claudex:think — brainstorming with a Codex second opinion

Brainstorm normally, but every clarifying question is routed through Codex for a second opinion before the user sees it. Enforcement is automatic — you never call Codex yourself, and you do NOT need to run any shell command to turn it on.

How arming works (automatic)

When the user runs /claudex:think, a UserPromptExpansion hook arms the gate for this session automatically (it runs in hook context, so it isn't subject to the permission classifier). You don't touch it.

Steps

1. Brainstorm. Invoke Skill(superpowers:brainstorming) and follow it normally. Ask clarifying questions via AskUserQuestion as usual — the hook intercepts each one.
2. Handle the Codex critique. When you try to ask a clarifying question, the hook blocks it. The (red) denial reason is kept short on purpose — it points you to a file (~/.claude/claudex/state/<session>-critique.md) holding your drafted question + Codex's critique, so the critique isn't shown red and then repeated. Read that file, then in ONE message:

• Show the question you originally drafted verbatim under an **Original question:** heading (keep your recommended option), so the user can see your framing before Codex weighed in.
• Present Codex's critique verbatim under a **Codex says:** heading.
• Add **My take:** — 1-3 sentences: do you agree? Fold any fixes you accept into the question.
• Re-issue the AskUserQuestion (revised if you agreed) — the revised question is the one the user actually answers. It passes through this time (one re-issue is allowed within ~2 minutes of the block).

So each round the user sees, in order: Original question (with your recommendation) → Codex says → My take → the answer window — with no red duplicate of the critique. (If the file can't be written, the hook falls back to putting the critique inline in the denial reason.)

1. Wrap up. When you transition to writing-plans, the gate auto-disarms (a PreToolUse Skill hook handles it); it also auto-expires after the TTL.

Design before implementation (enforced by the hook, not just by this text)

While the gate is armed you are in design mode. PreToolUse hooks block — not just discourage — these until the design is approved:

• Editing code. Edit/Write/MultiEdit/NotebookEdit to any non-markdown file is denied (.mdx counts as code). Don't fight it: it means you skipped to implementation. Go back and brainstorm.
• Editing instruction files. CLAUDE.md, SKILL.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md are denied even though they're markdown — changing them mid-session could weaken the gate itself.
• Implementation skills. test-driven-development, executing-plans, subagent-driven-development, frontend-design, mcp-builder are denied.
• Shell writes. Bash commands that write code (echo >, sed -i, tee, node -e, git apply/checkout, cp/mv, …) or that touch the gate marker are denied. Read-only exploration passes. Don't try to route around the edit gate through the shell.

What you can do while armed: write the design/spec/plan markdown doc, ask AskUserQuestion, and (after you've brainstormed and the user approves) invoke writing-plans — which disarms the gate and reopens everything for implementation. So the only sanctioned path out of design mode is: brainstorm → approved design → writing-plans. If the user explicitly tells you to skip the design process, that's their call — point them to the kill switch below; don't disarm the gate yourself (the kill switch is for the user to type with a leading !).

If you never see a Codex says: block on your questions, the gate didn't arm (e.g. the plugin wasn't reloaded after install). Tell the user to run /reload-plugins and re-run /claudex:think, rather than trying to write the marker yourself (a model Bash write to ~/.claude is blocked in auto mode).

Kill switch

• Stop early (user runs this): ! rm -f ~/.claude/claudex/armed
• Globally off: set {"enabled": false} in ~/.claude/claudex/config.json.
• The gate also auto-expires after ttlHours (default 6).

Behavior notes

• Implementation gate: on by default; set {"enforceImplementationGate": false} in ~/.claude/claudex/config.json to turn off the code/skill blocking described above (the Codex question gate is unaffected). It is fail-open — a hook error never blocks an edit.
• Read-only: Codex cannot edit files while critiquing.
• Fail-open by default: if Codex is unavailable or times out, the question proceeds with a note that the second opinion was skipped — mention it to the user. Set {"failClosed": true} in ~/.claude/claudex/config.json to block instead.
• This plugin's hook runs on node. Errors like "Bun not found" come from a different plugin, not claudex.