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Pal MCP Server

The power of Claude Code / GeminiCLI / CodexCLI + [Gemini / OpenAI / OpenRouter / Azure / Grok / Ollama / Custom Model / All Of The Above] working as one.

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Installation

npx pal-mcp-server

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PAL MCP: Many Workflows. One Context.

Your AI's PAL – a Provider Abstraction Layer
_{Formerly known as Zen MCP}

PAL in action

👉 Watch more examples

Your CLI + Multiple Models = Your AI Dev Team

Use the 🤖 CLI you love:
Claude Code · Gemini CLI · Codex CLI · Qwen Code CLI · Cursor · and more

With multiple models within a single prompt:
Gemini · OpenAI · Anthropic · Grok · Azure · Ollama · OpenRouter · DIAL · On-Device Model

🆕 Now with CLI-to-CLI Bridge

The new clink (CLI + Link) tool connects external AI CLIs directly into your workflow:

Connect external CLIs like Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, and Claude Code directly into your workflow
CLI Subagents - Launch isolated CLI instances from within your current CLI! Claude Code can spawn Codex subagents, Codex can spawn Gemini CLI subagents, etc. Offload heavy tasks (code reviews, bug hunting) to fresh contexts while your main session's context window remains unpolluted. Each subagent returns only final results.
Context Isolation - Run separate investigations without polluting your primary workspace
Role Specialization - Spawn planner, codereviewer, or custom role agents with specialized system prompts
Full CLI Capabilities - Web search, file inspection, MCP tool access, latest documentation lookups
Seamless Continuity - Sub-CLIs participate as first-class members with full conversation context between tools

# Codex spawns Codex subagent for isolated code review in fresh context
clink with codex codereviewer to audit auth module for security issues
# Subagent reviews in isolation, returns final report without cluttering your context as codex reads each file and walks the directory structure

# Consensus from different AI models → Implementation handoff with full context preservation between tools
Use consensus with gpt-5 and gemini-pro to decide: dark mode or offline support next
Continue with clink gemini - implement the recommended feature
# Gemini receives full debate context and starts coding immediately

👉 Learn more about clink

Why PAL MCP?

Why rely on one AI model when you can orchestrate them all?

A Model Context Protocol server that supercharges tools like Claude Code, Codex CLI, and IDE clients such as Cursor or the Claude Dev VS Code extension. PAL MCP connects your favorite AI tool to multiple AI models for enhanced code analysis, problem-solving, and collaborative development.

True AI Collaboration with Conversation Continuity

PAL supports conversation threading so your CLI can discuss ideas with multiple AI models, exchange reasoning, get second opinions, and even run collaborative debates between models to help you reach deeper insights and better solutions.

Your CLI always stays in control but gets perspectives from the best AI for each subtask. Context carries forward seamlessly across tools and models, enabling complex workflows like: code reviews with multiple models → automated planning → implementation → pre-commit validation.

You're in control. Your CLI of choice orchestrates the AI team, but you decide the workflow. Craft powerful prompts that bring in Gemini Pro, GPT 5, Flash, or local offline models exactly when needed.

Reasons to Use PAL MCP

A typical workflow with Claude Code as an example:

Multi-Model Orchestration - Claude coordinates with Gemini Pro, O3, GPT-5, and 50+ other models to get the best analysis for each task
Context Revival Magic - Even after Claude's context resets, continue conversations seamlessly by having other models "remind" Claude of the discussion
Guided Workflows - Enforces systematic investigation phases that prevent rushed analysis and ensure thorough code examination
Extended Context Windows - Break Claude's limits by delegating to Gemini (1M tokens) or O3 (200K tokens) for massive codebases
True Conversation Continuity - Full context flows across tools and models - Gemini remembers what O3 said 10 steps ago
Model-Specific Strengths - Extended thinking with Gemini Pro, blazing speed with Flash, strong reasoning with O3, privacy with local Ollama
Professional Code Reviews - Multi-pass analysis with severity levels, actionable feedback, and consensus from multiple AI experts
Smart Debugging Assistant - Systematic root cause analysis with hypothesis tracking and confidence levels
Automatic Model Selection - Claude intelligently picks the right model for each subtask (or you can specify)
Vision Capabilities - Analyze screenshots, diagrams, and visual content with vision-enabled models
Local Model Support - Run Llama, Mistral, or other models locally for complete privacy and zero API costs
Bypass MCP Token Limits - Automatically works around MCP's 25K limit for large prompts and responses

The Killer Feature: When Claude's context resets, just ask to "continue with O3" - the other model's response magically revives Claude's understanding without re-ingesting documents!

Example: Multi-Model Code Review Workflow

Perform a codereview using gemini pro and o3 and use planner to generate a detailed plan, implement the fixes and do a final precommit check by continuing from the previous codereview
This triggers a codereview workflow where Claude walks the code, looking for all kinds of issues
After multiple passes, collects relevant code and makes note of issues along the way
Maintains a confidence level between exploring, low, medium, high and certain to track how confidently it's been able to find and identify issues
Generates a detailed list of critical -> low issues
Shares the relevant files, findings, etc with Gemini Pro to perform a deep dive for a second codereview
Comes back with a response and next does the same with o3, adding to the prompt if a new discovery comes to light
When done, Claude takes in all the feedback and combines a single list of all critical -> low issues, including good patterns in your code. The final list includes new findings or revisions in case Claude misunderstood or missed something crucial and one of the other models pointed this out
It then uses the planner workflow to break the work down into simpler steps if a major refactor is required
Claude then performs the actual work of fixing highlighted issues
When done, Claude returns to Gemini Pro for a precommit review

All within a single conversation thread! Gemini Pro in step 11 knows what was recommended by O3 in step 7! Taking that context and review into consideration to aid with its final pre-commit review.

Think of it as Claude Code for Claude Code. This MCP isn't magic. It's just super-glue.

Remember: Claude stays in full control — but YOU call the shots. PAL is designed to have Claude engage other models only when needed — and to follow through with meaningful back-and-forth. You're the one who crafts the powerful prompt that makes Claude bring in Gemini, Flash, O3 — or fly solo. You're the guide. The prompter. The puppeteer.

You are the AI - Actually Intelligent.

Recommended AI Stack

For Claude Code Users

For best results when using Claude Code:

Sonnet 4.5 - All agentic work and orchestration
Gemini 3.0 Pro OR GPT-5.2 / Pro - Deep thinking, additional code reviews, debugging and validations, pre-commit analysis

For Codex Users

For best results when using Codex CLI:

GPT-5.2 Codex Medium - All agentic work and orchestration
Gemini 3.0 Pro OR GPT-5.2-Pro - Deep thinking, additional code reviews, debugging and validations, pre-commit analysis

Quick Start (5 minutes)

Prerequisites: Python 3.10+, Git, uv installed

1. Get API Keys (choose one or more):

OpenRouter - Access multiple models with one API
Gemini - Google's latest models
OpenAI - O3, GPT-5 series
Azure OpenAI - Enterprise deployments of GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-5 family
X.AI - Grok models
DIAL - Vendor-agnostic model access
Ollama - Local models (free)

2. Install (choose one):

Option A: Clone and Automatic Setup (recommended)

git clone https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/pal-mcp-server.git
cd pal-mcp-server

# Handles everything: setup, config, API keys from system environment. 
# Auto-configures Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, Qwen CLI
# Enable / disable additional settings in .env
./run-server.sh

Option B: Instant Setup with uvx

// Add to ~/.claude/settings.json or .mcp.json
// Don't forget to add your API keys under env
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pal": {
      "command": "bash",
      "args": ["-c", "for p in $(which uvx 2>/dev/null) $HOME/.local/bin/uvx /opt/homebrew/bin/uvx /usr/local/bin/uvx uvx; do [ -x \"$p\" ] && exec \"$p\" --from git+https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/pal-mcp-server.git pal-mcp-server; done; echo 'uvx not found' >&2; exit 1"],
      "env": {
        "PATH": "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:~/.local/bin",
        "GEMINI_API_KEY": "your-key-here",
        "DISABLED_TOOLS": "analyze,refactor,testgen,secaudit,docgen,tracer",
        "DEFAULT_MODEL": "auto"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Start Using!

"Use pal to analyze this code for security issues with gemini pro"
"Debug this error with o3 and then get flash to suggest optimizations"
"Plan the migration strategy with pal, get consensus from multiple models"
"clink with cli_name=\"gemini\" role=\"planner\" to draft a phased rollout plan"

👉 Complete Setup Guide with detailed installation, configuration for Gemini / Codex / Qwen, and troubleshooting 👉 Cursor & VS Code Setup for IDE integration instructions 📺 Watch tools in action to see real-world examples

Provider Configuration

PAL activates any provider that has credentials in your .env. See .env.example for deeper customization.

Core Tools

Note: Each tool comes with its own multi-step workflow, parameters, and descriptions that consume valuable context window space even when not in use. To optimize performance, some tools are disabled by default. See Tool Configuration below to enable them.

Collaboration & Planning (Enabled by default)

clink - Bridge requests to external AI CLIs (Gemini planner, codereviewer, etc.)
chat - Brainstorm ideas, get second opinions, validate approaches. With capable models (GPT-5.2 Pro, Gemini 3.0 Pro), generates complete code / implementation
thinkdeep - Extended reasoning, edge case analysis, alternative perspectives
planner - Break down complex projects into structured, actionable plans
consensus - Get expert opinions from multiple AI models with stance steering

Code Analysis & Quality

debug - Systematic investigation and root cause analysis
precommit - Validate changes before committing, prevent regressions
codereview - Professional reviews with severity levels and actionable feedback
analyze (disabled by default - enable) - Understand architecture, patterns, dependencies across entire codebases

Development Tools (Disabled by default - enable)

refactor - Intelligent code refactoring with decomposition focus
testgen - Comprehensive test generation with edge cases
secaudit - Security audits with OWASP Top 10 analysis
docgen - Generate documentation with complexity analysis

Utilities

apilookup - Forces current-year API/SDK documentation lookups in a sub-process (saves tokens within the current context window), prevents outdated training data responses
challenge - Prevent "You're absolutely right!" responses with critical analysis
tracer (disabled by default - enable) - Static analysis prompts for call-flow mapping

👉 Tool Configuration

Default Configuration

To optimize context window usage, only essential tools are enabled by default:

Enabled by default:

chat, thinkdeep, planner, consensus - Core collaboration tools
codereview, precommit, debug - Essential code quality tools
apilookup - Rapid API/SDK information lookup
challenge - Critical thinking utility

Disabled by default:

analyze, refactor, testgen, secaudit, docgen, tracer

Enabling Additional Tools

To enable additional tools, remove them from the DISABLED_TOOLS list:

Option 1: Edit your .env file

# Default configuration (from .env.example)
DISABLED_TOOLS=analyze,refactor,testgen,secaudit,docgen,tracer

# To enable specific tools, remove them from the list
# Example: Enable analyze tool
DISABLED_TOOLS=refactor,testgen,secaudit,docgen,tracer

# To enable ALL tools
DISABLED_TOOLS=

Option 2: Configure in MCP settings

// In ~/.claude/settings.json or .mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pal": {
      "env": {
        // Tool configuration
        "DISABLED_TOOLS": "refactor,testgen,secaudit,docgen,tracer",
        "DEFAULT_MODEL": "pro",
        "DEFAULT_THINKING_MODE_THINKDEEP": "high",
        
        // API configuration
        "GEMINI_API_KEY": "your-gemini-key",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "your-openai-key",
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "your-openrouter-key",
        
        // Logging and performance
        "LOG_LEVEL": "INFO",
        "CONVERSATION_TIMEOUT_HOURS": "6",
        "MAX_CONVERSATION_TURNS": "50"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option 3: Enable all tools

// Remove or empty the DISABLED_TOOLS to enable everything
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pal": {
      "env": {
        "DISABLED_TOOLS": ""
      }
    }
  }
}

Note:

Essential tools (version, listmodels) cannot be disabled
After changing tool configuration, restart your Claude session for changes to take effect
Each tool adds to context window usage, so only enable what you need

📺 Watch Tools In Action

Chat Tool - Collaborative decision making and multi-turn conversations

Picking Redis vs Memcached:

Chat Redis or Memcached_web.webm

Multi-turn conversation with continuation:

Chat With Gemini_web.webm

Consensus Tool - Multi-model debate and decision making

Multi-model consensus debate:

PAL Consensus Debate

PreCommit Tool - Comprehensive change validation

Pre-commit validation workflow:

API Lookup Tool - Current vs outdated API documentation

Without PAL - outdated APIs:

API without PAL

With PAL - current APIs:

API with PAL

Challenge Tool - Critical thinking vs reflexive agreement

Without PAL:

without_pal@2x

With PAL:

with_pal@2x

Key Features

AI Orchestration

Auto model selection - Claude picks the right AI for each task
Multi-model workflows - Chain different models in single conversations
Conversation continuity - Context preserved across tools and models
Context revival - Continue conversations even after context resets

Model Support

Multiple providers - Gemini, OpenAI, Azure, X.AI, OpenRouter, DIAL, Ollama
Latest models - GPT-5, Gemini 3.0 Pro, O3, Grok-4, local Llama
Thinking modes - Control reasoning depth vs cost
Vision support - Analyze images, diagrams, screenshots

Developer Experience

Guided workflows - Systematic investigation prevents rushed analysis
Smart file handling - Auto-expand directories, manage token limits
Web search integration - Access current documentation and best practices
Large prompt support - Bypass MCP's 25K token limit

Example Workflows

Multi-model Code Review:

"Perform a codereview using gemini pro and o3, then use planner to create a fix strategy"

→ Claude reviews code systematically → Consults Gemini Pro → Gets O3's perspective → Creates unified action plan

Collaborative Debugging:

"Debug this race condition with max thinking mode, then validate the fix with precommit"

→ Deep investigation → Expert analysis → Solution implementation → Pre-commit validation

Architecture Planning:

"Plan our microservices migration, get consensus from pro and o3 on the approach"

→ Structured planning → Multiple expert opinions → Consensus building → Implementation roadmap

👉 Advanced Usage Guide for complex workflows, model configuration, and power-user features

Quick Links

📖 Documentation

Docs Overview - High-level map of major guides
Getting Started - Complete setup guide
Tools Reference - All tools with examples
Advanced Usage - Power user features
Configuration - Environment variables, restrictions
Adding Providers - Provider-specific setup (OpenAI, Azure, custom gateways)
Model Ranking Guide - How intelligence scores drive auto-mode suggestions

🔧 Setup & Support

WSL Setup - Windows users
Troubleshooting - Common issues
Contributing - Code standards, PR process

License

Apache 2.0 License - see LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Built with the power of Multi-Model AI collaboration 🤝