Methadone
github.com/xophmeister/methadone- Category
- Developer Tools
- Rank
- No. 2026Tools index
Previous survey · No. 1882 ·
- Pricing
- Open Source
- Type
- TOOL
- Use case
- Productivity & Collaboration
- GitHub
- 4 stars
- Latest release
- v0.4.0
- Date
About
Methadone is a GPL-3.0 Nix-packaged wrapper for agentic coding tools that adds a start-up delay which grows based on how often and how long the tools have recently been used, along with a reminder message. It's meant to nudge developers away from over-relying on coding agents, which the author argues can produce the estrangement from one's own work described in Marx's theory of alienation and undercut Naur's idea of programming as theory-building.
At a glance
Methadone wraps coding-agent commands with a startup delay that grows with recent use. It is worth considering if you want a moment to reconsider habitual launches and already manage your tools with Nix.
Good fit
Nix users who want a personal limit on how readily they reach for coding agents.
Consider something else when
Skip it if launches must start on schedule or you need a policy other users cannot bypass.
Start here
Read the wrapper configuration and start with one disposable command. Compare the reported use and delay across a few launches, then decide whether the pause changes when you reach for the tool.
Cost and requirements
GPL-3.0 project distributed as a Nix function. The examples cover NixOS and Home Manager. You choose which commands it wraps.
Limits to know
The delay reflects launch frequency and time spent running wrapped commands. It cannot tell whether a given session was useful. Wrapped tools share one usage log.
Sources checked 2026-11-05. Source-based assessment.
Why it made the leaderboard
Methadone wraps coding-agent CLIs with a startup timeout that grows the more you lean on them, a small, self-aware tool for developers who want to deliberately limit how much they hand off to AI agents.
Tags
Comments (0)
No comments yet
Editorially curated, with community endorsements as a secondary signal. Corrections welcome.