Open-Source Terminal Coding Agents

OpenCode is a free, MIT-licensed AI coding agent for developers working in a terminal, IDE, or desktop app. The desktop app runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux, with support for both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. It can use local models, giving developers a way to run the model on their own hardware.

Crush is a terminal AI coding assistant for developers who want to work with their code and tools through a model they choose. The app runs on your machine, while model requests go to your selected local backend or cloud provider. It supports macOS, Linux, Windows (PowerShell and WSL), Android, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD.

Codex CLI is an open source coding assistant that runs on your computer and works with local repositories. It's for developers who want to explore code, make changes, and use their existing development tools from the terminal. It runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux under the Apache 2.0 license.

Cline is an AI coding agent for developers who want help understanding a codebase and changing it. Its shared agent core is open source under Apache 2.0. You can use it in VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, or a terminal. A native desktop app runs on macOS and Windows. No editor is required for desktop sessions. The JetBrains plugin itself is not open source.

Goose is a general-purpose AI agent that runs on your computer. It suits people who want an agent for coding, research, writing, automation, or data analysis, without committing to one model provider. The desktop app runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux; there's also a CLI for terminal work and an API for use in other software.

Pi is a terminal-based coding assistant for developers who want to shape the agent around their own workflow. Its core stays small, while extensions can change its tools, commands and terminal interface. It's open source under the MIT license.

GPT Pilot is a self-hosted AI coding assistant for developers who want an agent to build applications under their supervision. The project is no longer maintained. It uses the FSL-1.1-MIT source-available license, with restrictions on competing uses. It runs locally as a Python CLI and is the core technology behind the Pythagora VS Code extension.

gpt-engineer is a locally run coding assistant for developers who want to experiment with AI code generation and build their own agents. It can create software from plain-language descriptions or make requested changes to an existing codebase. The project is archived and no longer maintained. Its Python code is open source under the MIT license.

Wingman-AI is a self-hosted AI agent platform for work that needs ongoing context and several agents with different roles. It suits developers and teams handling research, support, or recurring operations alongside coding tasks. A lead agent can delegate work to specialized subagents, each with its own workspace and session history.

tlm is an open source terminal assistant for people who want help writing shell commands and understanding unfamiliar ones. It runs models on your workstation through Ollama, so command assistance doesn't depend on a cloud service. It works offline and requires no API key or subscription.

Plandex is an open source, terminal-based AI coding agent for developers working on changes that span many files. Its review sandbox holds generated edits apart from your project files so you can inspect the accumulated changes before applying them. You can run its server locally through Docker or host it on your own server. The code uses the MIT license.

gptme is a self-hosted AI agent that works directly in your terminal, with access to your files and installed tools. It's for developers who want a coding assistant in their own environment, and people who want an agent for data analysis or other knowledge work. The software is free under the MIT license and doesn't require a gptme account.

Forge is an open-source coding assistant that runs in your terminal and works with models from multiple providers. It's for developers who want an AI agent to edit code and run commands in their own development environment, with a choice of Claude, GPT, OpenAI's O Series, Grok, Deepseek or Gemini.

Open Interpreter is a terminal coding assistant built around open-weight models, with model-specific behavior for Kimi, Qwen and DeepSeek. It's a fork of OpenAI's Codex for developers who want to choose their model provider while keeping a familiar agent interface. The project uses the Apache 2.0 license.

MetaGPT organizes AI agents into a software development team, with roles for product management, architecture, project management and engineering. It's a self-hosted Python framework for developers who want to generate software projects from plain-language requirements or build their own collaborative agents.

ChatOllama is an AI agent app whose main interface is a command-line client running on your machine. It's for people who want an agent to work with local files while choosing between models served by Ollama and hosted services. The repository license modifies Apache 2.0: commercial hosting and multi-tenant services require authorization, and frontend branding must remain intact.

Continue is an open-source coding agent available as a CLI, VS Code extension and JetBrains plugin. Continue was acquired by Cursor, and the project is no longer actively maintained. Its repository is read-only, and its software uses the Apache 2.0 license.

Qwen Code is an Apache 2.0 licensed AI coding agent for developers who want help working through a codebase, changing code and checking the result. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux, with a terminal interface and a desktop app. It builds on Google Gemini CLI and has developed into an agent that can use Qwen models alongside other model providers.

SWE-agent is an open-source AI coding agent that lets a language model use tools to attempt fixes for issues in GitHub repositories. It's aimed at developers and researchers studying how agents handle real software tasks. The project is in maintenance-only mode: mini-swe-agent has superseded it, and the maintainers recommend that successor for new users.

Aider is an Apache 2.0 open-source coding assistant for developers who work in a terminal and keep their projects in Git. It can help start a project or make changes to an existing codebase. You can use local LLMs or connect to cloud models from providers including Anthropic, DeepSeek and OpenAI.

avante.nvim brings Cursor-style AI assistance into Neovim for developers who want to keep their editor and choose their own model backend. It answers questions about code, suggests changes and applies edits directly to source files. The plugin is open source under Apache 2.0.

Kilo Code is an AI coding agent for developers who want help writing and understanding code in their editor or terminal. It runs in VS Code, JetBrains IDEs and the CLI, with cloud agents available for remote work. The project is open source under the MIT license and can be self-hosted.

Code Buddy is an AI coding assistant for developers who want a terminal agent running on their own machine, with a choice of local or cloud models. It reads repositories, edits code and runs commands on Linux, macOS and Windows. Ollama keeps model inference local without an API key or account; cloud providers send model requests off the machine. Routing includes automatic provider failover.