head to head · open source
pi vs Forgecode
pi has 106,586 GitHub stars, 13,437 forks, 202 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Forgecode has 7,632 stars, 1,464 forks, 45 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pi leads on adoption by 1,297% (106,586 vs 7,632 stars). pi is written in TypeScript under MIT; Forgecode is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. pi has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, Forgecode 19%. pi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| pi | Forgecode | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 107K | ★ 7.6K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pi if
- You weight community size — 107K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Forgecode if
- You want the Forgecode feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Forgecode fits your workflow better
About pi
Pi is a modular agent toolkit written in TypeScript for building and running terminal based AI coding agents. It lives in the developer tooling ecosystem and provides composable packages for LLM integration, agent orchestration, and terminal UI rendering. The project centers on @earendil works/pi coding agent , an interactive CLI agent, supported by core runtime, AI abstraction, and TUI libraries.
About Forgecode
Forgecode is a terminal native AI coding agent written in Rust and built on ZSH that drives Claude, GPT, the O series, Grok, Deepseek, Gemini and more than 300 models through one command line interface, aimed at developers who want an AI pair programmer without leaving the shell.
read the full Forgecode overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pi or Forgecode more popular?
pi has 106,586 GitHub stars and Forgecode has 7,632. pi has the larger community by that measure.
Are pi and Forgecode free?
Both are open source. pi is licensed under MIT and Forgecode under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pi and Forgecode?
pi is written in TypeScript and Forgecode in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, pi or Forgecode?
Choose pi if you want the larger community (106,586 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Forgecode if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.