An AI-to-AI consultation system for complex problem-solving and reasoning, using OpenRouter for model access.
An AI-to-AI consultation system that enables one AI to "phone a friend" (another AI) for critical thinking, long context reasoning, and complex problem solving via OpenRouter.
Sometimes an AI encounters complex problems that require:
Phone-a-Friend MCP Server creates a two-step consultation process:
This enables AI systems to leverage other AI models as "consultants" for complex reasoning tasks.
Primary AI β Phone-a-Friend MCP β OpenRouter β External AI (O3, Claude, etc.) β Processed Response β Primary AI
Sequential Workflow:
analyze_context
- Gather and structure all relevant contextget_critical_thinking
- Send context to external AI via OpenRouter for reasoningextract_actionable_insights
- Process response into actionable formatIdeal for:
Configure your MCP client (e.g., Claude Desktop) using the JSON block belowβno cloning or manual installation required.
The uv
runner will automatically download and execute the server package if it isn't present.
Add the following JSON configuration to your MCP client and replace <YOUR_API_KEY>
with your key:
{
"mcpServers": {
"phone-a-friend": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"phone-a-friend-mcp-server",
"--provider", "openai",
"--api-key", "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
]
}
}
}
That's it! You can now use the
phone_a_friend
tool in any compatible client. For more options, see the Advanced Configuration section.
π Consult external AI for critical thinking and complex reasoning. Makes API calls to get responses.
π Generate master prompt file for manual AI consultation. Creates file for copy-paste workflow.
Parameters
phone_a_friend
all_related_context
(required): General, non-code context such as constraints, tracebacks, or high-level requirements.file_list
(required): Array of file paths or glob patterns. Just pass the paths β the server automatically reads those files (skips anything in .gitignore
or non-text/binary) and builds the full code context for the external AI.task
(required): A clear, specific description of what you want the external AI to do.fax_a_friend
all_related_context
(required): Same as above.file_list
(required): Same as above.task
(required): Same as above.output_directory
(required): Directory where the generated fax_a_friend.md
master prompt file will be saved.This section covers all configuration options, including environment variables, CLI flags, and model selection.
The server can be configured via CLI flags or environment variables.
Provider | CLI Flag | Environment Variable |
---|---|---|
OpenAI | --provider openai | OPENAI_API_KEY |
OpenRouter | --provider openrouter | OPENROUTER_API_KEY |
Anthropic | --provider anthropic | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
--provider google | GOOGLE_API_KEY |
CLI Example:
phone-a-friend-mcp-server --provider openai --api-key "sk-..."
Environment Variable Example:
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
phone-a-friend-mcp-server
You can override the default model for each provider.
Provider | Default Model |
---|---|
OpenAI | o3 |
Anthropic | Claude 4 Opus |
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 | |
OpenRouter | anthropic/claude-4-opus |
Override with CLI:
phone-a-friend-mcp-server --model "o3"
Override with Environment Variable:
export PHONE_A_FRIEND_MODEL="o3"
Feature | CLI Flag | Environment Variable | Default |
---|---|---|---|
Temperature | --temperature 0.5 | PHONE_A_FRIEND_TEMPERATURE | 0.4 |
Base URL | --base-url ... | PHONE_A_FRIEND_BASE_URL | Provider default |
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.
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