head to head · open source
Kestra vs CodeMachine-CLI
Kestra has 30,122 GitHub stars, 3,495 forks, 713 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. CodeMachine-CLI has 2,511 stars, 235 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 8 months ago. Kestra leads on adoption by 1,100% (30,122 vs 2,511 stars). Kestra is written in Java under Apache-2.0; CodeMachine-CLI is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Kestra has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, CodeMachine-CLI 9%. Kestra was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (automation), 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
| Kestra | CodeMachine-CLI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-02-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 235 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Kestra if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick CodeMachine-CLI if
- You want the CodeMachine-CLI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and CodeMachine-CLI fits your workflow better
About Kestra
Open source orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows Click on the image to learn how to get started with Kestra in 3 minutes. 🌟 What is Kestra? Kestra is an open source, event driven orchestration platform for data, AI, and infrastructure workflows. It unifies scheduled and event driven automation behind a declarative, language agnostic interface. By bringing Infrastructure as Code best practices to your data, process, and microservice pipelines, you can build reliable workflows directly from the UI in just a few lines of YAML, let the built in AI Copilot write them for you, or generate…
read the full Kestra overview →
About CodeMachine-CLI
npm i g codemachine CodeMachine is an open source tool that orchestrates AI coding agents into repeatable, long running workflows. ⚡️ Every time you use an AI coding agent, you're running a workflow. Fix a bug? You ask questions, reproduce, analyze, plan, implement, test. Build a feature? You research, design, code, review. The workflow lives in your head. You guide the agent through it, step by step, session by session. But every time you start, you rebuild it from scratch. You re explain the process. You remember to ask the right questions. You manage when to clear context, when to push forward, when to loop…
read the full CodeMachine-CLI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Kestra or CodeMachine-CLI more popular?
Kestra has 30,122 GitHub stars and CodeMachine-CLI has 2,511. Kestra has the larger community by that measure.
Are Kestra and CodeMachine-CLI free?
Both are open source. Kestra is licensed under Apache-2.0 and CodeMachine-CLI under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Kestra and CodeMachine-CLI?
Kestra is written in Java and CodeMachine-CLI 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, Kestra or CodeMachine-CLI?
Choose Kestra if you want the larger community (30,122 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose CodeMachine-CLI if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.