Distilly vs planning-with-files
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
Turns a person's messages, docs, and interviews into a reusable profile that AI agents can load.
Open source · MIT
A file-based planning skill that keeps AI coding agents on track across resets and crashes.
The short answer
Choose Distilly if you need…
- Developers who want an agent to answer in the style of a specific colleague or mentor
- People building reusable Agent Skills for supported hosts like Claude Code or Codex
- Users who want a profile of a public figure or author built from public material
- Teams that want to preserve a departing colleague's working knowledge
Choose planning-with-files if you need…
- Developers running long multi-step tasks in Claude Code or Codex CLI
- People who lose agent progress when the context window fills or is cleared
- Teams wanting a plan that lives in the project as plain markdown files
- Users of agents that support the Agent Skills standard
Side-by-side
| Distilly | planning-with-files | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Dev tool | Dev tool |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 26.3k | 27.8k |
| Setup difficulty | Intermediate | Beginner |
| How you get it | Clone and build from source | Install with a package manager |
| Main language | Python | Shell |
| Last code update | 24 days ago | 7 days ago |
What each one is
Distilly
Distilly takes material you provide, such as messages, documents, interviews, or public sources, and builds a Person Profile describing a person's experience, decision patterns, expression, and ways of working. The profile is packaged as an Agent Skill that supported AI agent hosts can install and invoke. The README says it models observable patterns and does not claim to clone the person.
planning-with-files
This is a skill for AI coding agents that stores a task plan, research notes, and progress log as markdown files in your project. Lifecycle hooks re-inject that planning context so the agent can pick up where it left off after /clear, context compaction, or a crash. The README says it works across 60+ agents via the Agent Skills standard, with native plugins for several hosts including Claude Code and Codex CLI.
Best for
Distilly
- Developers who want an agent to answer in the style of a specific colleague or mentor
- People building reusable Agent Skills for supported hosts like Claude Code or Codex
- Users who want a profile of a public figure or author built from public material
- Teams that want to preserve a departing colleague's working knowledge
planning-with-files
- Developers running long multi-step tasks in Claude Code or Codex CLI
- People who lose agent progress when the context window fills or is cleared
- Teams wanting a plan that lives in the project as plain markdown files
- Users of agents that support the Agent Skills standard
Strengths
Distilly
- Supports several agent hosts, including Claude Code, Codex, Hermes, and OpenClaw, per the README
- Output is packaged in the Agent Skill format, so it is portable across supported hosts
- MIT licensed with a large public community and a published technical report
planning-with-files
- Plain markdown files on disk that you can read, edit, and version-control or gitignore
- Works through the Agent Skills standard across many agents, with native plugins for several hosts
- MIT licensed with a published benchmark and install options via npm, the Claude Code marketplace, or npx
Not ideal for
Distilly
- People who need a verified clone of a real person, since the README says it does not claim to clone anyone
- Users without source material, because output quality depends on the materials provided
- Anyone needing a one-click consumer app; the README describes a Skill-based workflow for agent hosts
planning-with-files
- Short one-off questions where a plan file adds overhead
- People who want a hosted service rather than local files in their repo
- Users of hosts not listed in the README, since native support depends on the host and results may vary
Trade-offs
Distilly
- The README states the profile reflects observable patterns, not the full person, so results can be incomplete or misleading
- Some hosts such as Grok Bot are only a preview and direct repo installation is not verified
- Quality depends heavily on the amount and quality of input material
planning-with-files
- Benchmark figures are from the project's own measurements and are reported with stated limits; independent verification is not shown in the README
- Commands and tools vary by host, so the experience differs between integrations
- Session catchup modes can read local agent session records, which the README says requires an explicit opt-in
Getting started
Distilly
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/titanwings/distillyplanning-with-files
Install the skill globally via npx skills
npx skills add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files --skill planning-with-files -gFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between Distilly and planning-with-files?
Distilly: Turns a person's messages, docs, and interviews into a reusable profile that AI agents can load. planning-with-files: A file-based planning skill that keeps AI coding agents on track across resets and crashes. Distilly suits developers who want an agent to answer in the style of a specific colleague or mentor, while planning-with-files suits developers running long multi-step tasks in claude code or codex cli.
Are Distilly and planning-with-files free?
Distilly: Free and open source. planning-with-files: Free and open source.
Which is easier to set up, Distilly or planning-with-files?
planning-with-files is easier to get started with (rated beginner); Distilly is rated intermediate and usually needs more setup.
Is Distilly or planning-with-files more popular?
planning-with-files has more GitHub stars (27.8k) than Distilly (26.3k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
What are other alternatives to Distilly and planning-with-files?
Other options people compare them with include Understand Anything, wshobson/agents, Ruflo, Agentic Awesome Skills, AutoHarness.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.