head to head · open source
gentle-shell vs claude-code-skills
gentle-shell has 1,553 GitHub stars, 252 forks, 369 open issues and last shipped yesterday. claude-code-skills has 587 stars, 88 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. gentle-shell leads on adoption by 165% (1,553 vs 587 stars). gentle-shell is written in TypeScript under MIT; claude-code-skills is written in Shell under MIT. gentle-shell has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, claude-code-skills 15%. gentle-shell was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (agent-skills, 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 | claude-code-skills | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.6K | ★ 587 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 252 | ⑂ 88 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick gentle-shell if
- You weight community size — 1.6K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick claude-code-skills if
- You want the claude-code-skills feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and claude-code-skills 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 claude-code-skills
Claude Codex Skills Give your AI agent a clear finish line. You ask for a fix and get a new abstraction. A review lists generic advice. The agent says “done,” but you still have to work out what it checked. These skills give Claude Code and Codex a concrete way to finish the task: establish the intended outcome, work within scope, verify the result, and make remaining gaps explicit. Choose the skill for the problem in front of you. Project page · Install · Full catalog What changes in your workflow A clearer target. Turn an idea, bug report, or incident into an outcome the agent can check. Focused work. Reuse…
read the full claude-code-skills overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is gentle-shell or claude-code-skills more popular?
gentle-shell has 1,553 GitHub stars and claude-code-skills has 587. gentle-shell has the larger community by that measure.
Are gentle-shell and claude-code-skills free?
Both are open source. gentle-shell is licensed under MIT and claude-code-skills under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between gentle-shell and claude-code-skills?
gentle-shell is written in TypeScript and claude-code-skills 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 claude-code-skills?
Choose gentle-shell if you want the larger community (1,553 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose claude-code-skills if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.