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Vetrox

ventrox

Official
by Vetrox

Ventrox

A coding agent hits the same wall many times a day, and nobody sees it. Ventrox adds one tool call to the agent: what it tried, what failed, minutes lost. The agent cannot read vents back; the server stamps each with session, project, branch, and time. A reviewer starts VENTROX_SECRET=$(ventrox grant) claude and lists vents grouped by rough similarity, ranked by count and minutes. The wall that cost the most minutes comes first. A few hundred lines of Python, one SQLite file in your home directory, two commands to install. Nothing goes over the network, and nothing lands in your repo. Clustering is TF-IDF on n-grams and misses synonyms; redaction is a regex list, best effort. Limits: 20 vents per session, 5 per 10 minutes. The idea comes from Lovable's vent tool and vent-widget.

Install

Install Ventrox as a global tool:

uv tool install git+https://github.com/Vetrox/ventrox.git

Or clone and install from the checkout:

git clone https://github.com/Vetrox/ventrox && cd ventrox && uv tool install .

Then run setup:

ventrox setup

Setup copies the ventrox-report and ventrox-review skills into ~/.claude/skills/. It then registers the MCP server with claude mcp add --scope user ventrox -- ventrox.

Related MCP server: Fix Memory MCP

Use

Reporter: the agent calls ventrox_vent with tried, failed, and minutes_lost. It writes one vent per turn, and only after the same friction repeats (two failures or more than 10 minutes). It corrects a vent in the same session with ventrox_edit. The server accepts 20 vents per session and 5 vents per 10 minutes.

Reviewer: start a session with a single-use token:

VENTROX_SECRET=$(ventrox grant) claude

The token is single-use and valid for 10 minutes. The session then holds the reviewer tools. Call them in this order:

  1. ventrox_recluster groups open vents by vocabulary overlap.

  2. ventrox_clusters lists the groups ranked by open count, then minutes lost.

  3. ventrox_resolve_cluster marks a group resolved or wontfix.

Uninstall

ventrox setup --remove
uv tool uninstall ventrox
rm -r ~/.local/share/ventrox   # deletes all vents

Tools

Tool

Mode

Arguments

Returns

ventrox_vent

reporter

tried, failed, minutes_lost

id, or error

ventrox_edit

reporter

id, plus any of tried, failed, minutes_lost

ok

ventrox_get

reviewer

id

the vent, or error

ventrox_search

reviewer

query, status (optional), limit (default 20, max 100)

results, newest first

ventrox_clusters

reviewer

none

clusters ranked by open count, then minutes lost

ventrox_recluster

reviewer

none

clusters count, vents count

ventrox_resolve

reviewer

id, status (resolved or wontfix)

ok

ventrox_resolve_cluster

reviewer

cluster_id, status (resolved or wontfix)

ok, changed count

Text fields hold 1 to 4000 characters. minutes_lost ranges from 0 to 1440.

Environment variables

Variable

Purpose

Default

VENTROX_HOME

Data directory

unset

VENTROX_SESSION

Session ID

generated per process

VENTROX_SECRET

Grant token for a reviewer session; single-use, valid 10 minutes

unset

VENTROX_EXAMPLES

Path to a file with project examples

unset

VENTROX_MAX_PER_SESSION

Vents the server accepts per session

20

VENTROX_MAX_PER_10MIN

Vents the server accepts per 10 minutes

5

Data location

The server picks the first of $VENTROX_HOME, $XDG_DATA_HOME/ventrox, and ~/.local/share/ventrox. All vents live in vents.db in that directory. The file is plain SQLite with no encryption; only file permissions protect it. The server refuses to start when the data directory is inside a git worktree, and exits with code 2.

Skills

ventrox-report tells the agent when a friction counts as a vent and what the three fields must contain. ventrox-review tells a reviewer to run recluster, clusters, then resolve. ventrox setup installs both.

Project examples

Put a .ventrox.md file at the project root to add project-specific examples of good vents. Set VENTROX_EXAMPLES to a file path to add examples for all projects. The server appends both to the ventrox_vent tool description.

Develop

uv sync
uv run pytest
uv run ventrox

Non-goals

Ventrox does not sync to an issue tracker. It has no multi-user mode. It records no tool-call traces, only the three fields the agent writes. It opens no network connection.

Available Tools

2 tools
ventrox_editA

Edit the tried, failed, or minutes_lost of a vent you wrote.

Provide the vent ID. Validation rules match ventrox_vent. Returns ok (true or false). If the edit fails, we do not state the reason. Possible causes: wrong ID, wrong session, or validation error.

ParametersJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
idYes
triedNo
failedNo
minutes_lostNo

TDQS

A4.4/5.0
Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

With no annotations, the description correctly explains that it returns a bare true/false, does not report failure reasons, and lists likely causes of failure. It also indicates scope ('a vent you wrote'), which implies an ownership or session restriction, though it does not detail authentication behavior.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The description is focused, front-loaded with the action, and every clause earns its place. It includes the necessary fields, the required input, return shape, and failure behavior without padding or repetition.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a tool with no output schema and no annotations, the description gives sufficient info to call it and interpret false results. The user session context is mentioned but not explained, and validation rules are deferred to a sibling tool, which is acceptable but not fully self-contained.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 0%, so the description must clarify parameter meaning. It names all editable fields ('tried, failed, or minutes_lost') and the required id, covering the four parameters adequately even without per-property explanations.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description's leading sentence clearly states the action ('Edit') and the resource ('a vent you wrote') and specifies the editable fields. It distinguishes itself from the sibling ventrox_vent by framing this as an edit operation for existing vents, not a creation operation.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

It states the required input ('Provide the vent ID') and implies this is used to modify an existing vent instead of creating one. It does not explicitly name ventrox_vent as the alternative, but the context signals make the intended usage clear.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

ventrox_ventA

Record friction you hit today.

A vent describes what blocked you. Write what you tried, what failed, and how many minutes you lost. Do not write fixes, workarounds, or lessons. We do not read vents back to you.

Write one vent per turn. Write a vent only after you hit the same friction again. Friction repeats when the same thing fails two times or more, or when one thing costs more than 10 minutes.

Good vents:

  • tried "run the test suite with uv run pytest", failed "import error on conftest.py three times in a row; the fix needed PYTHONPATH that no doc states", minutes_lost 25

  • tried "deploy to staging with the standard CloudFormation template", failed "VPC id mismatch in the template; had to edit manually each time for 3 deploys", minutes_lost 18

  • tried "install the linter with pip install ruff", failed "no wheel for Python 3.13 on macOS arm64; built from source twice, flaky on CI", minutes_lost 12

  • tried "run database migration with python manage.py migrate", failed "timeout on the first attempt; docs don't mention --timeout flag; second attempt with flag succeeded", minutes_lost 8

Not vents:

  • A one-off typo you fixed once. That is not repeated friction.

  • "How do I make the tests faster?" That is a question, not friction.

  • "Next time use pytest-xdist for parallel tests". That is a lesson or a fix, not what blocked you.

  • "Finished the feature, took 3 hours". That is a task-progress note, not friction.

ParametersJSON Schema
NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
triedYes
failedYes
minutes_lostYes

TDQS

A4.6/5.0
Behavior5/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

With no annotations, the description carries the full behavioral burden, and it does so thoroughly. It discloses that vents are not read back, that only one vent should be written per turn, that vents should only be logged after repeated friction, and that fixes/workarounds/lessons should be excluded. This goes well beyond a simple 'record friction' statement.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness5/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

The description is longer than average, but every section earns its place: a front-loaded purpose statement, eligibility thresholds, and illustrative good/bad examples. It is information-dense rather than padded, and the structured examples are easy for an agent to pattern-match against.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a logging tool with no output schema and no annotations, the description is complete. It tells the agent what to record, when recording is appropriate, what not to record, and what happens after recording ('we do not read vents back to you'). No critical operational detail appears to be missing.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters5/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 0%, so the description must supply all parameter meaning. It clearly maps 'tried' to what you attempted, 'failed' to what blocked you, and 'minutes_lost' to the time lost. The examples reinforce this by showing realistic combinations, and the 'not vents' section clarifies what should not go into the parameters.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose4/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description clearly defines the tool as recording friction: what you tried, what failed, and minutes lost. It gives strong examples of good and bad vents. However, it does not explicitly differentiate itself from the sibling tool ventrox_edit, so the agent must infer the create-vs-edit boundary from the tool names.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines4/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

The description provides explicit when-to-use guidance: write a vent only after the same friction repeats, with precise thresholds like two failures or more than 10 minutes lost. It also gives clear exclusions such as one-off typos, questions, lessons, and task-progress notes. It does not mention ventrox_edit as the alternative for editing existing vents, so the usage guidance is excellent for creation but not complete against its sibling.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections. Dates show when Glama detected each change.

  1. 2 tool updatesv0.1.0
    • First observedventrox_edit
    • First observedventrox_vent

TDQS

A4.4/5.0
Disambiguation5/5

ventrox_vent is exclusively for recording a new friction event, while ventrox_edit explicitly modifies an existing vent's fields. There is no overlap or ambiguity between creating and editing.

Naming Consistency4/5

Both tools share the ventrox_ prefix and use short action-style names, making the pattern predictable. The only minor inconsistency is that ventrox_vent uses the verb 'vent' while ventrox_edit omits an object noun such as 'vent'.

Tool Count4/5

Two tools is slightly thin, but it matches the server's focused purpose of recording and correcting friction entries. Each tool is meaningful and there is no bloat.

Completeness4/5

The server covers creating and editing vents, which are the core operations for its purpose. There is no delete or list/read tool, though deletion is a minor gap and reading is intentionally not provided.

Maintenance

ActivityMaintained
ResponsivenessNo issues

Resources

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