callout

Callout

  

You used AI to write code for 3 days. Callout tells you 60% of it was over-engineered.

AI coding tools make you 10x faster at writing code. Nobody checks if you're building the right thing. Callout is the second pair of eyes — 9 expert perspectives that catch what you miss, delivered as an MCP server that works inside Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and Windsurf.

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Why Callout exists

A real product was built using Claude Code in 6 days: 186 files, 691 tests. A multi-perspective review on Day 5 found that 60% was over-engineered. 9 days of planned work reduced to 3.5 days. The key insight: the problem wasn't bad code — it was wrong priorities and missed blind spots.

Callout makes that review available to every developer, automatically.

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30-second setup

npx callout-dev setup

No global install needed. Run this from your project directory. Callout auto-detects your editor and configures the MCP server.

After setup, restart your editor (or re-enter Claude Code from the project directory), then say:

Review this project

<details> <summary>Manual setup (if npx setup doesn't work)</summary>

Claude Code: ``bash claude mcp add callout -- npx callout-dev ``

Cursor / VS Code — add to your editor's MCP config (.cursor/mcp.json or .vscode/mcp.json): ``json { "mcpServers": { "callout": { "command": "npx", "args": ["callout-dev"] } } } ``

Windsurf — add to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json with the same format.

After any manual setup, restart your editor so it picks up the new MCP server. </details>

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Quick Start: What to say

| Phase | What you want | Say this to AI | What happens | |-------|--------------|----------------|--------------| | Get started | Check my AI collaboration habits | "Coach me" | Scans your project setup, finds blind spots, outputs improvement checklist | | | Evaluate this project | "Review this project" | 9 expert perspectives review your project, categorize as MUST FIX / SHOULD FIX / GOOD | | | Is this idea worth building? | "Score this idea" | 10-dimension scoring, verdict: CONTINUE / SIMPLIFY / PAUSE / DELETE | | Go deeper | Get advice on a specific decision | "Review focus: should I use Supabase?" | Multi-perspective review focused on one question | | | Make AI read docs before coding | "Bind Stripe docs to payment code" | AI must read official docs before modifying protected files — no more guessing | | | What tool should I use? | "I need to add payments" | Detects project needs, recommends best tool with install steps | | Manage | See all findings and progress | "Show my todos" | All review/coach findings auto-collected, sorted by priority |

Multi-project? Say "portfolio" for cross-project health status and resource allocation advice.

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Core Features

review — 9 expert perspectives on your project

3 groups, 9 perspectives:

| Group | Perspectives | What they catch | |-------|-------------|----------------| | Technical | CTO, Security, DevOps | Over-engineering, vulnerabilities, deployment gaps | | Business | Product, Customer, Strategy | Missing features, UX gaps, business model issues | | Founder | Investor, Unicorn Founder, Solo Entrepreneur | Market fit, scalability, solo feasibility |

Every finding is categorized as MUST FIX, SHOULD FIX, or GOOD with effort estimates. Starts with an Executive Summary.

> Review this project                              — full 9-perspective review
> Review with founder group                        — investor + unicorn founder + solo entrepreneur
> Review focus: should I use Supabase or Firebase?  — focused on one decision
> Review security + CTO only                       — selected perspectives

coach — AI collaboration blind spot detector

Analyzes your project setup, development habits, and knowledge gaps. Tells you what you don't know you're doing wrong when working with AI coding tools.

idea_score — Quantitative idea validator

Scores your idea across 10 dimensions (market size, feasibility, moat, revenue potential, etc.) with a skeptical default stance. Returns a verdict: CONTINUE, SIMPLIFY, PAUSE, or DELETE.

Domain Knowledge Guard — Make AI read docs before coding

Bind official documentation to code paths. Once bound, AI must read the referenced docs before modifying protected files.

> Bind Stripe docs to payment code     — register a doc binding
> Check if my code matches the docs    — compliance verification
> Start a renovation for stripe        — systematic domain knowledge audit

Tools: doc (register/remove/list/check), doc_gate, renovation

test_translate — Plain-language test results

Parses test output and tells you: what's tested, what failed, and produces a manual test script.

recommend — Tool recommendations

Detects what your project needs (auth, database, payments, etc.) and recommends the best tool — with install commands, setup steps, and alternatives.

Smart auto-triggers

After running init, Callout speaks up automatically:

• New feature described → discusses before coding
• Opening a new project → coach analysis
• Modifying doc-protected files → gates until docs are read
• Completing a milestone → suggests review

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Works Best With (optional companion MCPs)

Callout integrates with these MCP servers when installed — no configuration needed:

| MCP | What it adds | Install | |-----|-------------|---------| | Context7 | Auto-pulls latest docs for 9000+ public libraries — feed into doc register | claude mcp add context7 -- npx -y @upstash/context7-mcp | | Sequential Thinking | Structured step-by-step reasoning for complex renovations and multi-perspective reviews | claude mcp add sequential-thinking -- npx -y @anthropic-ai/mcp-server-sequential-thinking | | Firecrawl | Scrapes any web docs into markdown — bind with doc register | claude mcp add firecrawl -- npx -y firecrawl-mcp |

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How it works

Callout is an MCP server. It collects your project context (file structure, dependencies, README, git history) and assembles expert-perspective prompts. Your AI tool executes the review.

Callout never calls an LLM itself. Zero API cost. No API key needed. Works with whatever model you already use.

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All 19 tools

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | review | 9-perspective architecture review (3 groups: technical, business, founder) | | coach | AI collaboration blind spot detector | | idea_score | 10-dimension idea scoring with verdict | | test_translate | Turn test output into plain-language test plan | | doc | Domain Knowledge Guard — register/remove/list/check doc bindings | | doc_gate | Gate check: returns docs AI must read before modifying a file | | renovation | Systematic domain knowledge audit against official docs | | recommend | Detect project needs and recommend best tools | | recommend_dismiss | Dismiss a recommendation scenario | | recommend_reset | Reset all dismissed recommendations | | todo_add | Add a finding to the project todo list | | todo_update | Update todo status | | todo_list | View todos by priority or status | | todo_summary | Project health overview | | init | Initialize auto-trigger rules | | callout_help | Show usage guide | | save_review_findings | Save review summary for progress tracking | | set_target_user | Set target user for customer perspective | | portfolio | Multi-project overview with resource allocation advice |

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Contributing

Contributions welcome. Please open an issue before submitting a PR for significant changes.

npm install
npm run build
npm test

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License

MIT