Crush alternatives (2026)

Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 217k GitHub stars

VerdictMIT BYOK agent across CLI/desktop/IDE. The real catches are on /log: date stamp and compaction.

CatchTwo catches worth reading on /log: “The date stamp is a trigger channel” (auto today’s-date × open-weight LoRA as a time-release fuse) and “Compaction ate the denial” (long sessions prune hard vetoes; compaction is untrusted rewrite). Re-read those two notes before you treat OpenCode as set-and-forget.

Free / OSS · OSS/MIT · 116k GitHub stars

VerdictMIT coding-agent harness. Strong default when you want an OSS CLI + unified providers; sandbox it yourself before production credentials.

CatchVs Prime Agent, OpenCode, OpenHands, and Claude Code: Pi is the Earendil coding-agent harness + CLI stack, not PrimeIntellect's RLM REPL, a general terminal wrapper, a full autonomous developer platform, or Anthropic's product CLI. Pi does not ship a built-in permission system for filesystem/process/network/credentials — it runs with the launching user's privileges; containerize (Docker/OpenShell/Gondolin patterns in-repo) before giving it secrets. New issues/PRs from new contributors are auto-closed by default pending maintainer review.

Free / OSS · Apache-2.0 · 5.8k GitHub stars

VerdictThe agent harness to try when you need to see and replay what the agent actually did — treat it as nightly software for now.

CatchEarly. The latest Apache release is 0.2.0 (incubating); the npm package maka-agent ships real builds under the nightly tag while latest is still a placeholder, and the CLI README warns that commands and local data formats may change. macOS is the main platform; Windows and Linux are previews. API keys are stored in a plaintext credential-vault.json readable by your OS account, and an upgrade has already dropped older JSONL transcripts. Vs opencode or Claude Code: you are picking it for the audit log and replay, not for a bigger ecosystem. Stars have climbed fast for a five-month-old repo (about 290 a week since it opened in May 2026), so don't read the count as proof of adoption.

Free / OSS · Apache-2.0 · 49.6k GitHub stars

VerdictThe open-source terminal coding assistant for API-key purists.

CatchYou are paying per-token at API rates—can exceed subscription costs on heavy use. No managed infrastructure; you are the ops team. Less polished than commercial alternatives.

Free / OSS · Apache-2.0 · 70.5k GitHub stars

VerdictMaximum control for developers who approve everything.

CatchHuman-in-the-loop means constant interruptions. Large tasks require many approvals. The pace is slower than autonomous alternatives.

Free / OSS · Freemium · 130k GitHub stars

VerdictOpenAI’s answer to terminal agents — open CLI, paid models; budget the plan or the API.

CatchThe CLI is open source, but the models are not free: you pay through ChatGPT plan quotas or API spend. Codex Web runs on OpenAI’s cloud, not on your machine. The install.sh, brew and npm routes are supply-chain choices, so pin a release binary when that matters. Vs Claude Code or OpenCode: this is OpenAI’s first-party agent, tied to ChatGPT plans or OpenAI API keys.

Free / OSS · Apache-2.0 · 107k GitHub stars

VerdictGoogle terminal agent. OSS CLI remains, but consumer quota was cut 2026-06-18; Antigravity (agy) is the consumer path. Gemini-bound by design.

CatchGemini-bound lock-in—not model-agnostic like Goose or Crush. Consumer access (free/Pro/Ultra Google login) ended 2026-06-18; enterprise and API keys still work. Don't build on the old Google-login quota path. The OSS CLI remains. Antigravity CLI is the successor, not a 1:1 swap. Preview/nightly channels move fast; pin stable for production workflows. Enterprise path pushes you toward Vertex AI and Google Cloud project setup.

Free / OSS · Apache-2.0 · 36.3k GitHub stars

VerdictApache-2.0 coding assistant. Free OSS; site is memorial, repo is real.

CatchCursor acquired Continue; product site is memorial, GitHub is source of truth; OSS remains. Not Cursor-the-editor. Expect docs/site lag vs the repo.