How to use Crush (charmbracelet/crush): 3 use cases

3 use cases

Start an AI coding session in your terminal with Crush

Install Crush, pick a model and provider and work in project sessions.
- REPO charmbracelet/crush
- Software and DevOps
- Beginner
View prompt
```
Install charmbracelet/crush, open it in <project>, pick <provider and model>, and work through <task> in a dedicated session, switching to a cheaper model for simple edits.
```
Run Crush on a local Ollama model

Add Ollama as a provider in crushrc and register a model so Crush works fully offline.
- REPO charmbracelet/crush
- Software and DevOps
- Intermediate
View prompt
```
Configure charmbracelet/crush to use my local Ollama server with a project crushrc that adds the ollama provider and registers <model>, then run a small refactor on <file> with it.
```

Give Crush extra tools with MCP servers

Add an MCP server such as GitHub in crushrc so the agent can use more tools.

View prompt

Add the GitHub MCP server to charmbracelet/crush in my global crushrc, reading the token from my secret manager instead of hard-coding it, then ask Crush to summarize the open issues labeled bug in <repo>.

Quick start with Crush

Check you have what it needs: A terminal on macOS, Linux, Windows, Android or BSD; An LLM provider: Charm's Hyper subscription, an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter, or a local server such as Ollama.
Open charmbracelet/crush on GitHub and read the README and license.
Install with brew install charmbracelet/tap/crush or npm install -g @charmland/crush
On Windows use winget install charmbracelet.crush
Start Crush in your project, press ctrl+l to open the model picker and choose a provider
Paste your API key, or set a provider environment variable such as ANTHROPIC_API_KEY

These steps come from our top use case, Start an AI coding session in your terminal with Crush, which also has a copy-paste agent prompt.

Use this in your AI agent

Ask your agent

Using the Deduped MCP, get the setup steps for charmbracelet/crush

Add Deduped to Claude Code once

claude mcp add --transport http deduped https://dedupedai.com/mcp

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Crush alternatives · Best AI repos for Software and DevOps

About this repo

Who it is forDevelopers who live in the terminal and want a polished coding agent that works with the model provider of their choice, including local models.
Why it is hot29k stars, picked up by one AI source we track
LanguageGo
Sourcegithub.com/charmbracelet/crush · Back to Hot repos

Requirements

A terminal on macOS, Linux, Windows, Android or BSD
An LLM provider: Charm's Hyper subscription, an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter, or a local server such as Ollama

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Questions about Crush

What is Crush?

Crush is Charm's agentic coding tool for the terminal. It works with many LLMs through OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible APIs, lets you switch models mid-session while keeping context, keeps multiple sessions per project, uses LSPs for extra context and adds capabilities through MCP servers. It runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Android and the BSDs and is configured with a Bash-like crushrc. It is an open-source project on GitHub: https://github.com/charmbracelet/crush.

How do I use Crush?

Install with brew install charmbracelet/tap/crush or npm install -g @charmland/crush; then on Windows use winget install charmbracelet.crush; start Crush in your project, press ctrl+l to open the model picker and choose a provider. The use cases on this page give the full steps and a copy-paste agent prompt for each job.

Who is Crush for?

Developers who live in the terminal and want a polished coding agent that works with the model provider of their choice, including local models.

What can I do with Crush?

3 use cases so far, for example: Start an AI coding session in your terminal with Crush; Run Crush on a local Ollama model; Give Crush extra tools with MCP servers. Each has steps and a copy-paste agent prompt.

What do I need to run Crush?

A terminal on macOS, Linux, Windows, Android or BSD; An LLM provider: Charm's Hyper subscription, an API key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini or OpenRouter, or a local server such as Ollama.

What are alternatives to Crush?

Other hot AI repos in Software and DevOps: Deep Infer, Harness2, Orca, Opencode, Graphify.

Is Crush safe to run?

Deduped does not own, audit or vouch for it. Read the README and license, run it on your own systems first and review every command before you run it.