head to head · open source
gentle-shell vs apexyard
gentle-shell has 1,784 GitHub stars, 256 forks, 369 open issues and last shipped yesterday. apexyard has 542 stars, 328 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gentle-shell leads on adoption by 229% (1,784 vs 542 stars). gentle-shell is written in TypeScript under MIT; apexyard is written in Shell under MIT. gentle-shell has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, apexyard 61%. 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 | apexyard | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.8K | ★ 542 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-05 | 2026-11-05 |
| Forks | ⑂ 256 | ⑂ 328 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gentle-shell if
- You weight community size — 1.8K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick apexyard if
- You want the apexyard feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and apexyard 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 apexyard
ApexYard Take agent built code the last mile — safely to production. AI can build quickly. Shipping safely needs a system. AI can produce a working prototype in a weekend. Teams still need a way to track decisions, review changes, run checks, and approve a release. ApexYard provides that system. Every change starts with a ticket. An independent reviewer checks the change. A merge gate stays closed until a named human approves the exact commit. ApexYard is a multi project ops repo . You fork it, register your projects, and manage the portfolio from one place. Shared rules, project records, and shell hooks keep…
read the full apexyard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gentle-shell or apexyard more popular?
gentle-shell has 1,784 GitHub stars and apexyard has 542. gentle-shell has the larger community by that measure.
Are gentle-shell and apexyard free?
Both are open source. gentle-shell is licensed under MIT and apexyard under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gentle-shell and apexyard?
gentle-shell is written in TypeScript and apexyard in Shell. 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 apexyard?
Choose gentle-shell if you want the larger community (1,784 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose apexyard if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.