# Codex + Gemini Reviewer Guide

Run ARIS with:

- **Codex** as the main executor
- **Gemini** as the reviewer
- the local `gemini-review` MCP bridge as the transport layer
- the direct **Gemini API** as the default reviewer backend

This guide is **additive** to the upstream Codex-native path. It does not replace `skills/skills-codex/`.

## Architecture

- Base skill set: `skills/skills-codex/`
- Reviewer override layer: `skills/skills-codex-gemini-review/`
- Reviewer bridge: `mcp-servers/gemini-review/`

The install order matters:

1. install `skills/skills-codex/*`
2. install `skills/skills-codex-gemini-review/*`
3. register `gemini-review` MCP

## Install

```bash
git clone https://github.com/wanshuiyin/Auto-claude-code-research-in-sleep.git
cd Auto-claude-code-research-in-sleep

mkdir -p ~/.codex/skills
cp -a skills/skills-codex/* ~/.codex/skills/
cp -a skills/skills-codex-gemini-review/* ~/.codex/skills/

mkdir -p ~/.codex/mcp-servers/gemini-review
cp mcp-servers/gemini-review/server.py ~/.codex/mcp-servers/gemini-review/server.py
cp mcp-servers/gemini-review/README.md ~/.codex/mcp-servers/gemini-review/README.md
codex mcp add gemini-review --env GEMINI_REVIEW_BACKEND=api -- python3 ~/.codex/mcp-servers/gemini-review/server.py
```

Recommended credential file:

```bash
mkdir -p ~/.gemini
cat > ~/.gemini/.env <<'EOF'
GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key"
EOF
chmod 600 ~/.gemini/.env
```

The bridge auto-loads `~/.gemini/.env` if present.

## Why direct API is the default

- This path is designed to maximize reuse of the original ARIS reviewer-aware skills while minimizing skill changes.
- The `gemini-review` bridge preserves the same `review` / `review_reply` / `review_start` / `review_reply_start` / `review_status` contract used by the existing Claude-review overlay.
- Using the direct Gemini API removes the extra local CLI hop and keeps the reviewer path closer to the API-backed integrations already used elsewhere in ARIS.

## Access Notes

- Google AI Studio / Gemini API has a free tier in eligible countries; this does **not** require a Gemini Advanced / Google One AI Premium subscription.
- Free-tier model availability and rate limits change over time, so do not treat any single quota number or older model example as permanent.
- On the free tier, prompts and responses may be used to improve Google's products; do not position this path as suitable for sensitive data unless the user has reviewed the current official terms.
- Official references:
  - API key / AI Studio entry: <https://aistudio.google.com/apikey>
  - Gemini API pricing and free tier: <https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing>

## Optional CLI fallback

The intended path is direct API. If you explicitly need Gemini CLI instead:

```bash
codex mcp remove gemini-review
codex mcp add gemini-review --env GEMINI_REVIEW_BACKEND=cli -- python3 ~/.codex/mcp-servers/gemini-review/server.py
```

That fallback is available, but it is not the primary path for this guide.

## Verify

1. Check MCP registration:

```bash
codex mcp list
```

2. Check that your Gemini API key file exists:

```bash
test -f ~/.gemini/.env && echo "Gemini env file found"
```

3. Start Codex in your project:

```bash
codex -C /path/to/your/project
```

## Troubleshooting

If the default API model returns temporary free-tier `429` responses in your current window, keep the same bridge and override only the reviewer model:

```bash
codex mcp remove gemini-review
codex mcp add gemini-review --env GEMINI_REVIEW_BACKEND=api --env GEMINI_REVIEW_MODEL=gemini-flash-latest -- python3 ~/.codex/mcp-servers/gemini-review/server.py
```

This does not change the ARIS reviewer contract or skill overlay shape. It only changes the Gemini API model used behind the same local `gemini-review` bridge.

## Validation Summary

This path was validated in two layers:

- **Full overlay coverage check**: all `15` predefined reviewer-aware Codex skills overridden by `skills/skills-codex-gemini-review/` were checked to confirm they point at `gemini-review` and no longer depend on the old reviewer transport.
- **Runtime bridge check**: the local `gemini-review` MCP bridge was exercised with:
  - `review`
  - `review_reply`
  - `review_start`
  - `review_reply_start`
  - `review_status`
  - `imagePaths` multimodal review for local images
- **Representative Codex-side smoke tests**: we ran the overlay on a private, non-public research repository and confirmed that real Codex executions reached the Gemini reviewer path for representative tasks in research review, idea generation, and paper-planning style workflows.

What passed:

- direct API review returned valid reviewer text
- async review jobs completed and could be resumed through `review_status`
- follow-up review rounds worked with persisted thread state
- local-image review worked through `imagePaths`
- the runtime-tested Codex skill paths successfully loaded the Gemini overlay and issued real `gemini-review` tool calls

What we observed:

- Gemini free-tier access is practical for this reviewer path, but bursty test loops can still trigger temporary `429` rate-limit responses
- rate-limit behavior is model-dependent; current API model surfaces should be checked in AI Studio / `ListModels`, not inferred from older quota tables
- in a later retry on the same setup, the direct API bridge completed sync review, async `review_start` -> `review_status`, and threaded `review_reply_start` -> `review_status` successfully with `GEMINI_REVIEW_MODEL=gemini-flash-latest`
- those `429` responses behaved like short-window burst limits, not a sign that the integration itself was broken
- long synchronous reviewer calls can still hit host-side MCP tool timeouts, so the async `review_start` / `review_reply_start` + `review_status` flow remains the recommended default for long prompts

This is why the bridge exposes both sync and async tools, while the reviewer-aware skill overlays prefer the async path for long reviews.

## What gets overridden

The overlay replaces the predefined reviewer-aware Codex skills:

- `idea-creator`
- `idea-discovery`
- `idea-discovery-robot`
- `research-review`
- `novelty-check`
- `research-refine`
- `auto-review-loop`
- `grant-proposal`
- `paper-plan`
- `paper-figure`
- `paper-poster-html`
- `paper-slides`
- `paper-write`
- `paper-writing`
- `auto-paper-improvement-loop`

Everything else still comes from the upstream `skills/skills-codex/` package.

## Core 8 vs Runtime 15

There are two equally correct ways to describe the scope of this path:

- **Core 8**: the direct one-to-one reviewer overlay set that aligns with the existing Claude-review path
- **Runtime 15**: the full reviewer-aware Codex skill surface that is routed to Gemini in the current installed skill set

The **core 8** are:

- `research-review`
- `novelty-check`
- `research-refine`
- `auto-review-loop`
- `paper-plan`
- `paper-figure`
- `paper-write`
- `auto-paper-improvement-loop`

These are the skills that most directly mirror the earlier Claude-review overlay structure and reviewer contract.

The additional **7** reviewer-aware skills routed to Gemini are:

- `idea-creator`
- `idea-discovery`
- `idea-discovery-robot`
- `grant-proposal`
- `paper-writing`
- `paper-slides`
- `paper-poster-html`

So the practical summary is:

- the **core mechanism** still tracks the same 8-skill overlay pattern as the Claude route
- the **current runtime reviewer surface** is broader, reaching 15 skills in total

This is why the diff is larger without changing the underlying reviewer contract shape.

## Direct Consumers vs Wrappers

Within those 15 skills, there are two categories:

- **12 direct consumers** that call `mcp__gemini-review__review_start` / `review_reply_start` / `review_status` themselves:
  - `research-review`
  - `novelty-check`
  - `research-refine`
  - `auto-review-loop`
  - `paper-plan`
  - `paper-figure`
  - `paper-write`
  - `auto-paper-improvement-loop`
  - `idea-creator`
  - `grant-proposal`
  - `paper-slides`
  - `paper-poster-html`
- **3 wrappers** that mainly orchestrate downstream reviewer-aware sub-skills and pass `REVIEWER_MODEL=gemini-review` through:
  - `idea-discovery`
  - `idea-discovery-robot`
  - `paper-writing`

This matters for validation: you do not need to fully complete all 15 workflows to validate the reviewer transport. A combination of full structural checks, bridge runtime checks, and representative direct-consumer / wrapper smoke tests is enough to validate the PR-level integration logic.

## Async reviewer flow

For long paper or project reviews, use:

- `review_start`
- `review_reply_start`
- `review_status`

Why: even on the direct API path, long synchronous reviewer calls can still hit host-side MCP tool timeouts. The async `review*` flow keeps the original reviewer-aware skills usable without changing their behavior.

## Project config

No special project config file is required for this path.

- keep using your existing `CLAUDE.md`
- keep your current project layout
- only switch the installed Codex skill files and MCP registration

## Maintenance

Keep this path intentionally narrow:

- reuse `skills/skills-codex/*` unchanged
- only override the reviewer-aware skills in `skills/skills-codex-gemini-review/*`
- keep `mcp-servers/gemini-review/server.py` focused on the `review*` compatibility contract
- when a skill needs poster PNG review, pass local `imagePaths` through the direct Gemini API backend instead of inventing a second bridge