Crushvszerostack
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
6.51 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.”
zerostack
Giuseppe Della Vedova · Terminal agent
#72OSSMCP
Panel
6.52 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.0
- Usefulness
- 6.0
- Cost
- 8.0
- Longevity
- 6.0
“It is called zerostack and it is inspired by two other agents, which is a stack of roughly three.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Crush | zerostack |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Terminal agent | Terminal agent |
| Runs | local | local, sandbox |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes`/worktree` and `/wt-merge` handle worktrees, merge, push and cleanup; the README labels git-worktree integration experimental. |
| Browser control | NoThe built-in tools stop at web_fetch, web_search and download; there is no browser, CDP or Playwright tool. | NoOnly Exa-backed WebFetch and WebSearch are documented; there is no browser automation. |
| Sandboxed execution | NoShell and edit calls are guarded by permission prompts (or skipped with --yolo), with no container or OS-level isolation. | YesSandboxing uses bubblewrap on Linux or zerobox on macOS, not Docker; `--sandbox` is best-effort and runs unsandboxed if neither is present unless `--sandbox-required` is passed. |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes`crush run` executes a single non-interactive prompt, reads stdin and supports --quiet for scripts. | YesThrough `zerostack -p` and the `--loop` family of flags; the loop system is labelled experimental. |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude, GPT, Gemini, any OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible provider | OpenRouter, OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Ollama, vLLM, LiteLLM |
| 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. | Yes |
| 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 | GPL-3.0-only |
| GitHub stars | 28,444 | 1,697 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Crush | zerostack | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.3 | 6.8 | Crush — Crush is the terminal agent to pick if you want LSP-grade context and a Charm-quality interface with your own keys, and the one to read the license on before you fork it. |
| El Crítico | 6.3 | 6.3 | no preference |
| El Profesor | 6.5 | 7.0 | zerostack — Two termination mechanisms carry the design: automatic compaction bounds the context, and doom-loop detection bounds the iteration, which are the two ways long runs fail. |
| La Inversora | 5.8 | 5.0 | Crush — Charm put its coding agent under a source-available license and attached a $20 Hyper plan, which says they intend to sell it, and the terminal aesthetic is the distribution. |
| La Jefa | 5.8 | 5.5 | Crush — Free with our own keys, Bedrock and Vertex built in, a --yolo flag that needs a policy, and a source-available license legal will want to read; approved with conditions. |
| El Hacker | 7.5 | 8.5 | zerostack — GPL-3.0-only, `cargo install zerostack`, and the provider list runs OpenRouter, Ollama, vLLM and LiteLLM, so the model is mine to place. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.