Arbiter Zebu

Standalone Telegram bot for async human-in-the-loop decision making. Zero LLM cost — button taps are handled directly.

Quick Start

# Install
bun add -g arbiter-zebu

# Interactive setup (creates config + starts as service)
arbiter-zebu setup

That's it. The setup wizard will:

1. Ask for your bot token (from @BotFather)
2. Ask for your Telegram user ID (from @userinfobot)
3. Create ~/.arbiter/config.json
4. Install and start a systemd service

Send /queue to your bot in Telegram to verify.

Commands

arbiter-zebu          # Start the bot
arbiter-zebu setup    # Interactive setup (config + systemd service)
arbiter-zebu help     # Show help

Service Management

systemctl --user status arbiter     # Check status
systemctl --user stop arbiter       # Stop
systemctl --user restart arbiter    # Restart
tail -f /tmp/arbiter.log            # View logs

Features

• 📋 Queue-based decisions — MD files in a watched directory
• 🔘 Button-based UI — Tap to answer, no typing needed
• 💰 Zero LLM cost — Callbacks handled directly by the bot
• 📁 Persistent state — File-based, survives restarts
• 🔔 Agent notifications — Notify sessions when decisions are complete
• ✏️ Custom answers — Not limited to predefined options
• 📝 Audit trail — All decisions logged in markdown

How It Works

Agents push decisions → ~/.arbiter/queue/pending/
                              ↓
              Arbiter bot watches directory
                              ↓
              Shows decisions in Telegram with buttons
                              ↓
              Human answers by tapping
                              ↓
              Answers written back to markdown
                              ↓
              Completed plans → ~/.arbiter/queue/completed/
              Notifications  → ~/.arbiter/queue/notify/

Agent Integration

Use the arbiter-skill to push decisions from AI agents:

# Install the skill (for Clawdbot/OpenClaw)
clawhub install arbiter

# Or install standalone CLI
bun add -g arbiter-skill

# Push decisions
arbiter-push '{"title":"API Design","decisions":[{"id":"auth","title":"Auth Method","context":"How to authenticate","options":[{"key":"jwt","label":"JWT"},{"key":"session","label":"Sessions"}]}]}'

Documentation

• Architecture — System design and file formats
• arbiter-skill — Agent-side CLI

License

MIT