Sinatra vs Claude Code
Anthropic's agent, compared here on the two surfaces that open pull requests while you are elsewhere: the Claude Code GitHub Action and Claude Code on the web. Not the terminal CLI.
Sinatra runs Claude Code. That is not a rhetorical concession: a Sinatra task on a Claude credential is Claude Code doing the work, in a sandbox we operate, driven by a tracker instead of by you. So this page is not about which agent is smarter. It is about the wrapper. Claude Code on GitHub means a workflow file and an auth secret in every repository, no Linear delegation, and no tier that runs on Anthropic's key for you. If you are one developer on one repository, Claude Code alone is cheaper and you should use it.
- Yes means the vendor's own app starts a run from the issue itself, with nothing to commit to the repo first. Sinatra's trigger is the Sinatra label that ships with the GitHub App install (`sinatraai` on the hosted app). Partial means either that a workflow file and an API-key secret have to be added per repository first, or that the mention only works on pull requests and not on issues.
- Yes means assigning the ticket to the agent in Linear starts the run. Partial means the run starts some other way: an attachment link you click, or a trigger you configure yourself against Linear's webhooks. Assignment on its own does nothing.
- Yes means a changes-requested review is enough on its own: Sinatra reworks the branch and pushes the follow-up commit with no re-trigger and no mention. Partial means the agent acts only when it is @-mentioned in the thread, or only while its original session is still open.
- Yes means your own provider API key runs the agent everywhere the product runs it. Partial means keys work on some surfaces but not the one being compared here, either because the vendor documents them as local-CLI-and-desktop only, or because it never documents them covering its cloud agent at all.
- Yes means a Claude Pro/Max or ChatGPT subscription you already pay for authenticates the run on the vendor's hosted cloud. Partial means it works only where that CLI's login already sits on the machine: your own laptop or a self-hosted backend, not a clean cloud sandbox.
- Yes means you are never charged a marked-up model rate, either because you pay your provider directly, or because the vendor publishes the same per-token rates the provider does, or because model use is included in a flat plan with a published allowance. Partial means the answer depends on which plan you are on: no fee on the individual tiers, a published per-token fee on the team ones, charged even against your own key.
- Both halves have to be published: the plan price, and the rate for work past the plan. A published seat price sitting on top of an undisclosed credit, compute unit, or quota size is partial.
- Yes means the free tier states its daily allowance as a number. Sinatra's is 5 tasks a day with your own key or a Codex subscription, 1 a day on Sinatra's keys, no card. Partial means a free plan exists but its allowance is not published.
- Yes means you can run without supplying a model key at all, because the vendor bills you for the model.
- Yes means an editor plugin or a desktop app; partial means a terminal CLI and nothing that runs inside an editor. Sinatra has neither, on purpose: the work starts in the tracker and comes back as a pull request. If you want an assistant inside your editor, that is a real reason to pick one of these instead, and several teams run both.
- Sinatra has no Slack trigger. GitHub and Linear are the only two ways to start a run, and a Slack-first team should weigh that.
- Yes means you can run the agent on infrastructure you control, or the source is open. Partial means execution or inference can be pointed at your own account while the product itself stays the vendor's and stays closed. Sinatra is hosted only; there is no self-managed build.
Read off each vendor's own documentation and pricing pages on September 4, 2026.
How you start it
- Add the Sinatra label to a GitHub issue. The label ships with the GitHub App install and is named after the app (
sinatraaion the hosted one) - Assign a Linear ticket to Sinatra, or @-mention it in a comment
- @claude in a GitHub issue or pull-request comment, once you commit a workflow file and an auth secret
- Claude Code on the web, plus auto-fix on pull requests
- @Claude in Slack
- The Claude Code CLI, VS Code, and JetBrains
$20 per member per month for hosted sandboxes and orchestration, with model cost passed through at provider rates and no markup. Free tier: 5 tasks a day with your own key or Codex, 1 a day on ours. No card.
Sinatra pricing →You supply the credential: an Anthropic API key at published token rates, or a Claude Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise subscription through a long-lived OAuth token, or your own Bedrock, Vertex, or Foundry account. GitHub Actions runs also consume your Actions minutes. There is no tier that runs on Anthropic's key on your behalf.
Claude Code pricing page →How you start a task
The GitHub Action route works well and it is per-repository. Anthropic's own docs say you configure one repository at a time, so an organization means an org-level secret plus a workflow file in every repo or a reusable workflow to call.
The web route is better: Claude Code on the web runs sessions on Anthropic's infrastructure, and with the App installed, auto-fix responds automatically to CI failures and review comments. Sinatra matches that rather than beating it.
Sinatra's setup is one App install for the organization. Nothing is committed to your repository and no credential sits in your repository secrets.
Linear is the clean split. Anthropic's platforms page lists Linear among MCP servers and connectors, which lets Claude use Linear inside a session it already started. There is no assign-to-Claude in Linear.
What it costs, in dollars
The model half is identical, because it is the same credential, and neither of us adds anything to your token bill.
The differences are at the edges. Claude Code on GitHub Actions burns your Actions minutes, since the agent runs on GitHub-hosted runners. And there is no Claude Code tier that runs on Anthropic's key on your behalf, because you always supply the credential. Sinatra has a managed path: leave the credential unset and runs go on Sinatra's keys, which is what makes the free tier possible at all (5 tasks a day with your own key or Codex, 1 a day on ours. No card.).
Sinatra's own charge, $20 per member per month, buys the parts that are not the agent: the sandbox, the tracker integrations, the isolation, and not having a workflow file to keep current in every repository. For one developer on two repositories that buys very little you could not do in an afternoon. The maths changes at about the point where an afternoon becomes twenty repositories and a secret rotation policy.
Where Sinatra wins
Linear is a delegation surface. Assign the ticket, close the tab. An MCP connector is not the same thing and does not put the agent in a product manager's hands.
Nothing lands in your repository: no claude.yml to maintain, no key in each
repo's secrets, no drift between twenty repositories' workflow versions. Runs
happen in Sinatra's sandboxes rather than on your runners, so the agent does not
compete with your CI budget. There is a managed tier and therefore a free one.
And runs are staged rather than single-shot: vague tickets get a brainstorm and a
requirements document before any code, well-specified ones get a plan, and both
post back to the ticket for approval.
Where Claude Code wins
Let us be direct: Claude Code is the better product, and Sinatra runs it.
It is the agent. Everything good about a Sinatra run on a Claude credential is Anthropic's work, and new capabilities land there first.
It works on your machine, through the CLI, VS Code, and JetBrains, on your
checkout with your uncommitted changes. Sinatra has no local mode and cannot help
you at 2am on a branch you have not pushed. It has no Slack either, where Claude
Code answers @Claude in a channel and sends a pull request back.
For one person on two repositories it is cheaper: install the App, commit one
workflow, keep the twenty dollars. And it gives you far more rope, with skills,
plugins, hooks, custom agents, --max-turns, your own runners, and inference
through your own Bedrock, Vertex, or Foundry account, where Sinatra exposes a
.sinatrarc and a set of phases. Auto-fix on the web already handles CI failures
and review comments, so do not switch for that row either.
Looking for a Claude Code alternative?
Very few people want an alternative to Claude Code. What they want is Claude Code somewhere it does not currently go: attached to a Linear board, or installed once across an organization instead of a workflow file at a time.
That is the entire pitch. Keep the model, keep the agent, keep the subscription,
and connect it to Sinatra so it runs your hosted tasks. What changes is the
wrapper: two tracker triggers, one org-wide install, sandboxes we operate instead
of your Actions minutes, and a .sinatrarc per repository.
If your objection to Claude Code is the model or the quality of the diffs, Sinatra will not help you. It is the same agent doing the same work.
Switching, or running both
Running both is the normal end state, not a compromise. Keep Claude Code in your
terminal, because that is where you work on the branch you are holding, and hand
Sinatra the tickets nobody has started. @claude fires the Action, the Sinatra
label fires Sinatra, and the two never see each other's work. If you already have
a CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN, pointing Sinatra at the same subscription takes a
minute and adds nothing to your token bill.
Questions people ask about Claude Code and Sinatra
Is Sinatra just a wrapper around Claude Code?
It runs Claude Code among other engines and does not hide it. What it adds is the wrapper: a tracker trigger with no workflow file, a sandbox per task, credentials encrypted per workspace, phases before implementation, and per-repository configuration in a committed .sinatrarc.
Can Claude Code be assigned a Linear ticket?
Not natively. Anthropic lists Linear under MCP servers and connectors, which Claude can call during a session, rather than as a delegation surface.
What do I need to set up Claude Code on GitHub?
The Claude GitHub App, an auth secret, and a workflow file. Anthropic's docs note you configure one repository at a time, so an org means an org-level secret plus a workflow file in each repo.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Code, for one person on a couple of repositories. Sinatra adds $20 per member for the sandboxes and the tracker integration; the model bill is identical, because it is the same credential.
Where these facts came from
Every mark on this page was read off Claude Code's own documentation and pricing pages on September 4, 2026, not from a third-party roundup. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will fix the page.