Lisp Against the (LL)Machine
By Zyd (originally)…
sort of.
This list was originally assembled by Zyd. But he’s no longer responsive, and things have changed considerably. So I decided to take it on me to re-host and update the list. I hope Zyd gets back and takes over. And I’ll be happy to remove this page when this happens.
Every Lisp, Scheme, and Lisp-adjacent project listed is a non-toy implementation that is at least somewhat active. When I (Zyd) first wrote this article (2026-03-12), most Lisps did not have a policy or even public stance on LLM contributions. In such cases I (Zyd) posted to their bug trackers or discussion lists to ask. Most maintainers kindly responded.
Every link is either a document or issue stating the project’s LLM policy, or a link to an open issue. Roughly categorized according to how strongly for or against LLM contributions.
If I’m (Zyd, Artyom) missing a project that should be listed, lemme know (Artyom,) (Zyd).
Strictly Against #
Strongly Against #
Weakly Against #
- GNU CLISP against on a specific reading of copyright law
- Emacs Lisp temporarily against LLMs, waiting for official policy
- Hy maintainer recommends against LLM contributions, no actual policy
Hesitantly Accepting #
- Chibi Scheme
- Cyclone Scheme
- Gambit
- Gauche
- Gerbil Scheme LLM generated code potentially in source tree
- Clasp
- CCL
- Janet
- Skint LLM generated code potentially in source tree
Accepting #
- Bigloo
- Coalton
- Kawa Scheme
- Sagittarius Scheme
- Jank doesn’t accept external LLM contributions but permits usage by core developers
- Racket LLM generated code in source tree
- SBCL LLM generated code in source tree
- Carp LLM generated code in source tree
Unknown #
- Chez Scheme at least one maintainer is against, another skeptical, open issue
- MIT Scheme open issue
- ABCL open issue
- LFE open issue