# Atuin — AI Coding Tool Review & Pricing

> Atuin is an open-source shell history tool that replaces your shell's history with a searchable database and end-to-end encrypted sync across machines. It now also records your AI coding agents' sessions as threads, so you can search past Claude Code, Codex or opencode sessions from any machine and resume them in their agent.

Source: https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/atuin · Updated Nov 11, 2026 · Category: Developer Productivity & Workflow · Published by dosa.dev

## At a glance

- **Tool**: Atuin
- **Company**: Atuin
- **Category**: [Developer Productivity & Workflow](https://ai.dosa.dev/category/productivity)
- **Pricing model**: Open Source
- **Official website**: https://atuin.sh

## Key features

- `atuin threads enable` captures Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Grok Build, Hermes Agent, Kiro, opencode, Pi and Amp sessions
- Threads stored in the encrypted record store and synced across machines like shell history
- `atuin threads search` and the `atuin resume` picker, scoped by repo, branch or directory
- `atuin threads import` brings in sessions your agents already have on disk
- Built-in read-only MCP server (`atuin mcp install`) for searching history, command output and threads
- Atuin AI command generation and follow-up questions from an empty prompt
- Self-hostable sync server, or no sync at all

## Pricing

**Model**: Open Source

Atuin is free and open-source under the MIT licence. History and thread sync runs on the Atuin Cloud server or a server you host yourself, and sync can be left off entirely. Atuin AI needs an Atuin Hub account (or a self-hosted backend), and its docs say usage is currently free.

## Who it is for

- **Best for**: Developers who run several coding agents across machines and want one searchable, encrypted record of their sessions and shell history.
- **Not ideal for**: Users who do not want a background daemon recording agent sessions, or who work mainly in a GUI IDE agent that Atuin does not capture.

## Verdict

A mature, widely used shell history tool that has grown a practical cross-agent session archive; useful if you already live in the terminal.

## Recent updates

Atuin 18.24.0 (October 15, 2026) renamed AI sessions to threads; 18.24.5 (November 4, 2026) added Grok Build, Kiro CLI and Amp capture, and 18.24.6 (November 10, 2026) captures diffs of Claude Code shell edits.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Atuin free?

Yes - Atuin is Open Source. Atuin is free and open-source under the MIT licence. History and thread sync runs on the Atuin Cloud server or a server you host yourself, and sync can be left off entirely. Atuin AI needs an Atuin Hub account (or a self-hosted backend), and its docs say usage is currently free.

### Is Atuin open source?

Yes - Atuin is open source. Atuin is free and open-source under the MIT licence. History and thread sync runs on the Atuin Cloud server or a server you host yourself, and sync can be left off entirely. Atuin AI needs an Atuin Hub account (or a self-hosted backend), and its docs say usage is currently free.

### Who is Atuin best for?

Developers who run several coding agents across machines and want one searchable, encrypted record of their sessions and shell history.

### Who is Atuin not ideal for?

Users who do not want a background daemon recording agent sessions, or who work mainly in a GUI IDE agent that Atuin does not capture.

### What are the best Atuin alternatives?

The closest Atuin alternatives on ai.dosa.dev are Pieces for Developers, agenttrace, Vibe Kanban - all listed under Developer Productivity & Workflow.

### Who makes Atuin?

Atuin is developed by Atuin. It is listed in the Developer Productivity & Workflow category on ai.dosa.dev.

## Top alternatives

- [Pieces for Developers](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/pieces-for-developers) (Paid) — Developers who work across multiple tools, IDEs, and environments and need to maintain a persistent, searchable history of code snippets, research, and workflow context.
- [agenttrace](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/agenttrace) (Open Source) — Developers and teams needing to monitor and debug the efficiency, cost, and health of AI coding agents across multiple workflows.
- [Vibe Kanban](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/vibe-kanban) (Open Source) — Software engineers who use multiple AI coding agents and need a structured environment to manage, plan, and review their output in parallel.
- [ai-memory](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/ai-memory) (Open Source) — Developers or teams using multiple AI coding agents who need consistent context and project history persistence across different tools, machines, and sessions.
- [smolvm](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/smolvm) (Open Source) — Running isolated coding agent sandboxes, untrusted code, and persistent local development environments that require a real Linux kernel boundary.
- [coop](https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/coop) (Open Source) — Running autonomous AI coding agents that require broad system access while maintaining a strong security boundary for the host machine.
- Full alternatives guide: https://ai.dosa.dev/tools/atuin/alternatives