Google's Elephant-Goldfish Model Stops Coding Agents from Inheriting Their Own Blind Spots
Google open-sourced EGM, a plugin that uses deep-context agents to draft software specs and zero-context subagents to tear them apart before any code is written.
- Google open-sourced EGM, a plugin for spec-driven development with AI coding agents.
- Elephant agents hold full project context and draft specs; Goldfish subagents review with zero context to expose blind spots.
- Ships as skills for Antigravity, Claude Code, Codex, Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work.
- Core commands: egm-brainstorm, egm-draft, egm-review, egm-resolve, egm-bootstrap, egm-drift-report.
- Apache 2.0 licensed, 3.2k+ stars, used internally by thousands of Google engineers.
- Based on Dave Rensin's essay on elephants and goldfish in software engineering.
Google has released the open-source Elephant-Goldfish Model, or EGM, a plugin that helps coding agents draft, review, and maintain software design specifications. Despite its name, EGM contains no new AI model. It packages text-based skills for agent harnesses including Claude Code, Codex, and Google’s Antigravity.
EGM separates design work from design review. A context-rich agent drafts the specification, while fresh subagents review it without access to the conversation that shaped it. According to the repository, thousands of Google engineers use this approach to expose unstated assumptions, conflicts with existing code, and implementation risks before coding begins.
| Role | Context | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Elephant | Project history, requirements, and prior decisions | Drafts the design specification |
| Goldfish | The draft and referenced source code | Finds gaps, ambiguity, and implementation risks |
| Developer | The draft, reviews, and project constraints | Resolves trade-offs and approves changes |
One design, separate contexts
Long coding-agent sessions can accumulate the developer’s assumptions, shortcuts, and incomplete reasoning. As the agent adopts that framing, it may stop challenging decisions that deserve scrutiny. EGM limits that bias by giving reviewers isolated conversation contexts and only the material needed to assess the proposed design.
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