--- title: "Wax vs statewave" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/christopherkarani-wax-vs-smaramwbc-statewave" tools: ["christopherkarani-wax", "smaramwbc-statewave"] --- # Wax vs statewave *GraphCanon updated Aug 22, 2026* ## Verdict Pick Wax if wax, a Swift-based memory layer for AI agents optimized on Apple Silicon via Metal, provides sub-millisecond RAG processing and operates entirely on-device without the need for external servers or APIs; pick statewave if statewave focuses on reproducibility and provenance in memory management for AI agents, using Postgres plus pgvector for self-hosted operations rather than relying on query-time. [Wax](https://christopherkarani.github.io/Wax/) reports 786 GitHub stars, 49 forks, and 4 open issues, last pushed Aug 21, 2026. [statewave](https://statewave.ai) has 289 stars, 22 forks, and 14 open issues, last pushed Jul 30, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [Wax's repository](https://github.com/christopherkarani/Wax) and [statewave's repository](https://github.com/smaramwbc/statewave). | | [Wax](/tools/christopherkarani-wax.md) | [statewave](/tools/smaramwbc-statewave.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Single-file memory layer for AI agents with sub-millisecond RAG on Apple Silicon using Metal optimization | Open-source memory runtime for AI agents | | Stars | 786 | 289 | | Forks | 49 | 22 | | Open issues | 4 | 14 | | Language | Swift | Python | | Adopt for | Wax, a Swift-based memory layer for AI agents optimized on Apple Silicon via Metal, provides sub-millisecond RAG processing and operates entirely on-device without the need for external servers or APIs. | Statewave focuses on reproducibility and provenance in memory management for AI agents, using Postgres plus pgvector for self-hosted operations rather than relying on query-time retrieval. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | AI Agents, Vector Databases | AI Agents, Vector Databases | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [Wax](/tools/christopherkarani-wax.md) | [statewave](/tools/smaramwbc-statewave.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Days since push | 0d | 1d | | Open issues (now) | 4 | 14 | | Stars delta | +13 (30d) | Unknown | | Open issues delta | +3 (30d) | Unknown | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/christopherkarani-wax/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/smaramwbc-statewave/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: Wax - **Adopt for:** Wax, a Swift-based memory layer for AI agents optimized on Apple Silicon via Metal, provides sub-millisecond RAG processing and operates entirely on-device without the need for external servers or APIs. ## Decision facts: statewave - **Adopt for:** Statewave focuses on reproducibility and provenance in memory management for AI agents, using Postgres plus pgvector for self-hosted operations rather than relying on query-time retrieval. ## Choose when ### Choose Wax if… - Wax is primarily Swift; statewave is Python. - Tags unique to Wax: cli, coreml, machine-learning, metal. - When developing AI applications that require extremely fast data retrieval with minimal latency on Apple devices. ### Choose statewave if… - statewave is primarily Python; Wax is Swift. - Tags unique to statewave: agent-memory, ai-agents, llm, memory. - statewave ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. - Use when needing reproducible and documented context bundles to ensure consistent agent performance over time, as Statewave's design specifically supports provenance tagging for each context bundle. ## When NOT to use Wax - If your application targets non-Apple hardware, as Wax's performance optimization via Metal is specific to Apple Silicon. - In scenarios where integration of Wax with existing complex backend services is necessary, since it does not rely on external APIs or servers for its operation. ## When NOT to use statewave - Avoid if your application cannot leverage or benefit from a self-hosted memory runtime setup specifically using Postgres and pgvector. - Not suitable for cases where query-time document retrieval is preferred over maintaining provenance-tagged, static context bundles. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between Wax and statewave? Wax: Single-file memory layer for AI agents with sub-millisecond RAG on Apple Silicon using Metal optimization. statewave: Open-source memory runtime for AI agents. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose Wax over statewave? Choose Wax over statewave when Wax is primarily Swift; statewave is Python; Tags unique to Wax: cli, coreml, machine-learning, metal; When developing AI applications that require extremely fast data retrieval with minimal latency on Apple devices. ### When should I choose statewave over Wax? Choose statewave over Wax when statewave is primarily Python; Wax is Swift; Tags unique to statewave: agent-memory, ai-agents, llm, memory; statewave ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment; Use when needing reproducible and documented context bundles to ensure consistent agent performance over time, as Statewave's design specifically supports provenance tagging for each context bundle. ### When should I avoid Wax? If your application targets non-Apple hardware, as Wax's performance optimization via Metal is specific to Apple Silicon. In scenarios where integration of Wax with existing complex backend services is necessary, since it does not rely on external APIs or servers for its operation. ### When should I avoid statewave? Avoid if your application cannot leverage or benefit from a self-hosted memory runtime setup specifically using Postgres and pgvector. Not suitable for cases where query-time document retrieval is preferred over maintaining provenance-tagged, static context bundles. ### Is Wax or statewave more popular on GitHub? Wax has more GitHub stars (786 vs 289). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are Wax and statewave open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (Wax: Apache-2.0, statewave: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to Wax or statewave? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [Wax alternatives](/tools/christopherkarani-wax/alternatives) and [statewave alternatives](/tools/smaramwbc-statewave/alternatives) ([Wax markdown twin](/tools/christopherkarani-wax/alternatives.md), [statewave markdown twin](/tools/smaramwbc-statewave/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/christopherkarani-wax-vs-smaramwbc-statewave.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, Wax or statewave? Wax: Very active. statewave: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for Wax and statewave? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [Wax trust report](/tools/christopherkarani-wax/trust); [statewave trust report](/tools/smaramwbc-statewave/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=christopherkarani-wax`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=christopherkarani-wax) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_