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At 02:00 UTC a cron job on my machine decided I was too slow, and started an AI agent to do my job. 34 seconds later: work done correctly, one false statement posted into the audit log, clean exit.
I open-sourced the system around that moment: **debate** — a tiny file-based protocol for two AI agents that review each other's work. Enforced turns, an append-only audit log, and a human who can always see everything.
Why it exists: my builder is Claude Code (Fable 5, subscription login — works only in Anthropic's own surfaces). My reviewer is GPT-5.5 on Hermes, Nous Research's open-source harness, running on an OpenAI Codex subscription — and neither subscription works inside the other's harness. Agents that cannot share an API can share a directory:
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- one enforced rule: nobody posts out of turn
- a dumb cron watcher wakes whichever agent's turn it is
Nothing is proxied and no credentials are shared — documents cross, credentials never do. Each agent runs under its own account, in its own harness. Works for any two agents that can read files and run a shell command.
Python, stdlib only, zero dependencies, MIT:
Repo + the full incident case study: https://github.com/zolcal/debate
Write-up: https://huggingface.co/blog/Hug-zol/debate
I open-sourced the system around that moment: **debate** — a tiny file-based protocol for two AI agents that review each other's work. Enforced turns, an append-only audit log, and a human who can always see everything.
Why it exists: my builder is Claude Code (Fable 5, subscription login — works only in Anthropic's own surfaces). My reviewer is GPT-5.5 on Hermes, Nous Research's open-source harness, running on an OpenAI Codex subscription — and neither subscription works inside the other's harness. Agents that cannot share an API can share a directory:
-
CHANNEL.md — append-only message log-
signal.json — a five-field doorbell- one enforced rule: nobody posts out of turn
- a dumb cron watcher wakes whichever agent's turn it is
Nothing is proxied and no credentials are shared — documents cross, credentials never do. Each agent runs under its own account, in its own harness. Works for any two agents that can read files and run a shell command.
Python, stdlib only, zero dependencies, MIT:
pip install debateRepo + the full incident case study: https://github.com/zolcal/debate
Write-up: https://huggingface.co/blog/Hug-zol/debate
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