debate

debate

Structured multi-round debate between two AI tools - one proposes, one challenges, and an orchestrator delivers a verdict.

Why

A single AI tool gives you one perspective. When the stakes are high - architecture decisions, schema design, migration strategies - you want adversarial pressure-testing. debate pits two AI tools against each other in a structured format with enforced rules: the challenger must find flaws before agreeing, both sides must cite evidence, and the orchestrator must pick a winner.

Use cases:

• Stress-test an architecture decision before committing (microservices vs monolith, event sourcing vs CRUD)
• Get adversarial review of a proposed schema or API design
• Compare two approaches with structured arguments rather than vibes
• Force a devil's advocate perspective on a plan you are leaning toward

Installation

agentsys install debate

Requires at least two AI CLI tools installed. See consult for individual tool install commands.

Quick Start

# Codex argues for, Gemini challenges - 2 rounds about microservices
/debate codex vs gemini about microservices vs monolith

# Thorough 3-round debate with explicit flags
/debate "Should we use event sourcing?" --tools=claude,gemini --rounds=3 --effort=high

# Include the current git diff as context for both tools
/debate codex vs gemini about this refactoring approach --context=diff

How It Works

1. Parse - extracts topic, tools, rounds, and effort from natural language or flags
2. Detect - scans PATH for installed AI CLI tools; requires at least two
3. Resolve - if parameters are missing, presents an interactive picker (proposer, challenger, effort, rounds, context)
4. Debate - executes rounds sequentially. Each round:
   • The proposer argues for the topic (round 1) or defends against challenges (round 2+)
   • The challenger identifies flaws, missing considerations, and alternatives
   • Both must support claims with evidence; unsupported claims are flagged
5. Verdict - the orchestrator (Opus) reads all exchanges and delivers a structured synthesis: winner, agreements, disagreements, unresolved questions, and an actionable recommendation

The challenger operates under adversarial rules - it must lead with what is wrong or missing before acknowledging agreements, and cannot agree with unsupported claims.

Usage

Natural language

/debate codex vs gemini about microservices vs monolith
/debate with claude and codex about our auth implementation
/debate thoroughly gemini vs codex about database schema design
/debate codex vs gemini 3 rounds about event sourcing

Explicit flags

/debate "Redis vs PostgreSQL for caching" --tools=codex,opencode
/debate "Should we use event sourcing?" --tools=claude,gemini --rounds=3 --effort=high
/debate "Performance optimization" --tools=codex,gemini --context=diff

Flags

Flag	Values	Default	Description
--tools	TOOL1,TOOL2	interactive	Proposer and challenger (comma-separated)
--rounds	1-5	2	Number of back-and-forth exchanges
--effort	low, medium, high, max	interactive	Reasoning depth for both tools
--context	diff, file=PATH, none	none	Codebase context shared with both tools
--model-proposer	any model identifier	from effort	Override proposer model
--model-challenger	any model identifier	from effort	Override challenger model

Debate output format

Each debate produces a structured result:

• Rounds - proposer opening, challenger response, and subsequent exchanges displayed as they complete
• Verdict - winner with cited evidence from the debate
• Debate quality - rated on genuine disagreement, evidence quality, and challenge depth
• Agreements - points both sides converged on, with supporting evidence
• Disagreements - points where they diverge, with each side's position
• Unresolved questions - gaps neither side addressed
• Recommendation - actionable next step (the orchestrator must pick a direction)

Requirements

• agentsys runtime
• Node.js (for ACP transport detection)
• At least two supported AI CLI tools on PATH (claude, gemini, codex, opencode, copilot, or kiro)

Related Plugins

• consult - single-tool consultation for quick second opinions
• agentsys - plugin runtime and orchestration

License

MIT