CrushvsDSCode
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Crush
Charm · Terminal agent
#25OSSMCP
Panel
6.55 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.0
- Usefulness
- 6.5
- Cost
- 7.3
- Longevity
- 6.2
“Has a --yolo flag, auto-discovers your local llama.cpp, and a license with MIT in the name that is not MIT yet.”
DSCode
ThinkAny · Terminal agent
#153OSS
Panel
6.52 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.2
- Usefulness
- 6.3
- Cost
- 8.0
- Longevity
- 5.7
“It runs agents in parallel, so you can now be behind on four branches at once instead of one.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Crush | DSCode |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Terminal agent | Terminal agent |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | No |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | No |
| Browser control | NoThe built-in tools stop at web_fetch, web_search and download; there is no browser, CDP or Playwright tool. | No |
| Sandboxed execution | NoShell and edit calls are guarded by permission prompts (or skipped with --yolo), with no container or OS-level isolation. | YesThe README describes OS sandboxing for the runtime rather than naming a container backend. |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | YesParallel agents are listed among the runtime's features. |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes`crush run` executes a single non-interactive prompt, reads stdin and supports --quiet for scripts. | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude, GPT, Gemini, any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible provider | DeepSeek, Codex, OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Z.AI, Kimi, MiniMax, xAI, OpenCode Zen |
| Bring your own model | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | YesOllama, LM Studio, llama.cpp and MLX providers are auto-discovered, and any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible base_url can be added. | No |
| 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 | FSL-1.1-MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 28,444 | 367 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Crush | DSCode | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.3 | 7.3 | no preference |
| El Crítico | 6.3 | 6.3 | no preference |
| El Profesor | 6.5 | 6.3 | Crush — Crush's use of language servers as the context source is the most principled retrieval choice among terminal agents, and its autonomy flag is the most accurately named. |
| La Inversora | 5.8 | 6.3 | DSCode — 364 stars and a company name on the row, with a runtime built around one provider's cheapest model: the pitch is price, and price is the easiest thing to undercut. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 6.3 | DSCode — A signed and notarized desktop app for all three platforms, plus a global npm install for the terminal: two distribution channels, and only one of them I can manage. |
| El Hacker | 7.5 | 7.0 | Crush — Reads my LSPs, finds my llama.cpp server on its own, MCP in a JSON file, a --yolo flag, and a license that keeps me from forking it today; close to great, grudgingly. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.