advisor

A one-command, Opus-led code review-and-fix pipeline for Claude Code. Opus
goes first — does its own Glob+Grep discovery, ranks files P1–P5, and
writes a unique, file-aware prompt for every runner based on what it
just learned. Then it stays online and actively steers the runners
throughout: redirecting drift, answering questions in real time, verifying
each output the moment it lands, and adjusting the plan when a finding
changes the picture. Opus is the strategist that never goes idle until the
final report ships. Optional fix wave applies edits the same way.

No external API calls. Runs entirely through Claude Code's native
TeamCreate / Agent / SendMessage tools.

Team

Priority scale: P5 auth/secrets · P4 user input/parsing · P3 handlers/DB/exec · P2 config/crypto/logging · P1 utils/tests.

Install (30 seconds)

pipx install advisor-agent
advisor status

That's it. The first run wires up ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md and the /advisor
slash command automatically. The CLAUDE.md block also embeds a 4-rule
Behavioral Guidelines section (Think Before · Simplicity First ·
Surgical Changes · Goal-Driven Execution) that nudges Claude away from
the most common LLM coding mistakes. advisor status confirms what
landed where, and every upgrade prints a "What's new" digest from
CHANGELOG.md so you see what changed without leaving the terminal.

# Zero-install one-shot (uv)
uvx advisor-agent pipeline src/

# Plain pip
pip install advisor-agent

# From source
git clone https://github.com/vzwjustin/advisor && cd advisor && pip install -e .

# Local dev with uv tool (reinstall after edits)
uv tool install --reinstall .

Requires Python ≥ 3.10. Package name: advisor-agent. Import: advisor. CLI: advisor.

advisor status               # install health check
advisor install              # append / update the nudge + skill (idempotent)
advisor install --check      # dry-run: print status, exit 3 if anything missing
advisor uninstall            # cleanly remove the nudge + skill
advisor install --path /x    # target a different CLAUDE.md

Opt out of auto-install with ADVISOR_NO_NUDGE=1. Suppress the diagnostic TTY spinner with ADVISOR_QUIET=1. The CLAUDE.md block is
wrapped in <!-- advisor:nudge:start --> / <!-- advisor:nudge:end -->
markers so reinstalls update in place.

Usage

Invoke from inside Claude Code:

/advisor                    # review the cwd
/advisor src/               # review a specific dir
/advisor review the auth flow      # add scope context

Or use the standalone CLI to inspect the prompts and plans:

advisor pipeline src/                  # full pipeline reference
advisor protocol                       # print the strict team-lifecycle protocol
advisor plan src/                      # rank local files, print dispatch plan
advisor plan src/ --json               # same, machine-readable for `jq` etc.
advisor plan src/ --format json        # explicit selector (alias of --json; pretty overrides)
advisor plan src/ --sarif out.sarif    # SARIF 2.1.0 output for Code Scanning
advisor audit RUN_ID [TARGET]          # post-hoc diagnostic for a completed run
advisor prompt advisor src/            # the advisor's prompt body
advisor prompt runner src/ --runner-id 1   # a runner's bootstrap prompt
advisor prompt verify src/ < findings  # verify-pass prompt
advisor status                         # install health check
advisor status --json                  # JSON-formatted health for scripting
advisor doctor                         # extended diagnostic: git/claude/python/env checks
advisor install                        # install nudge + /advisor skill (prints What's new on upgrade)
advisor update                         # self-upgrade via uv tool / pipx, then re-runs install
advisor changelog [VERSION]            # print bundled CHANGELOG section(s); --since X.Y.Z for a digest
advisor uninstall                      # remove nudge + /advisor skill
advisor ui                             # launch local web dashboard on 127.0.0.1:8765 (Findings · Live · Plan · Run config · Cost)
advisor live tail                      # tail the live event stream (the Live tab subscribes to this)
advisor history                        # recent findings from .advisor/history.jsonl
advisor history --stats                # aggregate: confirm rate, breakdowns, top files
advisor baseline create                # snapshot current findings as baseline
advisor baseline diff                  # compare current run vs. baseline
advisor checkpoints                    # list saved plan checkpoints
advisor checkpoints --rm RUN_ID        # delete a single checkpoint
advisor checkpoints --clear            # delete all checkpoints
advisor presets                        # list available rule-pack presets
advisor suppressions --list            # list active false-positive suppressions
advisor version                        # print version + environment info

Every subcommand's target defaults to . (current directory). Piping a
long scope description is supported via --context - (reads stdin).

Flags: --team, --file-types, --max-runners (advisory — Opus may
exceed for large repos), --min-priority, --context, --advisor-model,
--runner-model. Default models: claude-opus-4-7 / claude-sonnet-4-6 (full IDs pin the version; bare aliases opus/sonnet/haiku resolve to the latest at spawn time).

Context-pressure knobs (reduce runner context exhaustion):
--max-fixes-per-runner N · --large-file-line-threshold N · --large-file-max-fixes M · --runner-output-char-ceiling K · --runner-file-read-ceiling L.

Automation flags: --json on status/plan/install --check,
--quiet on install/uninstall, --strict on status/install/uninstall
(exit 3 when nothing changed or the install is unhealthy).

Colors are on by default. Opt out with NO_COLOR=1 or TERM=dumb.

Excluding files (.advisorignore)

Drop an .advisorignore file into your project root to skip paths during
advisor plan and the live pipeline:

# comments begin with #
tests/            # skip directories (trailing slash)
*.md              # skip by filename glob
vendor/
generated/**/*.py # ** recursive globs are supported

Patterns follow fnmatch semantics for filename matches, and use
PurePath.match when ** is present. Bare words match any path
component (docs matches both docs/ and foo/docs/bar.py).

Python API

from advisor import (
    default_team_config,
    build_advisor_agent,
    build_advisor_prompt,
    build_runner_pool_agents,
    build_runner_pool_prompt,
    build_runner_dispatch_messages,
    build_runner_handoff_message,
    build_fix_assignment_message,   # stamped fix-count header per assignment
    check_batch_fix_budget,         # pre-flight cap validator
    build_verify_dispatch_prompt,
    build_verify_message,
    rank_files,
    load_advisorignore,
    create_focus_tasks,
    create_focus_batches,
    parse_findings_from_text,
    format_findings_block,
    render_pipeline,
)

config = default_team_config(
    target_dir="src/",
    team_name="review",
    file_types="*.py",
    max_runners=5,
    min_priority=3,
)

print(render_pipeline(config))
advisor_spec = build_advisor_agent(config)
# After Opus produces its dispatch plan, spawn each runner with the
# verbatim per-runner prompt from that plan — not a generic builder.

The builder functions return plain dicts — drop each one into a Claude
Code Agent(...) or SendMessage(...) call.

Modules

• advisor/orchestrate/ — TeamConfig, advisor + runner prompt builders,
  dispatch helpers, pipeline renderer (package: config, advisor_prompt,
  runner_prompts, verify_dispatch, pipeline)
• advisor/rank.py — rank_files, RankedFile (keyword-signal priority ranking)
• advisor/focus.py — create_focus_tasks / create_focus_batches, plan formatters
• advisor/verify.py — Finding, parse_findings_from_text, verify-pass builders
• advisor/runner_budget.py — RunnerBudget, scope-anchor parsing, per-runner output-char budget and rotation logic
• advisor/install.py — idempotent CLAUDE.md nudge + /advisor skill install/uninstall
• advisor/doctor.py — DoctorReport, extended git/claude/python/env diagnostics
• advisor/audit.py — audit_transcript, format_audit_report, post-hoc run diagnostics
• advisor/baseline.py — read_baseline, write_baseline, diff_against_baseline
• advisor/checkpoint.py — Checkpoint, save/load/list plan checkpoints for --resume
• advisor/cost.py — CostEstimate, rough token and cost range estimator
• advisor/git_scope.py — resolve_git_scope, git-incremental scoping (--since/--staged/--branch)
• advisor/history.py — HistoryEntry, confirmed findings log at .advisor/history.jsonl
• advisor/pr_comment.py — format_pr_comment, PR-body markdown formatter
• advisor/presets.py — PRESETS, RulePack, curated rule-pack bundles
• advisor/sarif.py — findings_to_sarif, SARIF 2.1.0 serializer
• advisor/suppressions.py — Suppression, per-rule false-positive suppressions
• advisor/skill_asset.py — SKILL_MD, bundled /advisor skill content
• advisor/web/ — local web dashboard served by advisor ui (Findings · Live · Plan · Run config · Cost)
• advisor/live.py — ephemeral event stream (<target>/.advisor/live/events.jsonl) the dashboard's Live tab subscribes to
• advisor/_style.py — zero-dep ANSI styling (colors on by default)

Live dashboard (new in 0.8.0)

Run advisor ui and open http://127.0.0.1:8765 to watch a /advisor
run in real time without keeping Claude Code in the foreground. The
Live tab polls /api/events every 2s and renders the team-lead's
event stream as a feed: each runner spawn, every report relay, every
fix dispatch, and the final run summary. Newly-arrived rows briefly
flash; FIFO-trimmed at 500 rows; respects prefers-reduced-motion.

The team-lead emits events via advisor live record at three
checkpoints (run_start, every report_relay, run_end), instructed
by the bundled /advisor skill body. Events are best-effort: a failed
write never halts the pipeline. Users who never start advisor ui see
no behavior change — the events file just accumulates harmlessly in
<target>/.advisor/live/events.jsonl.

The event store is deliberately separate from history.jsonl:

• history.jsonl — authoritative CONFIRMED findings; drives ranker
  boost, SARIF emission, repeat-offender analytics.
• live/events.jsonl — ephemeral event feed; opaque to the
  orchestrator, advisory to the dashboard, free-form payload.

For ad-hoc inspection from the terminal: advisor live tail --limit 50
(--json for scripting). advisor live clear removes the file; the
cursor preserves cleanly so the next run resumes the stream.

Orchestration rules

• TeamCreate before any agent spawn; TeamDelete before creating a new team.
• Opus goes first — no runners until Opus's first pass produces a pool size.
• Each runner is spawned with the verbatim per-runner prompt from
  Opus's dispatch plan. Don't substitute a generic template.
• Dispatch runners in a single message with run_in_background=true
  so they come up in parallel.
• Every agent prompt must end with a SendMessage(...) — agents go idle
  silently otherwise.
• Shut down teammates individually by name; broadcast shutdown does not work.

See CLAUDE.md for the full protocol.

Tests

pip install -e ".[dev]"
make check        # ruff + mypy + pytest
pytest --cov=advisor --cov-report=term-missing

GitHub Action

Reusable workflow that runs advisor plan, uploads SARIF 2.1.0 output to
GitHub Code Scanning, and (optionally) posts a PR comment. Paste this into
.github/workflows/advisor.yml in your repo:

name: Advisor

on:
  pull_request:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  advisor:
    uses: vzwjustin/advisor/.github/workflows/[email protected]
    with:
      target: "."
      min-priority: 3
      preset: "python-web"   # optional rule-pack tuning
      post-pr-comment: false

[!NOTE]
The fail-on parameter is currently reserved for a future audit gating step and is not forwarded to advisor plan.

Or roll your own: any CI system can run advisor plan --sarif advisor.sarif
and upload the file to whatever scanner you use.

Presets

Curated rule-pack bundles tune file-type defaults and priority keywords for
common stacks:

advisor plan src/ --preset python-web
advisor presets            # list presets
advisor presets --json     # machine-readable

Automation flags

Findings come from advisor audit (the verify pass) — advisor plan
prints the dispatch ranking. The gating + emit flags that depend on
findings (--fail-on, --format pr-comment, --baseline) only exist
on audit. --sarif exists on both — plan writes an empty-results
document (no findings yet), audit writes the real one.

Exit codes: 0 clean · 4 --fail-on threshold tripped · 3 --strict
no-op or unhealthy install · 2 argparse / user error · 1 unexpected.

Findings lifecycle

• advisor history — recent confirmed findings from .advisor/history.jsonl (--stats for an aggregate view)
• advisor baseline create — snapshot current findings as an accepted baseline
• advisor baseline diff — compare current run vs. baseline
• .advisor/suppressions.jsonl — per-rule, per-file suppressions with
  expiry dates (run advisor suppressions to list, add --expired to filter)

Further reading

• docs/architecture.md — module dependency graph,
  runtime flow, data contract, design invariants
• docs/prompts.md — prompt engineering notes for
  contributors modifying prompt templates