head to head · open source
caveman vs Forgecode
caveman has 116,900 GitHub stars, 6,789 forks, 155 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Forgecode has 7,637 stars, 1,456 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. caveman leads on adoption by 1,431% (116,900 vs 7,637 stars). caveman is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Forgecode is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. caveman has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Forgecode 19%. caveman was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| caveman | Forgecode | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 117K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.8K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick caveman if
- You weight community size — 117K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Forgecode if
- You want the Forgecode feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Forgecode fits your workflow better
About caveman
why use many token when few do trick Your AI coding agent bills by the word and writes like it knows that. Caveman make it stop. ▶️ ThePrimeagen reacts: "No way this actually works" 🏆 1 on GitHub Trending · July 2026 · 🥇 1 Repository of the Day on Trendshift · April 2026 1 on Hacker News · 904 points · 366 comments · 8 Product of the Day on Product Hunt 📄 Cited in CAVEWOMAN , an Adobe Research paper that measured caveman style output cutting cost 1.4 to 2.4×, up to 3× · 🧪 Tested by JetBrains on 86 real coding tasks: "costs you nothing measurable in quality" ⚡ One command, no account, no API key. npx skills…
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About Forgecode
⚒️ Forge: AI Enhanced Terminal Development Environment A comprehensive coding agent that integrates AI capabilities with your development environment curl fsSL sh Table of Contents Quickstart Usage Examples Why Forge? How Forge Works: Three Modes Interactive Mode (TUI) One Shot CLI Mode ZSH Plugin Mode ( : prefix) ZSH Plugin: The : Prefix System Agents Sending Prompts Attaching Files Conversation Management Git Integration Shell Command Tools Session & Configuration Skills Customizing Agent Behavior Semantic Search (Workspace) Quick Reference: All : Commands Command Line Options Advanced Configuration Provider…
read the full Forgecode overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is caveman or Forgecode more popular?
caveman has 116,900 GitHub stars and Forgecode has 7,637. caveman has the larger community by that measure.
Are caveman and Forgecode free?
Both are open source. caveman is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Forgecode under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between caveman and Forgecode?
caveman is written in Go and Forgecode in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, caveman or Forgecode?
Choose caveman if you want the larger community (116,900 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Forgecode if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.