acpx — Multi-Agent Collaboration via ACP

Form teams of AI coding agents, run deliberations, build consensus, and delegate work — all through the Agent Client Protocol.

Prerequisites

npm i -g acpx@latest

Install the target agents you want to use (e.g., npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code).

Quick Start: Single Agent

# One-shot (no session state)
acpx claude exec "fix the failing tests"

# Persistent multi-turn session
acpx claude sessions new --name worker
acpx claude -s worker "analyze the auth module"
acpx claude -s worker "now refactor it based on your analysis"

Quick Start: Multi-Agent Council

The fastest way to get multiple opinions on a task:

# 1. Assemble team (create named sessions for each agent)
acpx claude sessions new --name claude-r && acpx codex sessions new --name codex-r && acpx gemini sessions new --name gemini-r

# 2. Round 1: fan-out the same question to all agents in parallel
acpx --format quiet claude -s claude-r "Review src/auth.ts for security vulnerabilities. Be specific." > /tmp/r1-claude.txt &
acpx --format quiet codex -s codex-r "Review src/auth.ts for security vulnerabilities. Be specific." > /tmp/r1-codex.txt &
acpx --format quiet gemini -s gemini-r "Review src/auth.ts for security vulnerabilities. Be specific." > /tmp/r1-gemini.txt &
wait

# 3. Round 2: each agent sees all responses and revises
acpx --format quiet claude -s claude-r "Other reviewers said:\n[Codex]: $(cat /tmp/r1-codex.txt)\n[Gemini]: $(cat /tmp/r1-gemini.txt)\n\nRevise your assessment." > /tmp/r2-claude.txt &
acpx --format quiet codex -s codex-r "Other reviewers said:\n[Claude]: $(cat /tmp/r1-claude.txt)\n[Gemini]: $(cat /tmp/r1-gemini.txt)\n\nRevise your assessment." > /tmp/r2-codex.txt &
acpx --format quiet gemini -s gemini-r "Other reviewers said:\n[Claude]: $(cat /tmp/r1-claude.txt)\n[Codex]: $(cat /tmp/r1-codex.txt)\n\nRevise your assessment." > /tmp/r2-gemini.txt &
wait

# 4. Synthesize (the orchestrator agent does this)
echo "=== Final Reviews ===\n\n[Claude]: $(cat /tmp/r2-claude.txt)\n\n[Codex]: $(cat /tmp/r2-codex.txt)\n\n[Gemini]: $(cat /tmp/r2-gemini.txt)"

Council Protocol

The standard multi-agent collaboration pipeline:

ASSEMBLE → BRIEF → DELIBERATE → CONVERGE → EXECUTE → REVIEW → DELIVER
 组建团队   分发问题   交叉讨论    形成共识    分工执行   交叉审查   交付成果

Step-by-Step

1. ASSEMBLE — Create named sessions for each agent:

acpx claude sessions new --name council-claude
acpx codex sessions new --name council-codex
acpx opencode sessions new --name council-opencode

2. BRIEF — Send each agent the task with a role prefix:

acpx --format quiet claude -s council-claude "[ROLE: Architect] Design a caching layer for our API. Consider: invalidation strategy, TTL, cache-aside vs write-through." > /tmp/r1-claude.txt
acpx --format quiet codex -s council-codex "[ROLE: Performance Expert] Design a caching layer for our API. Consider: invalidation strategy, TTL, cache-aside vs write-through." > /tmp/r1-codex.txt

3. DELIBERATE — Each agent reviews all other responses and revises:

ALL_RESPONSES=$(echo "[Claude]: $(cat /tmp/r1-claude.txt)\n\n[Codex]: $(cat /tmp/r1-codex.txt)")
acpx --format quiet claude -s council-claude "Other architects said:\n$ALL_RESPONSES\n\nRevise your design. Address any concerns raised." > /tmp/r2-claude.txt
acpx --format quiet codex -s council-codex "Other architects said:\n$ALL_RESPONSES\n\nRevise your design. Address any concerns raised." > /tmp/r2-codex.txt

4. CONVERGE — Orchestrator synthesizes a consensus plan.

5. EXECUTE — Delegate implementation to agents in parallel:

acpx --approve-all claude -s exec-claude "Implement the caching layer based on this design: $(cat /tmp/consensus.txt)" &
acpx --approve-all codex -s exec-codex "Write tests for the caching layer: $(cat /tmp/consensus.txt)" &
wait

6. REVIEW — Cross-review implementations:

acpx --format quiet codex -s council-codex "Review Claude's implementation for bugs and edge cases:\n$(cat /tmp/impl-claude.txt)"
acpx --format quiet claude -s council-claude "Review Codex's tests for coverage gaps:\n$(cat /tmp/tests-codex.txt)"

Quick Council Commands

# Assemble a 3-agent team in one line
acpx claude sessions new --name t1 && acpx codex sessions new --name t2 && acpx gemini sessions new --name t3

# Fire-and-forget fan-out (don't wait)
acpx --no-wait --format quiet claude -s t1 "task..." > /tmp/r1-t1.txt

# Collect all Round 1 results
cat /tmp/r1-*.txt

# Cleanup after deliberation
acpx claude sessions close t1 && acpx codex sessions close t2 && acpx gemini sessions close t3

Team Presets

Pre-configured role assignments for common scenarios. See references/roles.md for full definitions.

Supported Agents

Agent Mode Switching

Set working modes (Claude Code example; other agents may vary):

acpx claude -s worker set-mode plan
acpx claude -s worker set model opus      # or sonnet

Session Management

acpx claude sessions new --name worker    # create named session
acpx claude sessions ensure               # create if missing
acpx claude sessions list                 # list all
acpx claude sessions show                 # inspect current
acpx claude -s worker sessions history    # recent turns
acpx claude -s worker status              # pid, uptime
acpx claude sessions close worker         # soft-close (keeps history)

Output & Permissions

# Output formats
acpx --format quiet claude exec "task"    # final text only
acpx --format json claude exec "task"     # NDJSON stream

# Permissions
acpx --approve-all claude -s w "task"     # auto-approve all
acpx --approve-reads claude -s w "task"   # auto-approve reads
acpx --deny-all claude -s w "task"        # analysis only

# Lifecycle
acpx --cwd ~/repo claude "task"           # set working directory
acpx --timeout 300 claude "task"          # set timeout (seconds)
acpx --no-wait claude -s w "task"         # fire-and-forget
acpx claude -s w cancel                   # cancel in-flight prompt

Bidirectional Communication

Any agent can call any other agent through acpx:

# From OpenCode → Claude Code
acpx claude -s worker "review src/auth.ts"

# From Claude Code → OpenCode
acpx opencode -s helper "analyze test results"

# From any → Codex → Gemini (chain)
acpx codex -s coder "implement X" && acpx gemini -s reviewer "review: $(cat result.txt)"

Reference Files

• references/roles.md — All 8 role definitions (security, architect, skeptic, perf, testing, maintainer, dx, neutral) with prompt prefixes for Round 1 and Round 2, plus team presets with agent-to-role mappings.
• references/protocols.md — 7 collaboration patterns (fan-out, deliberation, role council, adversarial debate, sequential pipeline, DOVA hybrid, DCI structured) with acpx command examples, decision matrix, and cost estimates.

Gotchas

• Mode not settable at creation: Use set-mode after sessions new
• session/update warnings: Claude Code adapter may emit Invalid params — harmless
• Dead session recovery: acpx auto-detects and reconnects, replaying mode settings
• No direct agent-to-agent messaging: All communication goes through the orchestrator
• --format quiet is essential for piping: Returns only final text, no tool calls or thinking
• 2 rounds is optimal: Research shows diminishing returns beyond 2 deliberation rounds
• Session resume preserves context: Use the same -s name across rounds for continuity