▼ Session stays alive with full history
Next review (same repo)
│
▼ Session already warm — no cold start — instant delivery
Each live session is scoped to (reviewer_kind, repo_path):
peer-reviewer-claude-<repo>-<hash>
peer-reviewer-codex-<repo>-<hash>
peer-reviewer-gemini-<repo>-<hash>
Watch a live session:
tmux ls # list all sessions
tmux attach -t peer-reviewer-gemini-myrepo-abc123 # watch gemini thinkPeer results go directly to the host — no intermediate synthesis:
Before: peers → aggregate LLM call → host (extra tokens, extra latency)
Now: peers → host directly (zero overhead)
The host reads each reviewer's findings and decides what to fix.
bun cli.ts setup claude --peers=auto
# With options
bun cli.ts setup claude --peers=auto --workflow=peer_fix --mode=adversarial# All three live reviewers
bun cli.ts setup claude --peers=claude-live,codex-live,gemini-live
# Codex only
bun cli.ts setup claude --peers=codex-live| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
HOST_ASSISTANT |
claude |
The coding agent running the MCP server |
PEER_ASSISTANTS |
auto | Comma-separated list of peer reviewer adapters |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_WORKFLOW |
review_only |
review_only or peer_fix |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEW_MODE |
normal |
normal, adversarial, gate, collaborative |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEWER_CLEAR |
(keep history) | always to reset before each review |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_LIVE_HOST_REVIEWS |
(live) | 0 to force headless for host-side passes |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEW_TIMEOUT_MS |
600000 |
Per-review timeout (ms) |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEWER_STARTUP_MS |
30000 |
Session boot timeout (ms) |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_TMUX_SESSION |
peer-reviewer |
Tmux session name prefix |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEWER_CWD |
cwd | Repo directory for reviewer sessions |
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_DIFF_BUDGET |
4000 |
Max diff characters in review prompt |
Each live session restricts file writes to .peer-review/ only:
| Reviewer | Write boundary | Mechanism |
|---|---|---|
claude-live |
.peer-review/<hash>/ only |
--allowedTools Write(promptDir:*) + --disallowedTools Edit,Write for project files |
gemini-live |
.peer-review/ only |
Admin policy: ALLOW .peer-review/ (priority 500), DENY elsewhere (priority 100), DENY shell (priority 600) |
codex-live |
Workspace (advisory) | -c instructions behavioral constraint + --sandbox workspace-write |
Shell execution (run_shell_command) is hard-denied for gemini-live, preventing prompt-injection via sed -i, shell scripts, etc.
Register any CLI that accepts prompts through stdin or argv:
{
"my-llm": {
"id": "my-llm",
"command": ["my-llm-cli", "--model", "best", "-"],
"prompt_transport": "stdin",
"description": "My custom LLM CLI"
}
}CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_ASSISTANTS='{"my-llm": {...}}' bun server.ts
PEER_ASSISTANTS=my-llm bun server.ts| Tool | When to call | Description |
|---|---|---|
begin_peer_task |
Before editing | Captures baseline for the review |
must_call_after_code_changes |
After every edit | Starts async review, returns immediately |
wait_for_peer_review |
After must_call_after_code_changes |
Polls until complete |
get_peer_review_status |
Anytime | Check current status |
get_open_findings |
Anytime | List unresolved findings |
code_assistant_peers_setup |
Setup verification | Check CLI availability |
1. begin_peer_task ← before editing
2. [make code changes]
3. must_call_after_code_changes ← required after editing
4. wait_for_peer_review ← repeat until reviewed / partial_failed
5. [read all peer findings, fix issues]
6. must_call_after_code_changes ← if more edits were made
tmux ls | grep peer-reviewer # list sessions
tail -f /tmp/code-assistant-peers-backend.log # worker logsgemini # Run once and complete OAuth loginNext review starts automatically. No API key needed — Gemini subscription covers it.
The reviewer session must NOT have ANTHROPIC_API_KEY set. If it is set, Claude Code bills the API key regardless of interactive mode.
# In the reviewer environment, ensure this is unset:
unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
# Verify: launch claude and check it shows "Claude Team" or "Pro", not API key mode
claudetmux kill-session -t peer-reviewer-claude-myrepo-abc123
# Next review creates a fresh sessionCODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_LIVE_HOST_REVIEWS=0 # host-side passes use headless
CODE_ASSISTANT_PEERS_REVIEWER_CLEAR=always # clear history between reviews
PEER_ASSISTANTS=codex,gemini # use headless adapters directly- Bun v1.1+
- tmux (for live sessions)
- At least one of: Claude Code CLI, OpenAI Codex CLI, Google Gemini CLI
- Logged in to each CLI you want to use as a reviewer