caveman vs opencode
The two are close in size: 113.8k stars for caveman, 218.3k for opencode. Over the days we have tracked them caveman moved +7.6% and opencode +15.7%, so opencode is growing faster right now.
They split the axes: caveman leads on setup ease, opencode on context depth.
Stars and commit dates come from our own daily tracking. The six axes are read off each project's documentation by our review pipeline, so they describe what a project says about itself, not what we measured in its code.
Where they stand today
Compresses both what the agent writes (a caveman-style skill) and what it reads (a local proxy) to cut token usage while keeping originals accessible.
- Stars
- 113.8k
- Tracked growth
- +7.6%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 1d ago
- Language
- Go
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Free to install — uses your AI provider's billing
Open-source, installable coding agent that provides both a read-only 'plan' agent for safe exploration and a full-access 'build' agent for edits.
- Stars
- 218.3k
- Tracked growth
- +15.7%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 14m ago
- Language
- TypeScript
- License
- MIT
- Cost to run
- Your API key, cloud model costs apply
Six axes, head to head
Each axis runs 0 to 5. The label under a score is what that project's own docs claim, not a category average.
| Axis | caveman | opencode |
|---|---|---|
Context depth How much of your codebase it sees before it answers: the open diff, the diff plus related files, or the whole repository. | ●●●●● Diff + related files | ●●●●● Whole-repo analysis |
Noise control How it keeps output volume down — severity thresholds, deduplication, incremental runs over new commits only. | ●●●●● Basic filters & dry-run | ●●●●● Action gating only |
Customization How far it bends to your team: custom rules, prompts, style guides, per-path config. | ●●●●● Configurable rules & modes | ●●●●● Configurable agents |
Privacy Whether your code stays on your own infrastructure: fully local, self-hostable, or cloud API only. | ●●●●● Self-hostable | ●●●●● Cloud APIs (your key) |
Model freedom Whether you can point it at any provider, or it is wired to one. | ●●●●● Many specific providers | ●●●●● Bring-your-key |
Setup ease What it takes to get a first useful run out of it. | ●●●●● One-command install | ●●●●● Install + API key |
Which one to pick
Pick caveman if…
Token-savings — use Caveman when you want an easy, local install that meaningfully reduces model input and output tokens without changing correctness.
- Setup ease: One-command install (5/5 against 3/5)
Pick opencode if…
Easy install — choose OpenCode when you want an open-source, locally installable coding agent that offers both safe read-only analysis and full-access development workflows.
- Context depth: Whole-repo analysis (5/5 against 3/5)
What people want from each one
JuliusBrussee/caveman
anomalyco/opencode
Hacker News: OpenCode – Open source AI coding agent drew 1274 points and 618 comments.
Questions people ask
Is caveman better than opencode?
They split the axes: caveman leads on setup ease, opencode on context depth. caveman is worth picking when token-savings — use Caveman when you want an easy, local install that meaningfully reduces model input and output tokens without changing correctness.
Which of caveman and opencode keeps my code private?
caveman: Self-hostable (4/5). opencode: Cloud APIs (your key) (3/5).
What does each one cost to run?
caveman: Free to install — uses your AI provider's billing. opencode: Your API key, cloud model costs apply.
Full profiles: JuliusBrussee/caveman and anomalyco/opencode. Everything else in CLI coding agents.