great_cto
avelikiy · avelikiy/great_cto
Runs Claude Code as a pipeline of specialist agents for brief, architecture, build, review and security, with a second model checking each stage and you approving key decisions.
You already have the agent. This is everything around it. great_cto runs Claude Code as a pipeline of 70 specialist agents — an independent model checks each stage before the next builds on it, spending caps refuse rather than warn, and three decisions stay yours: what gets built, how, and whether it ships.
Preview
What you can do with it
- Build a new feature like Google login with automated review and security checks
- Have an independent model double-check the diff before shipping
- Set spending caps and approve what gets built and shipped from a local board
Safety check
No risky patterns found in the files we scanned.
Automated scan of the repo files. Always review code you run.
From the README
Ship products with the coding agent you already have.
npx great-cto init
Website · One real run → · Blog · Changelog
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Your coding agent ships code. This is what checks it.
Describe a product or a feature. 72 agents with narrow jobs take it through brief, architecture, build, review and security; a second model from another family reads the same diff. Three decisions stay yours — what gets built, how, and whether it ships — and what lands is a repository you own and a URL that works. You pay your own LLM provider; great_cto is MIT and bills nothing.
Quick start
npx great-cto init
Restart Claude Code. Day to day there are three things:
| In Claude Code | In the terminal | |
|---|---|---|
| Start work | /start "add Google login" | great-cto run "add Google login" |
| See what needs you | /inbox | great-cto status |
| Continue | /resume | great-cto resume |
/start takes a new product or a task in an existing project and picks the
workflow itself. /resume continues only what you already approved; a pending
decision still waits for you. Everything else — /review, /spec, /save,
/digest and the rest — is there when you need it:
all commands.
The board at localhost:3141 opens on Work — your tasks, the decisions
waiting on you, and what already shipped. Cost, agents and reviewers are under
Tools. Nothing on it renders an absence as a pass: a check that could not
decide reads unverifiable, a cost nobody measured unmeasured, a reviewer
that could not run unavailable.
On OpenAI Codex
npx great-cto init --host codex gives Codex the skills, the MCP server and six
safety guards as plugin hooks (approve them once: run codex in a terminal and
choose Trust all and continue). Codex has no native plugin surface for slash
commands or role agents, so the pipeline runs through the CLI instead:
great-cto run "add Google login" --host codex --allow src,tests,docs
great-cto status --host codex
great-cto resume --host codex
Codex never updates the plugin by itself — great-cto upgrade does. Details,
mixed Claude + Codex runs and Codex as the second reviewer:
Codex host guide.
When it stops you
One line in .great_cto/PROJECT.md:
approval-level | Stops you at | Stops |
|---|---|---|
ship-only | the deploy — and briefs you on what gets built | 1 |
product-only | what we build · whether it ships | 2 |
gates-only (default) | what we build · the design · the deploy | 3 |
strict | the design · code review · the deploy | 3 |
auto | nothing in the pipeline | 0 |
Regulated products — fintech, healthcare, gov — keep their security, compliance and ship gates at every level. How the gates work.
Numbers, measured
| One feature, end to end, fully traced | 1h 26m · $3.40 in tokens — the receipts |
| A whole product — 7 built in the open benchmark | median $171 in tokens · 70/100 quality, measured 2026-07-10 — reproduce it |
| Typical month, 20 pipeline runs | ~$34 — you pay your own LLM provider, nothing else |
Limitations
For one builder, not a team; not a hosted app builder — it needs your coding agent; not a CI/CD system; compliance scaffolds are starting points, not certifications; LLM output is not deterministic. The honest version of each, and what it refuses to claim: docs/DETAILS.md.
Learn more
Docs · Getting started · Commands · Gates · Agents · FAQ · Everything else · Issues · Security · Contributing · Privacy — telemetry is off by default
MIT — LICENSE. Built by @avelikiy. If it saved you time, a star helps other solo builders find it.