head to head · open source
claude-mem vs adhd
claude-mem has 94,286 GitHub stars, 8,321 forks, 186 open issues and last shipped yesterday. adhd has 4,242 stars, 292 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. claude-mem leads on adoption by 2,123% (94,286 vs 4,242 stars). claude-mem is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; adhd is written in TypeScript under MIT. claude-mem has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, adhd 7%. claude-mem was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai, ai-agents, claude, claude-agent-sdk), 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
| claude-mem | adhd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 94K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 8.3K | ⑂ 292 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick claude-mem if
- You weight community size — 94K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick adhd if
- You want the adhd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and adhd fits your workflow better
About claude-mem
claude mem is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript memory layer for AI coding agents that captures what an agent did during a session, compresses it with AI, and injects the relevant parts back into future sessions, built for developers running Claude Code, OpenClaw, Codex, Gemini, Hermes, Copilot, OpenCode and similar tools.
read the full claude-mem overview →
About adhd
ADHD is a TypeScript skill for coding agents that replaces linear chain of thought with parallel divergent ideation — fanning out isolated reasoning processes under different cognitive frames, then scoring, pruning, and deepening them — built for developers and teams doing design decisions, fuzzy debugging, naming, API surface design, strategy, and other creative or interdisciplinary work.
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Frequently asked questions
Is claude-mem or adhd more popular?
claude-mem has 94,286 GitHub stars and adhd has 4,242. claude-mem has the larger community by that measure.
Are claude-mem and adhd free?
Both are open source. claude-mem is licensed under Apache-2.0 and adhd under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between claude-mem and adhd?
claude-mem is written in TypeScript and adhd in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, claude-mem or adhd?
Choose claude-mem if you want the larger community (94,286 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose adhd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.