mid-flight

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Get a second opinion from Codex or Gemini without leaving your Claude Code session.

MidFlight is a Claude Code plugin for moments when you're already in the middle of a task and want outside signal before you continue.

Instead of copying context into another tool by hand, you run /midflight, Claude summarizes the relevant state, and the external model responds with focused advice, precise implementation help, or video analysis.

At a glance:

• Ask architecture, debugging, and tradeoff questions without leaving Claude Code
• Hand off tightly scoped implementation work to an external model
• Analyze local or remote videos with Gemini's multimodal support
• Let Claude self-invoke when it recognizes it would benefit from another perspective

What it's for

• Sanity-checking an approach when you're unsure between a few valid options
• Getting unstuck on debugging, architecture, or API integration work
• Delegating a precise, well-scoped implementation task
• Reviewing creative assets or ads through structured video analysis
• Adding outside signal without rebuilding all of the context manually

What it's not for

• Replacing Claude Code as your main development loop
• Handing off an entire project with no clear scope or constraints
• Automatic background review or hook-based workflow enforcement
• Vague "go build this whole thing" requests with no concrete target
• General-purpose browsing or research unrelated to the task already in progress

How it works

1. You're mid-development and want a second opinion
2. Run /midflight should we use WebSockets or SSE here? (or just /midflight and Claude figures out what to ask)
3. Claude summarizes the current context and question
4. The query is sent to your configured provider (Codex or Gemini)
5. Claude presents the external model's perspective alongside its own analysis

No transcript parsing, no hooks — Claude already has full context, so it writes a concise summary and question directly.

Modes

MidFlight automatically infers the right mode from your query:

• Consult (default) — "Should we use X or Y?", debugging help, architecture validation. The external model provides advice without modifying files.
• Implement — Precise, spec-driven changes: "Add method X to file Y with these exact signatures." The external model reads files, makes edits, and runs verification.
• Video — Analyze video files or URLs using Gemini's multimodal capabilities. Produces structured scene breakdowns, ad quality reviews, and content verification. Auto-switches to Gemini regardless of your configured provider.

You don't need to specify which mode — Claude classifies intent from the query. When uncertain, it defaults to consult (safe by default).

Requirements

• Claude Code CLI
• One of the following providers:
  • Codex CLI installed and authenticated (default)
  • Gemini CLI installed and authenticated
• bash in your PATH

Install

claude plugin marketplace add Abeansits/mid-flight
claude plugin install mid-flight@mid-flight

Restart Claude Code after installing.

Config

Create ~/.config/mid-flight/config to override defaults:

provider=codex
codex_model=gpt-5.3-codex
codex_reasoning_effort=high
gemini_model=gemini-2.5-pro

Setting	Default	Description
provider	codex	Query provider (codex or gemini)
codex_model	gpt-5.3-codex	Codex model to use
codex_reasoning_effort	high	Reasoning effort (low/medium/high)
gemini_model	gemini-2.5-pro	Gemini model to use

Keeping MidFlight's config separate makes it easy to tune these settings without affecting other Claude Code helpers.

Usage

# Ask a specific question
/midflight should we use WebSockets or SSE for real-time updates?

# No question — Claude identifies what needs a second opinion
/midflight

# Analyze a local video file
/midflight --video ./ad-v3.mp4

# Analyze a YouTube video
/midflight --video https://youtube.com/watch?v=abc123

# Video with a specific question
/midflight --video ./ad-v3.mp4 Does this match the storyboard we discussed?

# Claude can also self-invoke when it recognizes it's stuck
# (after 3+ failed attempts, unfamiliar technology, etc.)

Updating

claude plugin marketplace update mid-flight
claude plugin update mid-flight@mid-flight

Uninstall

claude plugin remove mid-flight
claude plugin marketplace remove mid-flight

Restart Claude Code after uninstalling.

Troubleshooting

Error	Cause	Fix
'codex' CLI not found	Codex CLI not installed or not in PATH	Install from github.com/openai/codex
'gemini' CLI not found	Gemini CLI not installed or not in PATH	Install from github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
Codex query failed	Auth issue or network error	Run codex --version to verify install, check API key
Empty response	Provider returned nothing	Try again or switch providers in config
MidFlight hangs before Codex responds	Codex inherited an open stdin stream from the caller and is waiting for EOF	Upgrade MidFlight; the wrapper now detaches stdin before invoking provider CLIs
Video file exceeds 20MB limit	Gemini CLI inline file limit	Compress or trim the video before analysis
Could not determine file size	stat failed on the video file	Check file permissions and path

Debugging

Run Claude Code with claude --debug to see query execution logs. All logs are prefixed with [mid-flight] on stderr and include mode, provider, query size, response size, and duration.

Development

Run the shell regression suite with:

bash tests/run_all.sh

Technical details

Architecture

MidFlight is a skill-based plugin (slash command). This is a deliberate design choice:

• Skills run inside Claude's context — Claude already knows everything about the current task, so there's no need for transcript parsing
• Claude summarizes, not transcript extraction — produces better, more focused context than any parsing could
• On-demand, not automatic — the user (or Claude itself) decides when a consultation would be valuable

Query flow

1. /midflight invokes the skill, which instructs Claude to assess the situation
2. Claude writes a structured query (context + question) to a temp file
3. The query script (scripts/query.sh) reads the file, wraps it with a system prompt, and routes to the configured provider
4. The provider's response is returned to Claude via stdout
5. Claude presents the response with its own analysis (agreements, disagreements, recommended next steps)

Provider abstraction

Providers are isolated behind separate functions (query_codex, query_gemini) and a small config-driven router. Adding a new provider requires only a new function and a new case branch.

The scripts/query.sh entrypoint now delegates to helper modules under scripts/lib/, with prompts stored in prompts/. Each invocation gets its own temporary run workspace for staged inputs, prompt assembly, provider logs, and response capture.

MidFlight explicitly detaches stdin before launching provider CLIs. This avoids deadlocks when a caller leaves stdin connected to an open pipe; Codex will otherwise read piped stdin even when the main prompt is already supplied as an argument.

Video analysis

Video mode accepts local files or URLs. Local files are copied to a temp staging directory and passed to Gemini CLI using the @path inline syntax. URLs are passed directly in the prompt — Gemini handles fetching natively. Local files are sandboxed: the staging dir is the only path exposed via --include-directories, so the parent directory is never accessible to Gemini. The staging dir is cleaned up on exit. Gemini CLI enforces a 20MB limit on inline files; the script validates this upfront.

Self-invocation

The skill prompt includes guidance for when Claude should consider consulting an external model on its own — e.g., after multiple failed debugging attempts, when facing unfamiliar technology, or when two approaches seem equally valid. When self-invoking, Claude is instructed to be transparent about why.

License

MIT