Running a debate
Guided mode
palabre new
Palabre's assistant helps you choose agents, prepare the subject, and set the main options. This is the best starting point if you are new to Palabre.
With default agents
palabre -s "Critique this plan" -t 4
This command uses the agents defined in your configuration.
With a preset
palabre codex-claude "Critique this plan" -t 4
A preset quickly selects an agent pair. Order matters: codex-claude has Codex respond first, then Claude.
With explicit agents
palabre run --subject "Critique this plan" --agent-a codex --agent-b claude --turns 4
This form is longer, but makes the command fully explicit.
Number of turns
--turns or -t sets the total number of turns, between 1 and 20.
Example with codex as agent A and claude as agent B:
| Value | Flow |
|---|---|
-t 2 | codex, then claude |
-t 3 | codex, claude, codex |
-t 4 | codex, claude, codex, claude |
By default, Palabre may stop before the limit if agents clearly express full agreement after a complete turn.
To force all requested turns:
palabre codex-claude "Subject" -t 4 --no-early-stop
Choose a model on the fly
Palabre does not list CLI models, as they change frequently. It simply passes the value to the agent. If the model does not exist or is not authorized by your account, the CLI will return the error.
palabre codex-claude "Subject" --model-a gpt-5.5 --model-b opus-4.7
For Ollama:
palabre codex-ollama "Subject" --model-b gemma4:e4b
Preview without calling AI
palabre codex-claude "Subject" --show-prompt
This command displays the first turn prompt, the agents, and the summary options, then stops. This is useful for verifying the context being sent without consuming an AI request.
Terminal rendering
Before the first turn, Palabre displays a summary: subject, agents with their roles, number of turns, summary, injected context, and important options. This lets you spot a wrong agent pair or forgotten context before reading the debate.
By default, Palabre uses a readable rendering with headers, separators, structured summary, and generation status.
To get raw rendering suitable for logs:
palabre codex-claude "Subject" --plain