How ast-grep is used
ast-grep joined the catalog on its public numbers (2,224,128 downloads a week on npm and 16,291 GitHub stars), not on our project count: it is a dependency in 13 public GitHub projects of our scan, 8 of them set up for AI coding agents. Projects that use it most often also use Knip (53.8%), Vitest (61.5%), yaml (38.5%).
ast-grep popularity over time
Gid Score 58: downloads 71, use in agent projects 21, GitHub stars 58, downloads trend 89 (each 0-100). How it is calculated.
Often used with ast-grep
| Knip | 53.8% of ast-grep projects · 23.4× more than average |
|---|---|
| Vitest | 61.5% of ast-grep projects · 3.0× more than average |
| yaml | 38.5% of ast-grep projects · 12.4× more than average |
| Prettier | 53.8% of ast-grep projects · 2.6× more than average |
| TypeScript | 84.6% of ast-grep projects · 1.5× more than average |
| fast-check | 30.8% of ast-grep projects · 34.7× more than average |
| oxlint | 30.8% of ast-grep projects · 10.2× more than average |
| ESLint | 61.5% of ast-grep projects · 1.7× more than average |
By coding agent
| Claude Code | 0.2% of projects set up for it |
|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | 0.2% of projects set up for it |
| OpenAI Codex | 1.3% of projects set up for it |
Share of public repos configured for each agent that list ast-grep as a dependency.
How ast-grep is funded
GitHub Sponsors
| @HerringtonDarkholme | 32 current sponsors |
|---|
GitHub shows how many people and companies sponsor an account, not how much they pay. Sponsors of a person back all of their work, which here includes Element Plus.
Ways to fund ast-grep
As the maintainers list them in FUNDING.yml on GitHub. Checked Oct 20, 2026.
Agent Skills for ast-grep
| ast-grep from code-yeongyu/oh-my-openagent | Searches and rewrites code by AST shape across 25 languages. Use when the target is a syntax pattern (every call/class/import shaped like X, a codemod, a YAML … has scriptsnpx skills add code-yeongyu/oh-my-openagent --skill ast-grep |
|---|---|
| ast-grep from vinhnx/VTCode | Use for ast-grep project setup, rule authoring, rule debugging, and structural search workflows.npx skills add vinhnx/VTCode --skill ast-grep |
Skills teach your coding agent how to use ast-grep well. Official means the pack comes from the same GitHub account as ast-grep. Read a skill before installing it: it can include scripts. All Agent Skills
Install
| Package | npm install @ast-grep/cli |
|---|---|
| Main stacks | TypeScript / JavaScript (8), Rust (3), Python (1), Next.js (1) |
| Example projects | getsentry/toolkit, OneOfOne/dotfiles, jcosta33/sourdaw, CodySwannGT/lisa |
Alternatives to ast-grep
In our scan, none of the most used tools in Linting and formatting does the same job as ast-grep: they are add-ons, companions or tools for a different task.
More in Linting and formatting: ESLint Prettier Biome oxlint oxfmt Knip stylelint ESLint Import Resolver TypeScript