head to head · open source
gentle-shell vs agent-manager
gentle-shell has 2,399 GitHub stars, 271 forks, 369 open issues and last shipped yesterday. agent-manager has 690 stars, 78 forks, 58 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gentle-shell leads on adoption by 248% (2,399 vs 690 stars). gentle-shell is written in TypeScript under MIT; agent-manager is written in Go under Apache-2.0. gentle-shell has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, agent-manager 11%. gentle-shell was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai-agents, code-review, developer-tools), 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
| gentle-shell | agent-manager | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.4K | ★ 690 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-12 | 2026-11-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 271 | ⑂ 78 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gentle-shell if
- You weight community size — 2.4K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick agent-manager if
- You want the agent-manager feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and agent-manager fits your workflow better
About gentle-shell
gentle shell™ Your coding agent for controlled development in the workspace you lead. Website · Quickstart · Docs · Wiki Your terminal can run an agent. Your workspace should help you lead it. gentle shell is your coding agent, bringing your changes, tasks, and engineering workflow together—built for Pi. One workspace. A coding agent you direct. A workflow you can inspect. BUILT FOR PI · Coding agent workspace · Focused agents · ODD + optional SDD ★ Star gentle shell on GitHub Built for Pi. Shaped by Gentle AI. Features gentle shell — Your coding agent, in the workspace you lead A complete workspace for the…
read the full gentle-shell overview →
About agent-manager
The fastest developer workflow for every AI coding agent. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Grok, Gemini CLI, Pi, Command Code, and Hermes Agent run side by side. Each tool runs in its own persistent tmux session. agent manager is a thin layer over the CLIs you already have. Each session launches your own installed tool as is: your login, your subscription, your config files, your MCP servers, and every feature the tool ships all carry over, exactly as they behave in a plain terminal. Instead of hunting through terminal tabs to see which agent is done and which is stuck, every session shows up in one list with live…
read the full agent-manager overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gentle-shell or agent-manager more popular?
gentle-shell has 2,399 GitHub stars and agent-manager has 690. gentle-shell has the larger community by that measure.
Are gentle-shell and agent-manager free?
Both are open source. gentle-shell is licensed under MIT and agent-manager under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gentle-shell and agent-manager?
gentle-shell is written in TypeScript and agent-manager in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, gentle-shell or agent-manager?
Choose gentle-shell if you want the larger community (2,399 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose agent-manager if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.