Can you Lisp without being strapped in to the Torment Nexus Machine?

As of 2026-03-30

….

sort of maybe?

Every Lisp, Scheme, and Lisp-adjacent project listed is a non-toy implementation that has been at least somewhat active the past 5 or so years. At least the ones I'm aware of and can remember. Most Lisps do not have any guideline/policy/official stance on LLM contributions whatsoever. In those cases I post to their bug trackers or discussion lists to ask. Most in the unknown category are simply me waiting for a response.

Every link is either a document/issue stating the projects LLM policy, or is a link to an open issue. Roughly categorized according to how strongly for or against LLM contributions.

Strictly Against

• Fennel
• STklos Scheme

Strongly Against

• Loko Scheme

Weakly Against

• Janet exception given for tests and bug reproductions
• 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

• Chicken Scheme
• Chibi Scheme
• Cyclone Scheme
• Gambit
• Gauche
• Gerbil Scheme LLM generated code potentially in source tree
• Clasp open issue
• CCL open issue

Accepting

• Bigloo
• Coalton
• Jank
• Kawa Scheme
• Sagittarius Scheme
• Racket LLM generated code in source tree
• SBCL LLM generated code in source tree
• Carp LLM generated code in source tree

Unknown

• Clojure likely against, but uncertain: request for clarification was ignored
• Chez Scheme at least one maintainer is against, another skeptical, open issue
• Guile Scheme likely against, but nothing officially stated, open issue
• ECL likely against, open issue
• MIT Scheme open issue
• ABCL open issue
• LFE open issue