paf-tasks: phone-a-friend, made legible

A Claude Code mod. When Claude asks another model for a second opinion through phone-a-friend, this shows what was asked, what the reviewer is doing, and what it said, in the reviewer's own words.

Install

It is a separate, optional plugin in the phone-a-friend marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add freibergergarcia/phone-a-friend   # skip if already added
/plugin install paf-tasks@phone-a-friend-marketplace
/reload-plugins

Requirements:

| Needs | Why | |---|---| | Claude Code 2.1.287 or newer | mods are on by default from that version (claude --version) | | phone-a-friend 4.5.0 or newer on PATH | the panel reads phone-a-friend task list --json --repo <worktree> | | herdr (optional) | the Agents tab lists herdr's agent sessions; without herdr the tab is hidden |

On a Claude Code without mods, this plugin fails to load (Claude Code reports an invalid manifest) and the phone-a-friend plugin keeps working. A phone-a-friend CLI that is missing or too old is named in the panel, with the command that fixes it.

Update: /plugin marketplace update phone-a-friend-marketplace, then /plugin update paf-tasks@phone-a-friend-marketplace. Its version follows phone-a-friend releases. Remove: /plugin uninstall paf-tasks@phone-a-friend-marketplace, or disable it in /plugin (Installed tab). If /plugin install cannot find paf-tasks, the marketplace is probably registered from an old folder: Claude Code keeps the first source of a marketplace name. phone-a-friend doctor says so, and phone-a-friend plugin update --claude (add --force-marketplace-sync when doctor asks for it) repoints it and reinstalls what you had.

When phone-a-friend plugin install --claude registered the marketplace, phone-a-friend plugin uninstall --claude removes the panel with it; a marketplace you added yourself is left alone, panel included, unless you add --purge-marketplace.

What you see

In the conversation. A phone-a-friend call is drawn as a call instead of "Ran 1 shell command":

⠹ codex · Round 3 · 00:42 · usually 1m 54s · git show 4f2a91c
✗ codex · Round 3 · 1 blocker · 1 important · 1m 52s
  blocker   README.md:600    The recovery note is wrong for pi. ...
  important src/cli.ts:344   installPath() still documents copy mode ...

ctrl+o still shows the command and its raw output, with the same line under it. While the turn waits, its spinner says Waiting on codex….

In the panel (/paf). Everything asked about one branch is one thread:

• the trail, one mark per round, oldest to newest (✗ ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓): whether the review is converging;
• the rounds, newest first, each with its verdict;
• the open round: what was asked, the findings with severity and location, or for a round still running, its steps and how long this usually takes;
• other branches of the same repository.

2 switches to Agents (with herdr): the sessions herdr runs, grouped by what needs you, with what each one's reviewer last said. Enter jumps to a session.

Above the prompt, one line while a reviewer works and the panel is not on screen. A toast when a round finishes.

The panel opens by itself once the repository has reviews to show, and stays closed once you close it, until you type /paf.

Keys (panel focused: /paf, a click, or ctrl+x tab)

| Key | Does | |---|---| | j / k | older / newer round | | m | more / fewer rounds | | f | full answer / less | | s | send the round's findings to Claude | | c | copy the reviewer's answer | | b | next branch | | w | this worktree only / all worktrees | | r | refresh now | | 1 / 2 | Reviews / Agents |

/paf agents, /paf reviews, /paf close.

Marks

| Mark | Means | |---|---| | ✓ green | ship: the reviewer said so, or had nothing to fix | | ✗ red | findings, at least one blocker | | ✗ yellow | findings, none a blocker | | · gray | an answer that is not a review | | ! red | the call failed (the row says why, the round says what to do) | | spinner | still running |

A verdict the reviewer declared ("VERDICT: ship", "Ship.") is shown in its word. One read off the answer is shown as the facts: 3 findings, no findings.

Options (/plugin → paf-tasks, or /config)

| Option | Values | Default | |---|---|---| | panel | both, calls, agents | both | | auto_open | open the panel once there are reviews to show | true | | band | auto (only while the panel is hidden), always, never | auto | | transcript | draw calls in the conversation | true |

What it reads

• git worktree list for the session's repository, then phone-a-friend task list --json --repo <worktree> for each worktree, and task show <id> --json for a running task. It never lists the whole task store, so another repository's records are not read. Before and after each listing, git rev-parse --git-common-dir confirms the path still belongs to this repository; outside git, or when that cannot be confirmed, nothing is listed and the panel is cleared.
• herdr agent list and herdr workspace list for the Agents tab (once a minute when herdr is not installed). Session titles are drawn on screen only; nothing from them is sent to Claude.

It writes nothing outside Claude Code's own state, and "Send to Claude" is the only thing that puts text into the conversation.

Development

claude --plugin-dir mods/paf-tasks          # load this checkout's copy for one session
claude plugin validate --strict mods/paf-tasks
claude plugin test mods/paf-tasks

Loading the folder makes Claude Code write its type declarations to .claude-plugin/types/ here (ignored by git); tsc -p mods/paf-tasks then type-checks the mod. CI runs the validate and test commands with a pinned Claude Code version.