AtomCodevsCoreCoder
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
AtomCode
AtomGit · Terminal agent
#194OSS
Panel
5.91 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.7
- Usefulness
- 5.2
- Cost
- 7.7
- Longevity
- 5.0
“The project states that every line of its code was written by AI, which is either a credential or a warning.”
CoreCoder
He Yufeng · Terminal agent
#215OSS
Panel
5.94 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.5
- Usefulness
- 5.2
- Cost
- 7.8
- Longevity
- 5.0
“It ships eight essays explaining its own source code, which is eight more than most agents ship.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | AtomCode | CoreCoder |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Terminal agent | Terminal agent |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, linux | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | No | No |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | No |
| Browser control | No | No |
| Sandboxed execution | No | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | No | Yes`corecoder -p` runs a single prompt non-interactively, but the tool guard is a regex blacklist, not a security sandbox. |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | OpenAI-compatible | any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, Ollama, LiteLLM |
| Bring your own model | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | No | YesDocumented with a local Ollama endpoint via OPENAI_BASE_URL, and an optional LiteLLM backend for other providers. |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | byok | byok |
| Starts at | $0/mo | $0/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 202 | 1,788 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | AtomCode | CoreCoder | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 6.5 | 6.0 | AtomCode — Pick AtomCode if you want a small terminal agent that will scout before it touches anything; pick Aider if you want the same discipline with a much larger community behind it. |
| El Crítico | 5.3 | 5.5 | CoreCoder — The tool guard is a pattern blacklist rather than isolation, and the same tool ships a non-interactive mode that runs a prompt with nobody watching. |
| El Profesor | 6.5 | 7.0 | CoreCoder — 1,217 lines cover the loop, model interface, context, tools and sessions, with three-tier compaction and a per-run token and cost report; the protocol layer is deliberately absent. |
| La Inversora | 5.5 | 4.3 | AtomCode — Carried under the AtomGit banner with 191 stars, no company, no meter and no hosted tier. Platform-sponsored open source, which survives exactly as long as the platform's interest does. |
| La Jefa | 4.8 | 4.3 | AtomCode — Free across sixty seats and unbuyable anyway: no install command is published, macOS and Linux only, so a third of my desks are excluded before procurement opens the file. |
| El Hacker | 6.8 | 8.3 | CoreCoder — MIT, one pip command, and a base URL environment variable pointed at my own server, with an optional router underneath for everything else. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.