head to head · open source
graphify vs how-claude-code-works
graphify has 119,123 GitHub stars, 11,519 forks, 1,350 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. how-claude-code-works has 3,644 stars, 705 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. graphify leads on adoption by 3,169% (119,123 vs 3,644 stars). graphify is written in Python under Apache-2.0; how-claude-code-works is written in various languages under MIT. graphify has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, how-claude-code-works 19%. graphify was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (claude-code), 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
| graphify | how-claude-code-works | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 119K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-08-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 705 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick graphify if
- You weight community size — 119K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick how-claude-code-works if
- You want the how-claude-code-works feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- You evaluated both and how-claude-code-works fits your workflow better
About graphify
graphify is an Apache 2.0 Python CLI and /graphify skill that turns a whole project — code, docs, SQL schemas, configs, PDFs, images, and video — into a queryable knowledge graph, built for developers and AI agent users in Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and Gemini CLI who want to query a codebase instead of grepping through files.
read the full graphify overview →
About how-claude-code-works
How Claude Code Works is an MIT licensed, bilingual educational deep dive into the internals of Anthropic's Claude Code coding agent, written for developers who want to understand how a production agentic coding system is built rather than simply use one.
read the full how-claude-code-works overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is graphify or how-claude-code-works more popular?
graphify has 119,123 GitHub stars and how-claude-code-works has 3,644. graphify has the larger community by that measure.
Are graphify and how-claude-code-works free?
Both are open source. graphify is licensed under Apache-2.0 and how-claude-code-works under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between graphify and how-claude-code-works?
graphify is written in Python and how-claude-code-works in various languages. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, graphify or how-claude-code-works?
Choose graphify if you want the larger community (119,123 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose how-claude-code-works if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.