grill

Deep codebase interrogation — multi-angle architecture review that forces rigorous, actionable analysis. Works in both Claude Code and OpenAI Codex CLI.

What it does

Grill launches 5-6 specialized analysis units in parallel to interrogate your codebase from every angle: architecture, error handling, security, testing, and edge cases. You pick a review style, optionally add pressure tests, and get a comprehensive report with a prioritized fixing plan.

• 6 specialized analysis units: recon, architecture, error-handling, security, testing, edge-cases (shipped as agents under Claude Code, as skills under Codex)
• 5 review styles: Architecture Review, Hard-Nosed Critique, Multi-Perspective Panel, ADR Style, Paranoid Mode — plus a "Select All" option
• 8 add-on pressure tests: scale stress, hidden costs, principle violations, strangler fig migration, success metrics, before/after diagrams, assumptions audit, compact & optimize
• Evidence-based findings: every finding requires file paths, line references, severity tags, and effort estimates
• Fixing plan: phased action plan (Critical > High > Medium > Low) with dependency graph and effort totals

Part of the xiaolai plugin marketplace.

Installation

Claude Code

Two install paths — both reach the same code. Pick one:

Via Anthropic's official community marketplace (curated; updates lag the maintainer's marketplace by up to ~24h):

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/claude-plugins-community
/plugin install grill@claude-community

Via the xiaolai marketplace (latest version lands here first):

/plugin marketplace add xiaolai/claude-plugin-marketplace
/plugin install grill@xiaolai

Install fails with "Plugin not found in marketplace 'xiaolai'"? Your local marketplace clone is stale. Run claude plugin marketplace update xiaolai and retry — plugin install does not auto-refresh. (The community marketplace doesn't have this caveat.)

Scope	Command (xiaolai)	Effect
User (default)	/plugin install grill@xiaolai	Available in all your projects
Project	/plugin install grill@xiaolai --scope project	Shared with team via .claude/settings.json
Local	/plugin install grill@xiaolai --scope local	Only you, only this repo

The same --scope flags work with the @claude-community variant.

OpenAI Codex CLI

Codex installs plugins from a marketplace via an in-session TUI, not a shell command. There is no codex plugin install verb.

One-time setup (shell):

codex plugin marketplace add xiaolai/claude-plugin-marketplace

Per-plugin install (inside a Codex session):

1. Start a session: codex (in your project directory)
2. Type /plugins — opens the plugin TUI
3. Find grill in the xiaolai marketplace, install/enable it

Usage

In Claude Code: slash command

/grill:roast

Optionally target a subdirectory: /grill:roast src/

In OpenAI Codex CLI: skill invocation

Codex uses the $skill-name syntax, not slash commands. Type either:

$grill-roast

Or just describe the task in natural language ("do a multi-angle audit of this codebase") and Codex's auto-match will load the skill from its description.

Why the difference? Claude Code maps a plugin's commands/*.md files to slash commands like /grill:roast. Codex deprecated custom prompts in favor of skills (description-matched on intent), so the same orchestration is shipped as a skill under Codex's layout.

How it works

1. Recon — the recon unit surveys the codebase (structure, stack, size)
2. Choose review style — pick from 5 styles + optional add-on pressure tests
3. Deep dive — 4-5 analysis units run, each analyzing their specialty area (parallel under Claude Code, sequential under Codex)
4. Synthesis — findings are deduplicated, attributed, and formatted per the chosen style
5. Report — a markdown report with executive summary and phased fixing plan is saved to the target directory

Analysis units

Unit	Focus	Claude name	Codex name
Recon	Quick codebase survey (structure, stack, dependencies)	recon agent	$grill-recon skill
Architecture	Core architecture analysis	architecture agent	$grill-architecture skill
Error handling	Error handling & observability	error-handling agent	$grill-error-handling skill
Security	Security surface analysis	security agent	$grill-security skill
Testing	Testing & CI/CD analysis	testing agent	$grill-testing skill
Edge cases	Race conditions, boundary values, failure modes (Paranoid Mode)	edge-cases agent	$grill-edge-cases skill

All units share the grill-core skill, which defines severity tags, finding format, evidence standards, and the untrusted-input rule.

Severity tags

• [CRITICAL] — Security vulnerability, data loss risk, correctness bug
• [HIGH] — Significant reliability, maintainability, or performance impact
• [MEDIUM] — Noticeable quality issue, not urgent
• [LOW] — Minor improvement, address when touching the file
• [GOOD] — Positive finding worth calling out

License

ISC