head to head · open source
conductor vs CodeMachine-CLI
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars, 1,009 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped today. CodeMachine-CLI has 2,509 stars, 238 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. conductor leads on adoption by 1,184% (32,207 vs 2,509 stars). conductor is written in Java under Apache-2.0; CodeMachine-CLI is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. conductor has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, CodeMachine-CLI 9%. conductor was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (workflow-automation), 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
| conductor | CodeMachine-CLI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-02-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 238 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick conductor if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick CodeMachine-CLI if
- You want the CodeMachine-CLI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and CodeMachine-CLI fits your workflow better
About conductor
Conductor is an Apache 2.0 licensed, event driven agentic workflow engine written in Java that provides durable and highly resilient execution for applications and AI agents, aimed at teams running microservices, AI agents, and adaptive workflow graphs that need orchestration they can version, inspect, and recover.
read the full conductor overview →
About CodeMachine-CLI
npm i g codemachine CodeMachine is an open source tool that orchestrates AI coding agents into repeatable, long running workflows. ⚡️ Every time you use an AI coding agent, you're running a workflow. Fix a bug? You ask questions, reproduce, analyze, plan, implement, test. Build a feature? You research, design, code, review. The workflow lives in your head. You guide the agent through it, step by step, session by session. But every time you start, you rebuild it from scratch. You re explain the process. You remember to ask the right questions. You manage when to clear context, when to push forward, when to loop ba…
read the full CodeMachine-CLI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is conductor or CodeMachine-CLI more popular?
conductor has 32,207 GitHub stars and CodeMachine-CLI has 2,509. conductor has the larger community by that measure.
Are conductor and CodeMachine-CLI free?
Both are open source. conductor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and CodeMachine-CLI under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between conductor and CodeMachine-CLI?
conductor is written in Java and CodeMachine-CLI 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, conductor or CodeMachine-CLI?
Choose conductor if you want the larger community (32,207 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose CodeMachine-CLI if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.