Best Shai Alternatives

Open-source terminal-based AI coding agent built in Go by the SST team, with a rich TUI (Bubble Tea) supporting 75+ model providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Bedrock, Groq, and OpenRouter. Features vim-like editing, persistent SQLite sessions, and LSP integration for 40+ languages. Fully free with no vendor lock-in, it has rapidly grown to 95k+ GitHub stars.

Model-agnostic terminal coding tool with 3 specialized agents: FORGE for code editing, MUSE for planning and review, and SAGE for research. Connects to hundreds of LLM providers and models with local-first privacy and conversational Git integration. Apache 2.0 licensed. A thoughtfully designed multi-agent approach that separates concerns between coding, thinking, and information gathering for more reliable results.

Autonomous coding agent from Block (Square) that works with any LLM through MCP-first extensibility. Apache 2.0 licensed with 47K+ GitHub stars and a Linux Foundation AAIF founding project. Designed for terminal-based workflows with deep tool integration, making it a strong open-source option for developers who want agent-assisted coding without vendor lock-in.