crbuddy

Independent multi-model code review for Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and Gemini CLI.

crbuddy runs code reviews across multiple coding-agent CLIs in parallel, keeps the reviewers blind to one another, and writes one handoff for the coding agent or human making the fixes.

If Claude Code wrote your change and you want Codex and Gemini to review it independently - or Codex wrote it and you want a second opinion from Claude Code - crbuddy turns that cross-model review workflow into one command.

crbuddy-promo-small.mp4

Quick start

npm i -g crbuddy
crb init
crb go

crb init interactively creates global or per-repository configuration. crb go runs the configured review panel and blocks until it finishes.

Use crb add to append reviewers to an existing saved panel. Choose the global or repository config, add reviewers, then confirm the full configuration before saving.

If a Claude reviewer fails, its stderr diagnostic gives a command such as crb retry <run-id> claude-opus. This explicitly starts only that reviewer in foreground-only mode, using retained inputs, and produces a separate supplement. See failure recovery and local privacy.

What it does

• Runs independent code-review lanes in parallel using the coding-agent CLIs you already have installed and authenticated.
• Supports Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI.
• Uses a vendor's native code-review operation when crbuddy has a supported headless native path and you have not supplied custom instructions.
• Keeps reviewers independent: one reviewer does not see another reviewer's output.
• Writes every review verbatim to CODE-REVIEW-HANDOFF.md, or prints it to the terminal, for the agent or human that will act on the reviews.

This is useful when you want independent code review, cross-model code review, or a second opinion from another model family without manually opening several coding-agent harnesses, prompting each one, collecting the outputs, and assembling a handoff.

crbuddy is a local CLI, not a hosted AI service. It holds no model credentials and uses your existing Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI authentication and entitlements.

crb init / crb config can optionally enable ntfy push notifications when a crb go review finishes. Notifications default to off and apply across all repositories. The Codex model picker includes GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna; GPT-6.1 Sol is the default. GPT-6.1 Sol needs Codex CLI 0.159.2 or newer, which updating crbuddy does not install; see GUIDE.md.

For configuration, targeting, vendor behavior, and other details, see GUIDE.md.

Example run

user@computer ~/GIT_REPO $ crb go
crbuddy beginning run using local configuration
Reviewing 35 file(s), 205 KB.
Starting 2 reviews at 4:19pm…
  Claude Code - started
  Codex CLI - started
  Codex CLI - done in 9m 30s
  Claude Code - done in 12m 50s
Wrote CODE-REVIEW-HANDOFF.md.

License

MIT