# CVC Feature Comparison Guide

> A detailed, honest comparison of CVC against every major AI coding tool on the market.

---

## Quick Comparison Matrix

| Feature | **CVC** | Claude Code | Cursor | GitHub Copilot | Aider | Windsurf | Codex CLI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Context persistence** | ✅ Full checkpoint & restore | ❌ Session only | ❌ Session only | ❌ Session only | ❌ Session only | ❌ Session only | ❌ Session only |
| **Branching** | ✅ Full branch support | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **Merging** | ✅ Semantic merge | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **Time travel / Rewind** | ✅ Any commit, instantly | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **Semantic search** | ✅ ChromaDB vectors | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **Multi-provider** | ✅ 4 providers | ❌ Anthropic only | ⚠️ Limited | ❌ OpenAI only | ✅ Multiple | ⚠️ Limited | ❌ OpenAI only |
| **Offline mode** | ✅ Ollama | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ Ollama | ❌ | ❌ |
| **Cost optimization** | ✅ ~90% prompt cache | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **Audit trail** | ✅ Merkle DAG | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **IDE integration** | ✅ 14 tools | ❌ Terminal only | ✅ Built-in | ✅ Built-in | ⚠️ Terminal | ✅ Built-in | ❌ Terminal only |
| **Sub-agents** | ✅ 7 specialized | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| **MCP support** | ✅ 20 tools | ❌ | ✅ Client only | ✅ Client only | ❌ | ✅ Client only | ❌ |
| **100% local** | ✅ Everything local | ❌ Cloud required | ❌ Cloud required | ❌ Cloud required | ✅ Local | ❌ Cloud required | ❌ Cloud required |
| **Free / Open source** | ✅ MIT license | ❌ Paid | ❌ Freemium | ❌ Freemium | ✅ Apache 2.0 | ❌ Freemium | ❌ Paid |

---

## Category: Middleware vs Standalone

CVC fundamentally belongs to a different category than the tools listed above.

**Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Aider, Windsurf, Codex** are all **AI coding assistants** — they generate, edit, and explain code.

**CVC** is **cognitive infrastructure** — it adds version control, memory persistence, branching, and time travel to those assistants.

**They are complementary, not competing.** You can use CVC *with* any of these tools:

| Your AI Tool | CVC Integration Method |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | `cvc launch claude` (proxy mode) |
| Cursor | MCP server config |
| GitHub Copilot (VS Code) | MCP server config |
| Windsurf | MCP server config |
| Aider | `cvc launch aider` (proxy mode) |
| Codex CLI | Proxy mode |
| Continue.dev | MCP server config |
| Cline | MCP server config |
| Roo Code | MCP server config |
| Any OpenAI-compatible tool | Proxy mode (one URL change) |

---

## Detailed Comparison: CVC vs Claude Code

| Aspect | Claude Code | CVC + Claude Code |
|---|---|---|
| **Crash recovery** | Session lost entirely | Restore from last checkpoint |
| **Context management** | Manual (copy-paste to new session) | Automated (commit, branch, restore) |
| **Provider** | Anthropic only | Anthropic via CVC proxy (same models) |
| **Memory** | Session-only (CLAUDE.md workaround) | Persistent, searchable, cross-session |
| **Cost** | Full re-prompting on every restart | ~90% cheaper via prompt cache |
| **Branching** | Not available | Full branch/merge/rewind |
| **Audit** | Not available | Complete Merkle DAG trail |

**Bottom line:** Claude Code is an excellent AI coding tool. CVC makes it better by adding the memory and version control it lacks.

---

## Detailed Comparison: CVC vs Cursor

| Aspect | Cursor | CVC + Cursor |
|---|---|---|
| **Context persistence** | Per-session only | Cross-session via MCP |
| **Provider flexibility** | Cursor-managed models | Any of CVC's 4 providers |
| **History** | Not searchable | Semantic search across all history |
| **Experimentation** | Linear (can't branch) | Branch, experiment, rewind |
| **Crash recovery** | Session lost | Checkpoint restoration |
| **Cost** | Subscription + API usage | Subscription + ~90% cached API |

**Bottom line:** Cursor provides excellent IDE integration. CVC adds the cognitive persistence layer it's missing.

---

## Detailed Comparison: CVC vs GitHub Copilot

| Aspect | GitHub Copilot | CVC + Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| **Inline completions** | ✅ Excellent | ✅ Same (CVC doesn't modify this) |
| **Chat persistence** | Per-session | Cross-session via MCP |
| **Provider** | OpenAI models | Any of CVC's 4 providers |
| **Branching** | Not available | Full branch/merge |
| **Search history** | Current session only | All sessions, semantic |
| **Offline** | Not available | Ollama via CVC |

**Bottom line:** Copilot's inline completions are best-in-class. CVC adds memory and version control to Copilot's chat features.

---

## Detailed Comparison: CVC vs Aider

| Aspect | Aider | CVC + Aider |
|---|---|---|
| **Provider support** | ✅ Multiple providers | ✅ Same, via CVC proxy |
| **Git integration** | ✅ Auto-commits code | ✅ Same + cognitive commits |
| **Context persistence** | Session-only | Persistent via CVC |
| **Branching** | Git branches (code) | Git (code) + CVC (context) |
| **Cost** | Full re-prompting | ~90% cached |
| **Search** | Not available | Semantic search |

**Bottom line:** Aider is the best terminal-based AI coding tool with multi-provider support. CVC adds the cognitive memory layer that makes Aider sessions persistent.

---

## When NOT to Use CVC

CVC is not for everyone. Skip CVC if:

- **You never have multi-turn AI sessions** — if you only use one-shot completions, there's nothing to version control
- **You always start fresh by choice** — if your workflow doesn't build on previous context
- **You don't care about crash recovery** — if restarting from scratch doesn't bother you

CVC provides the most value when:
- AI sessions frequently span 30+ minutes
- You need to experiment with different approaches
- Context loss from crashes or restarts is costly
- You want to search past AI conversations
- Multiple team members share AI knowledge
- Compliance requires AI decision audit trails

---

## Feature Deep Dives

### Context Persistence Scoring

| Tool | Persistence Score | Details |
|---|---|---|
| **CVC** | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Full checkpoint/restore, cross-session, cross-mode, cross-tool |
| Cursor | ⭐⭐ | Some session persistence within IDE |
| Copilot | ⭐⭐ | Limited chat history |
| Claude Code | ⭐ | Session-only, CLAUDE.md as workaround |
| Aider | ⭐ | Chat history file, no smart restore |
| Codex CLI | ⭐ | Session-only |

### Branching & Experimentation Scoring

| Tool | Branch Score | Details |
|---|---|---|
| **CVC** | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Full branch/merge/rewind with semantic merge |
| All others | ⭐ | No branching capability for AI context |

### Cost Efficiency Scoring

| Tool | Cost Score | Details |
|---|---|---|
| **CVC** | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ~90% savings via prompt caching on restore |
| Aider | ⭐⭐⭐ | Open source, BYO API key |
| Claude Code | ⭐⭐ | Full re-prompting, Anthropic pricing |
| Cursor | ⭐⭐ | Subscription + API costs |
| Copilot | ⭐⭐ | Subscription model |

---

## Summary

**CVC is not another AI coding tool. It's the version control layer that every AI coding tool is missing.**

Use your favorite tool. Add CVC. Get the memory, branching, and time travel that transforms AI coding from disposable chat to persistent, versionable, auditable knowledge.

```bash
pip install tm-ai
cvc
```

**Free. Open source. MIT licensed. 60 seconds to install.**
