pivsSmallCode
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
pi
Earendil Inc. · Terminal agent
#9OSS
Panel
6.82 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.5
- Usefulness
- 6.5
- Cost
- 7.3
- Longevity
- 7.0
“A coding agent that ships themes, which is the first time anyone has cared what the terminal looks like while a file gets deleted.”
SmallCode
Doorman11991 · Terminal agent
#71OSSMCP
Panel
6.81 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.2
- Usefulness
- 6.0
- Cost
- 8.8
- Longevity
- 6.2
“Its README recommends models between 8B and 35B parameters, the first honest system requirement anyone in this category has printed.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | pi | SmallCode |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | No | Yes |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | No | No |
| Browser control | No | No |
| Sandboxed execution | No | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | No | No |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, OpenRouter, llama.cpp | Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepSeek, Qwen, OpenRouter |
| Bring your own model | Yes | Yes |
| Local models | Yes | YesLocal models are the design target: the README recommends 8B to 35B parameters and states the tool works with no network at all. |
| 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 | 111,339 | 2,029 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | pi | SmallCode | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.5 | 6.8 | pi — Pick pi if you want a terminal agent small enough to read in an afternoon and extend in TypeScript; pick OpenCode if your workflow already depends on MCP servers. |
| El Crítico | 6.8 | 6.3 | pi — Extensions are TypeScript modules loaded into the agent's own process, so a package is a supply chain, and the install line already says --ignore-scripts. |
| El Profesor | 7.3 | 7.0 | pi — A unified LLM API, an agent loop, a TUI and a CLI in one monorepo; sessions branch into a tree with compaction that summarises abandoned branches; no benchmark is published. |
| La Inversora | 5.5 | 6.5 | SmallCode — 2,022 stars, a permissive licence and one author, on a thesis that consumer hardware keeps getting better at this. The thesis is right and nobody here monetises being right. |
| La Jefa | 5.5 | 6.0 | SmallCode — Free at any headcount, and free end to end with no network calls at all, which is the only answer in this category that satisfies a data residency question outright. |
| El Hacker | 8.5 | 8.3 | pi — MIT TypeScript, extensions that add tools, commands and UI, /llama for llama.cpp on my box, ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in the environment, and packages to share it all. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.