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Self-host Lathe

v0.5.0

Generate hands-on tutorials with LLMs, then learn by doing

BetaOpen SourceMIT
Updatedlast week
LanguageGo
Setup difficultyEasy
ThemeDark mode
Stars
1 708
Port
4242 (Web UI for browsing and reading tutorials)
Install with Go
Reading a tutorial in the Lathe UIBrowsing tutorials in Lathe (light mode)Browsing tutorials in Lathe (dark mode)Table of contents in generated Lathe tutorialExample content of a generated Lathe tutorial with side-notes

What is Lathe?

Lathe creates step-by-step technical guides on demand using LLM skills that run inside your coding agent. The Go command-line tool stores everything locally, serves a browser interface at localhost:4242 with light and dark themes, and lets you ask questions, check that tutorial steps actually work, and add more sections later. Each guide records which sources were consulted, which model wrote it, and which writing style was used. Two built-in styles (plainspoken and companion) are included, and you can create your own through an interactive interview. Verification runs in your own LLM session against a temporary directory. No external services or databases are required — just the binary and a coding agent connected to an LLM endpoint.

Should you self-host Lathe?

Lathe scores 52/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #7 of 30 in Education. It has 1 708 GitHub stars.

It shipped 6 stable releases in the past year. The latest, v0.5.0, came out on 20 July 2026. New versions land roughly every 1 days.

Setup is easy: most people get it running in one sitting. It is MIT-licensed and written mostly in Go.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is CTFd (70/100, 6 894 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See Lathe vs CTFd side by side.

Features

  • Cross-agent skills
  • Interactive Q&A
  • Live mode
  • Local LLM Support
  • Local Web UI
  • Search and filter
  • Source provenance
  • Tutorial extension
  • Tutorial generation
  • Tutorial verification
  • Writing voices

Lathe README

How to install Lathe

Install Lathe with Go

go install github.com/devenjarvis/lathe@latest

Requires Go 1.25+

Lathe releases & version history

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