What is Code Arbiter?

codeArbiter is an open-source governance layer for Claude Code, Codex, and Pi. It enforces development gates and keeps project decisions, reviews, and audit records in your repository.

What you receive

Start with the result, not the catalog. A greenfield project produces an architecture breakdown, phased build plan and task backlog for your review. Existing source produces inspected project context instead. A full feature produces a specification and an execution plan; a small change uses a lighter confirmed mini-spec. Decisions and audit records retain the reasons and exceptions.

The product tour lets you inspect actual native-rendered draft documents and runnable example tests. The artifact model explains which record owns what. These examples are labelled fixtures, not evidence that your installed package has been verified.

codeArbiter Holds the Gates; You Hold the Decisions

Enforcement and judgment are distinct. Some protections refuse a supported tool operation; other reviews depend on routing through the owning lane. The product does not make an external editor or an unrestricted machine owner unable to bypass it. Read Enforcement for the actual boundaries instead of treating every instruction as a mechanical block.

Under an autonomous sprint, approved non-hard choices can use SMARTS and be recorded. Missing user authority, security boundaries, irreversible operations and other hard gates remain stops. Approval of an architectural decision is not proof that it was implemented or verified.

How a Request Flows

1. Describe the outcome. State the intended behavior, scope, constraints and spending limits. Explicit commands are available, but a clear request does not require command ceremony.
2. Review the definition. The owning lane clarifies the problem and exposes genuine unknowns. You review the relevant artifacts and make decisions that require your authority.
3. Implement and verify. The workflow selects the roles needed for the change, connects tests to the requirements and obtains review. A passing test alone is not complete delivery.
4. Resolve stops. A gate can require repair, a current decision or fresh evidence. Autonomous work can recover within its approved scope, but cannot manufacture missing user authority.
5. Commit and propose delivery. Work follows the governed commit and PR path. Publication and merging retain their own authorization boundaries.

The internal route serves a human outcome: defined work, inspected evidence, and an authorized delivery boundary.

Follow Complete one feature for a continuous example rather than trying to learn every internal skill before starting.

One Core, Three Host Adapters

codeArbiter is one governance product with three host adapters: ca for Claude Code, ca-codex for Codex, and ca-pi for Pi. They share the policy core and repository-owned .codearbiter/ records, while entry spelling, trust, role execution and supported environments differ. Pi remains a Feature Forge preview. The Claude Code marketplace also carries ca-sandbox, an infrastructure plugin, not a fourth governance host. The Codex marketplace carries ca-codex; Pi uses npm as its convenience channel and pinned Git tags as its reproducible channel.

Claude Code dispatches plugin agents. Published releases from 0.7.5 include the complete packaged resource charter set for that release for Codex host-provided agent threads, with static-package and route-closure checks at release. A bounded 0.9.4 receipt records one exact installed-charter review. A bounded inline fallback is allowed only where the canonical workflow explicitly permits it and isolation is not mandatory. Pi launches hardened child processes through its trusted parent. These mechanisms are not interchangeable guarantees; the host-specific evidence below states their qualified limits.

For typed HTML, native engine support and host authority are separate capabilities. The current verification and review authority adapters cover Codex and Claude Code; Pi stops at unsupported boundaries. Check the typed-artifact authority matrix for the exact scope rather than treating shared files or commands as end-to-end parity.

The compatibility matrix and the dated Claude Code + Codex evidence own exact support details. Do not infer a release guarantee from current development documentation or identical-looking commands. The Pi guide owns its installation and parent-process boundary.

Context Minimization

Internal skills, role instructions and detailed references load when the owning workflow needs them. You do not need to choose an author agent or remember the internal call graph for ordinary work. Public command references remain available for explicit invocation and exact lookup. Repository context can enter your configured host or model provider; local storage is not a claim that no data ever leaves the machine. See Trust & Lifecycle.

The Lanes

Choose a user job: initialize a project, build a feature, repair a defect, review a change, record a decision, or release your own project. Guides groups those tasks in working order. The Reference preserves exact operations and compatibility routes without requiring you to treat every alias or internal protocol as a new thing to learn.

To begin, choose your host, install and trust its adapter, initialize a disposable repository, then prove enforcement. For deeper practice, use Arbiter Academy with its published lesson prerequisites.