Me Write Code vs Claude Code, Codex, Aider, Crush, opencode
This is the comparison table from the v2 master plan, kept current as features land. The pitch is short:
Me Write Code combines token-efficient sessions, multi-provider auth, repo-map context, session branching, subagents, MCP, and an MIT license in one terminal coding agent.
Capabilities
| Axis | Me Write Code v2 | Claude Code | Codex | Aider | Crush | opencode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Token compression (3-layer Caveman Mode) | yes (unique) | no | no | repo map only | no | no |
| 20+ providers + 5 OAuth flows (Claude Pro / ChatGPT / Copilot / Gemini / Antigravity) | yes | Anthropic only | ChatGPT only | env keys only | subset | env keys |
| Session branching + fork | yes | no | fork only | git only | no | no |
| Native MCP | yes | yes | yes | no | yes | yes |
| Native sandbox | beta | partial | yes (best-in-class) | no | partial | partial |
| Plan mode | yes | yes | yes | architect | no | yes |
| Repo map (PageRank) | yes | no | no | yes (best-in-class) | no | no |
| Edit-format-per-model | yes | no | no | yes (best-in-class) | no | no |
| Worktree-isolated subagents | yes | yes | yes | no | no | no |
| Daemon / multi-client | yes | no | yes (app-server) | no | no | yes (best-in-class) |
Shadow-git checkpoints + /rollback N | yes | no | no | git only | no | no |
| Worktree-isolated parallel subagents | yes | no | no | no | no | no |
| Cost transparency (per-msg $) | yes | partial | partial | yes (best-in-class) | no | no |
| MIT open source | yes | closed | Apache | Apache | FSL | MIT |
Where each agent shines
- Claude Code — first-party Anthropic, opinionated UX, polished out-of-box. Best if you only use Claude and don't care about cost.
- Codex — OpenAI's terminal agent. Excellent sandbox primitive ("sandbox-as-utility"). Single-vendor by design.
- Aider — pioneer of repo map + edit-format-per-model. Strongest at large-codebase context selection. Less ergonomic interactive UX.
- Crush — fast, polished TUI (Charm). Mid-session model swap. Smaller ecosystem.
- opencode — strong daemon / multi-client story. Newer; ecosystem still maturing.
- Me Write Code — borrows the best of all five and adds Caveman Mode compression, 20+ providers, and 5 OAuth flows as native differentiators.
Tokens — under revalidation
Token efficiency under revalidation — see #8.
The prior caveman-vs-Codex token comparison was never independently measured: it ran against a different model tier, Codex emits no structured token accounting, and the comparison was never actually executed end to end. We have pulled the number rather than restate an unverified claim.
We are rebuilding an honest, controlled measurement — caveman-mode ON vs OFF at a fixed model, with a shared external scorer setting pass/fail for every run, a single dated price table, and bootstrap confidence intervals. The accounting math is unit-tested; the published table awaits the controlled run. Track progress in #8.
Format compatibility
Me Write Code is a superset of Claude Code's authoring formats. Import Claude Code files into Me Write Code's user config directory:
~/.claude/settings.json→~/.mewrite/agent/settings.json(hooks, permissions, statusLine compatible schema)~/.claude/commands/*.md→~/.mewrite/agent/commands/*.md~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md→~/.mewrite/agent/skills/<name>/SKILL.md~/.claude/agents/<name>.md→~/.mewrite/agent/agents/<name>.md.mcp.json(Codex / Claude Code standard) is read at the project root
See migration from Claude Code for the step-by-step.
Caveat — these comparisons evolve
Claude Code, Codex, Crush, and opencode all iterate weekly. We pin our compatibility target to Claude Code v2.1.119 schemas with a CI delta check; tracking the others is best-effort. If you spot drift, open an issue.