head to head · open source
open-code-review vs gentle-shell
open-code-review has 37,770 GitHub stars, 2,693 forks, 160 open issues and last shipped yesterday. gentle-shell has 934 stars, 138 forks, 369 open issues and last shipped yesterday. open-code-review leads on adoption by 3,944% (37,770 vs 934 stars). open-code-review is written in Go under Apache-2.0; gentle-shell is written in TypeScript under MIT. open-code-review has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, gentle-shell 15%. gentle-shell was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (agent-skills, code-review), 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
| open-code-review | gentle-shell | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 38K | ★ 934 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 138 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick open-code-review if
- You weight community size — 38K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick gentle-shell if
- You want the gentle-shell feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and gentle-shell fits your workflow better
About open-code-review
Open Code Review is an Apache 2.0, Go based AI code review CLI that reads Git diffs, sends changed files to a configurable LLM through a tool using agent, and returns line level review comments, built for developers and platform teams that want large scale review automated inside infrastructure they control.
read the full open-code-review overview →
About gentle-shell
gentle shell is a senior architect development harness for the Pi platform that turns a terminal coding agent into a controlled workspace with spec driven development, focused subagents, strict TDD evidence, review guardrails, and skill discovery.
read the full gentle-shell overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is open-code-review or gentle-shell more popular?
open-code-review has 37,770 GitHub stars and gentle-shell has 934. open-code-review has the larger community by that measure.
Are open-code-review and gentle-shell free?
Both are open source. open-code-review is licensed under Apache-2.0 and gentle-shell under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between open-code-review and gentle-shell?
open-code-review is written in Go and gentle-shell 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, open-code-review or gentle-shell?
Choose open-code-review if you want the larger community (37,770 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose gentle-shell if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.