Apache Maka vs Medley: Features, Pricing & Which Is Better (2026)
A side-by-side comparison of Apache Maka and Medley — features, pricing, and ideal use cases — to help you decide which AI tool fits your workflow.
Apache Maka
The Apache Software Foundation
Apache-licensed local-first agent workspace that runs tools in a sandbox and records every model message and tool call as a recoverable execution log.
Key features
- Append-Only Execution Record: Model messages, tool calls, tool results, permission decisions, and turn termination events are written down durably, so the transcript is evidence rather than a disposable chat buffer.
- Context Trimming Without Data Loss: Old tool output can be omitted from the next prompt to shorten context while the full saved history remains intact and inspectable.
- Single Runtime Host: Desktop, terminal, and evaluation all execute through one runtime, so behavior does not diverge between how you develop and how you benchmark.
- Sandboxed Tool Boundary: Built-in Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, and Grep tools run under a sandbox; anything leaving that boundary requires approval, and Computer Use and catalog skills are opt-in.
- Crash Recovery and Resume: Runs can be aborted, failures are classified, and an interrupted turn can optionally be resumed rather than restarted from scratch.
- Session Branching and Search: The desktop workspace supports creating, archiving, searching, renaming, retrying, regenerating, and branching sessions from any turn.
- Bring Your Own Model: Connect a cloud API, a locally hosted model, or a compatible gateway, with streaming output, thinking, usage reporting, and clearer provider errors.
- Declarative Evaluation Harness: maka eval expands multi-arm experiments into task by repetition by subject cells with immutable per-cell attempts and a result kernel covering score, normalized usage, attributable cost, duration, and failure reason.
- Local-First Storage: Sessions, settings, artifacts, and run records stay on the machine by default, with local memory and optional web search when configured.
Best for
- Auditable Agent Runs: Keeping a defensible record of exactly what an agent did and which permissions were granted during a task.
- Long Coding Sessions: Working through a multi-turn refactor with branching and resume instead of losing state when a turn fails.
- Agent Benchmarking: Running reproducible multi-arm experiments comparing models, prompts, or external agent subjects on the same task set.
- Air-Gapped or Regulated Work: Running an agent workspace where sessions and artifacts must remain on local infrastructure.
- Cost and Usage Analysis: Attributing token usage, cost, and duration per experiment cell to decide which model configuration to ship.
- Terminal Workflows: Driving an agent from the current project directory or scripting a single non-interactive turn from CI or a shell.
- Open-Source Agent Research: Building on a permissively licensed runtime whose execution semantics and architecture are fully documented.
Medley
Medley
Claude Code plugin that decomposes prompts into coordinated multi-agent plans and visualizes the plan at a shareable URL.
Key features
- Slash-Command Integration: Activates directly inside Claude Code via the /mission command to produce a plan without leaving the chat interface.
- Prompt Decomposition: Breaks a single user prompt into discrete subtasks with clear dependencies to turn vague requests into actionable steps.
- Multi-Agent Coordination: Generates a coordinated plan that assigns roles or agent responsibilities and sequences work across multiple agents to tackle complex tasks.
- Plan Visualization URL: Renders the produced plan structure at a shareable URL so users can inspect, review, and share the full task graph and execution plan.
- Task Assignment & Sequencing: Determines ordering and handoffs between subtasks so parallel and dependent work is organized for execution by different agents.
- Shareable Workflow Export: Enables distribution of the decomposed plan via link for collaboration, review, or external execution tracking.
- Decomposes a single prompt into a coordinated multi-agent plan
- Invoked within Claude Code via the /mission command
- Generates a structured plan view accessible at a shareable URL
- Orchestrates multiple agents/subtasks rather than relying on a single model
- Focus on readable plan structure for inspection and collaboration
Best for
- Complex Project Breakdown: Converting a high-level product or research brief into a multi-step plan with assigned agent roles and dependencies for coordinated execution.
- Multi-step Code Development: Decomposing a feature request into design, implementation, testing, and deployment tasks that can be executed or reviewed by specialized agents.
- Data Analysis Pipelines: Breaking down an analysis prompt into data-cleaning, transformation, modeling, and visualization subtasks that are assigned and sequenced.
- Content Creation Workflows: Orchestrating ideation, drafting, editing, fact-checking, and formatting steps across different agents to produce polished content.
- Collaborative Review & Handoff: Sharing the generated plan URL with teammates or stakeholders to review responsibilities, timelines, and handoffs before execution.
- Experiment Orchestration: Designing and coordinating multi-step experiments or research tasks where different agents perform measurements, aggregation, and interpretation.
- Breaking complex prompts into executable subtasks for multi-agent workflows
- Orchestrating LLM agents to collaborate on a single objective
- Sharing and reviewing decomposition and task assignments via a URL
- Improving reliability and coverage by distributing work across multiple agents
- Prompt engineering for complex, multi-step automation tasks