Simulacrum

Adversarial dialog tool: pitch an idea, test a definition, or challenge an architectural assumption. Includes a Python CLI, HTTP API, and browser chat UI. It models Jeremy McEntire's reasoning style; its output is not Jeremy's advice or a source of private biographical facts.

Run locally

Python 3.12 or 3.13 (the pinned dependencies were checked with 3.13):

python3.13 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r fly_v8/requirements.txt
# Supply ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in your environment.
python run.py 'Every team needs a strong manager.'
python run.py --spice spicy 'Every team needs a strong manager.'
uvicorn app:app --app-dir fly_v8 --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080

Open http://127.0.0.1:8080 for chat. For API clients:

curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/chat \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"dialog":[{"role":"Interlocutor","text":"Every team needs a strong manager."}]}'

The client supplies the full dialog for follow-ups. The CLI accepts --history pointing to a JSON array of [role, text] pairs; keep conversation files outside this repository. Run python run.py --help for options.

Configuration

• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: the Anthropic key (default lookup).
• SIMULACRUM_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY_ENV: optional comma-separated list of env-var names to try for the Anthropic key, in order (for example MY_ORG_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY,ANTHROPIC_API_KEY); first nonempty one wins.
• SIMULACRUM_MODEL: Anthropic model override (default claude-sonnet-4-6).
• GENERALIST_MODEL and OPENAI_API_KEY: optional recall branch. Both are required to enable your own model. No private model identifier, model weights, or biography is bundled. With no GENERALIST_MODEL, all turns use Anthropic.
• SIMULACRUM_TOKEN: stable cookie-signing secret for the web app. Despite its legacy name, this is not an API bearer token or access-control mechanism.
• TURNSTILE_SECRET and TURNSTILE_SITE_KEY: optional browser bot check.

Chat sends dialog and the bundled examples to the configured model provider. The web app has no login. Its signed-cookie request cap is per browser; clearing cookies resets it. Bind locally for development. A shared deployment needs its operator's access controls and provider budget limits. Cookie persistence uses HTTPS. No deployment is created by this repository.

Container

docker build -t simulacrum ./fly_v8
docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY simulacrum

Checks

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

These checks cover startup without OpenAI, chat and mode selection, optional recall configuration, and the bundled corpus identity. They use an HTTP mock at the model-provider boundary. Live model responses need a configured key.

Contents and provenance

Serving code is copied from the source working tree, including its existing uncommitted routing changes. See EXPORT.md for the privacy boundary. PRIMER.md is the general research/building guide; its pipeline examples describe the original research process, not bundled runtime commands.