elephant-goldfish-model

Design with an elephant. Review with a goldfish.

Install  ·  Quickstart  ·  Documentation  ·  Website

Develop ideas with context and review documents with fresh eyes. EGM is an open-source plugin for AI assistants.

Elephant holds your project context and drafts the specification. Goldfish reviewers examine the draft and referenced source material without the earlier conversation, helping expose unstated assumptions and blind spots. You make the architectural trade-offs and approve the specification before implementing.

The built-in draft and design-review workflow targets software specifications. For other documents, choose reviewers and standards with /egm-review-loop. Bootstrap and drift reporting apply to software codebases.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/93c799a2-10a3-4266-af02-eb79dd33a9a2

Install

Choose your coding agent. Install the complete plugin so its skills can read the reviewer prompts and document standards.

ChatGPT and Codex desktop

Open the published EGM plugin in the desktop app and install it. This listing is desktop-only. For Codex CLI, use the commands below.

Antigravity CLI

agy plugin install https://github.com/google/elephant-goldfish-model

For the Antigravity App and Antigravity for IDEs (Visual Studio Code extension), run /plugin or see the installation instructions.

Claude Code

claude plugin marketplace add google/elephant-goldfish-model
claude plugin install egm@egm

Codex CLI

codex plugin marketplace add google/elephant-goldfish-model
codex plugin add egm@egm

Start a new session after installation. For Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work, see the setup guide.

Try a 60-second review on existing code

Review an existing design document, README, or PR plan against the live code. You do not need to write a new specification. The commands below use the /egm: prefix for Antigravity (agy CLI) and Claude Code. In Codex, select the corresponding EGM skill from the skill picker.

Review an existing document

/egm:egm-review docs/designs/webhooks.md

Use the path to your design doc, or to a PR plan saved as Markdown. Fresh reviewers check the design, its clarity, its fit with the code, and its implementation plan.

Check for drift

/egm:egm-drift-report docs/designs/

The agent compares each document in the folder with the current source code and reports where they diverge. You decide whether to update the document or the code.

Try your first design

Open your project in your coding agent and choose a feature that needs design decisions. This example adds webhook delivery: what should happen when a delivery fails, or the same event arrives twice?

The commands below are shown without a prefix. In Antigravity (agy CLI) and Claude Code, add the /egm: prefix, for example /egm:egm-brainstorm. On agy CLI 1.4.10 an unprefixed name is completed to the prefixed command (#220), but 1.4.8 does not (#196), so keep the prefix. In Codex, select the corresponding EGM skill from the skill picker. Brainstorming and review require a session that can create fresh subagents.

Explore the idea

/egm-brainstorm Add webhook delivery to this project.

Discuss requirements and trade-offs with the agent. Fresh reviewers challenge the proposal, and the agent saves the agreed direction in concepts_brief.md.

Draft the specification

/egm-draft

The agent turns the brief into design_draft.md, pausing after each section for your feedback in chat.

Review the draft

/egm-review design_draft.md

Use the draft path returned by the agent.

Fresh reviewers check the design, its clarity, its fit with the code, and its implementation plan. Choose which findings to address. When you approve the design, ask your coding agent to implement it.

See the workflow guide for the full process, including saving approved specifications under docs/designs/.

How it works

Role	Context	Responsibility
Elephant	Your project, requirements, and earlier decisions	Explore the problem and draft the specification.
Goldfish	The document and its referenced source material, without the earlier conversation	Find missing assumptions, unclear requirements, and implementation risks.
You	The goals and constraints that matter	Resolve trade-offs, approve the design, and decide what to build.

Goldfish reviews require fresh subagent contexts. If your agent cannot create them, EGM stops the review. A review does not replace tests or human judgment. See supported environments and verification limits.

Choose a skill

You can use each skill when you need it. You do not have to follow the full sequence.

Skill	Use it to…
Brainstorm	Test an idea and write a concept brief.
Draft	Turn a brief or existing notes into a design document.
Resolve	Work through review findings and agree on changes.
Bootstrap	Create or update documentation for an existing codebase.
Review	Review a design with fresh agents across five stages.
Review loop	Run a configured group of reviewers for a specific review task.
Drift report	Compare checked-in documents with the current source code.

Learn more

• Getting started: the workflow and project layout.
• Setup: installation, agent capabilities, and known limits.
• Architecture: how skills and reviewers fit together.
• Testing: checks, execution records, and verification limits.
• Dave Rensin’s original essay: the ideas behind EGM.

Contribute

See the accessibility statement for accessibility goals, known limits, and how to report barriers.

Read contributing for PRs, issues for bugs, and discussions for questions.

License

Apache 2.0. This is not an officially supported Google product.