Vern-Bot
https://jdonohoo.github.io/vern-bot/
AI discovery pipelines with personality disorders. Multi-LLM orchestration, competing AI personas, VernHole council tiers, Oracle vision, Historian indexing, and chaos-to-clarity workflows.
Now available as a standalone terminal app — no Claude Code required.
The 18 Personas
Core Personas
| Command | Model | Best For |
|---|---|---|
/vern:mediocre | Sonnet | Quick fixes, scripts, "just make it work" |
/vern:great | Opus | Architecture, elegant solutions, quality code |
/vern:nyquil | Haiku | Quick answers, minimal output, brevity |
/vern:ketamine | Opus | Deep exploration, multi-pass planning, patterns |
/vern:yolo | Gemini | Fast execution, no guardrails, chaos |
/vern:mighty | Codex | Comprehensive code gen, thorough analysis |
Specialist Personas
| Command | Model | Best For |
|---|---|---|
/vern:architect | Opus | Systems design, scalable architecture, production-grade thinking |
/vern:inverse | Sonnet | Devil's advocate, stress-testing assumptions |
/vern:paranoid | Sonnet | Risk assessment, finding failure modes |
/vern:optimist | Haiku | Encouragement, positive framing, can-do energy |
/vern:academic | Opus | Evidence-based analysis, citing prior art |
/vern:startup | Sonnet | MVP thinking, lean approach, cut scope |
/vern:enterprise | Opus | Governance, compliance, process rigor |
/vern:ux | Opus | User experience, empathy-driven design, journey mapping |
/vern:retro | Sonnet | Historical perspective, proven tech, cutting through hype |
/vern:oracle | Opus | Reads the council's wisdom, recommends VTS task changes |
/vern:historian | Gemini | Indexes massive input folders into structured concept maps |
When to Use Each
| Situation | Command |
|---|---|
| "I need this NOW" | /vern:mediocre |
| "I need this RIGHT" | /vern:great |
| "Just answer the question" | /vern:nyquil |
| "Help me think through this" | /vern:ketamine |
| "YOLO" | /vern:yolo |
| "Give me EVERYTHING" | /vern:mighty |
| "Design the system" | /vern:architect |
| "Play devil's advocate" | /vern:inverse |
| "What could go wrong?" | /vern:paranoid |
| "Hype me up" | /vern:optimist |
| "What does the research say?" | /vern:academic |
| "What's the MVP?" | /vern:startup |
| "Enterprise-grade analysis" | /vern:enterprise |
| "Can a real person use this?" | /vern:ux |
| "Haven't we solved this before?" | /vern:retro |
| "What did the council actually say?" | /vern:oracle |
| "Index these 50 input files" | /vern:historian |
| "Create a custom persona" | /vern:generate |
| "I want chaos/creativity" | /vern:hole |
| "Full project discovery" | /vern:discovery |
| "What commands are there?" | /vern:help |
| "Configure LLMs/pipeline" | /vern:setup |
Install
As a Claude Code Plugin
/plugin marketplace add https://github.com/jdonohoo/vern-bot
/plugin install vern
Standalone (No Claude Code Required)
Homebrew (macOS / Linux)
brew tap jdonohoo/vern
brew install vern
To update later: brew upgrade vern
Scoop (Windows)
scoop bucket add vern https://github.com/jdonohoo/homebrew-vern
scoop install vern
To update later: scoop update vern
Winget (Windows)
winget install jdonohoo.vern
To update later: winget upgrade jdonohoo.vern
Manual Download
Download the latest binary from GitHub Releases:
# macOS Apple Silicon
curl -Lo vern https://github.com/jdonohoo/vern-bot/releases/latest/download/vern-darwin-arm64
chmod +x vern
sudo mv vern /usr/local/bin/
Build from Source
git clone https://github.com/jdonohoo/vern-bot.git
cd vern-bot/go
go build -o bin/vern ./cmd/vern
sudo cp bin/vern /usr/local/bin/
First Run
Run the setup wizard to detect your LLMs and configure defaults:
vern setup
Then launch the TUI:
vern tui
Available binaries: macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon), Linux (x64 + ARM64), Windows (x64 + ARM64).
Required: At least one LLM CLI installed — claude, codex, gemini, or copilot.
Standalone TUI
Launch the interactive terminal UI — no Claude Code needed:
vern tui