Use cases for Elephant Goldfish Model: 5 things you can do with it

5 use cases

Stress-test a design doc before writing code

Run a multi-stage Goldfish reviewer swarm over a draft spec to find gaps before implementation.

View prompt

In the repo <repo-path>, use the EGM plugin's /egm-review skill on docs/designs/<design-doc>.md. Report the findings grouped by review stage and list which findings the design doc does not yet answer. Verify that each finding cites a section of the draft that exists.

Draft a design spec one section at a time

Turn a rough concept brief into a living design document built section by section.

View prompt

Using the EGM plugin in <repo-path>, run /egm-draft on the concept brief at <brief-path> and write the result to docs/designs/<name>.md. Confirm that the file has a section for each part of the brief and list any part you could not fill in.

Find where a checked-in spec no longer matches code

Scan code against existing specs to report divergence between the written design and the live code.

View prompt

In the repo <repo-path>, run the EGM /egm-drift-report skill against the specs in docs/designs/. Output a list of each divergence with the spec file, the spec claim, and the code location. Verify that every listed claim quotes text that exists in the spec file.

Test an early feature idea before any docs exist

Explore problem boundaries and stress-test a raw concept with a Goldfish swarm.

View prompt

Using the EGM plugin in <repo-path>, run /egm-brainstorm on this idea: <idea>. Return the problem boundaries, the concepts that survived the Goldfish shootdown, and the concepts that did not, with one reason each. Verify that each rejected concept names the specific objection raised.

Generate codebase docs bottom up for an undocumented repo

Build documentation from the lowest modules upward, with sentinel blocks for updates.
- Elephant Goldfish Model
- Claude Code
- Software and DevOps
- Intermediate
View prompt
```
In the repo <repo-path>, run the EGM /egm-bootstrap skill to generate documentation bottom up. List every file it created or changed and confirm that any existing text outside the sentinel blocks is unchanged.
```

How to use Elephant Goldfish Model

Check you have what it needs: An AI coding agent that can install the plugin, such as Claude Code or Codex, or any agent that can take the install request from the README; A local git checkout of the project you are designing for; A design doc file under docs/designs/ to review, or a concept to start from.
Open google/elephant-goldfish-model on GitHub and read the README and license.
Install the plugin in Claude Code with claude plugin marketplace add google/elephant-goldfish-model && claude plugin install egm@egm
Start Claude Code and run /egm:egm-review docs/designs/<design-doc>.md on your draft (inferred, check the README)
Read the findings from each stage: Zoom Out, Comprehension, Critic, and Readiness
Run /egm-resolve to triage the findings and apply patches you approve

These steps come from our top use case, Stress-test a design doc before writing code, which also has a copy-paste agent prompt.

Elephant Goldfish Model alternatives · Best AI repos for Software and DevOps

About this repo

Who it is forSoftware engineers and tech leads who use Claude Code, Codex, or another AI coding agent and want design docs reviewed before implementation.
Why it is hot
LanguagePython
Sourcegithub.com/google/elephant-goldfish-model · Back to Hot repos

Requirements

An AI coding agent that can install the plugin, such as Claude Code or Codex, or any agent that can take the install request from the README
A local git checkout of the project you are designing for
A design doc file under docs/designs/ to review, or a concept to start from

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Questions about Elephant Goldfish Model

What is Elephant Goldfish Model?

An open-source Google plugin for spec-driven development that uses deep-context Elephant agents to draft specs and isolated Goldfish subagents to stress-test them before code is written. It is an open-source project on GitHub: https://github.com/google/elephant-goldfish-model.

Who is Elephant Goldfish Model for?

Software engineers and tech leads who use Claude Code, Codex, or another AI coding agent and want design docs reviewed before implementation.

What can I do with Elephant Goldfish Model?

5 use cases so far, for example: Stress-test a design doc before writing code; Draft a design spec one section at a time; Find where a checked-in spec no longer matches code. Each has steps and a copy-paste agent prompt.

What do I need to run Elephant Goldfish Model?

An AI coding agent that can install the plugin, such as Claude Code or Codex, or any agent that can take the install request from the README; A local git checkout of the project you are designing for; A design doc file under docs/designs/ to review, or a concept to start from.

What are alternatives to Elephant Goldfish Model?

Other hot AI repos in Software and DevOps: Omarchy Local AI, Hermes Plan Mode, Agent 2, Agnes Harness, Skills.

Is Elephant Goldfish Model safe to run?

Deduped does not own, audit or vouch for it. Read the README and license, run it on your own systems first and review every command before you run it.

Disclaimer

Deduped lists open-source repositories that belong to other people. We do not own, maintain, audit, or vouch for any of them, and a repo appearing here is not an endorsement or a safety check. The use cases, steps, and prompts are written by AI and may be incomplete, outdated, or just wrong. Where a use case is marked "Seen in the wild", we link to public posts where someone described something similar, but we have not verified those posts and the use case itself is still our AI's own write-up. Use all of this at your own risk. Only run code, commands, or agents on systems and accounts you are authorized to use, and read the code and every command before you run it, especially anything that touches credentials, files, or the network. Nothing here is professional, security, legal, or financial advice. All trademarks and project names belong to their respective owners, and their use here does not imply affiliation. Content is provided as is, without warranties of any kind. Found a mistake, a safety problem, or something you want removed? Email [email protected] and we will look at it promptly. Read it on its own page.

What do you want to do?

Stress-test a design doc before writing code

Draft a design spec one section at a time

Find where a checked-in spec no longer matches code

Test an early feature idea before any docs exist

Generate codebase docs bottom up for an undocumented repo

How to use Elephant Goldfish Model

Add this badge to your README

Questions about Elephant Goldfish Model