Corkscrew vs Modrix

Corkscrew is a free, open-source mod manager for Linux and macOS. It supports Skyrim and lists Fallout 4 support; Starfield is described as coming soon. Its built-in mod source access includes Nexus Mods downloads using OAuth 2.0 with PKCE, NXM links and Nexus SSO. Users can install Nexus mods with one click, add archives, run FOMOD wizards and reorder mods by dragging. Profiles let users switch between vanilla, lightly modded and large-plugin setups. Plugin tools include LOOT sorting, master validation, conflict detection and dependency views. Corkscrew also supports Wabbajack modlists through a seven-phase installation pipeline. Custom SSE Engine Fixes patches cover more than 60 crash sites and deploy automatically. The project requires no account and uses no telemetry. It is licensed under GPL-3.0, and its page lists a 17 MB download. Support links include GitHub, Issues and Support on Ko-fi.

Modrix is a game mod manager with graphical, terminal and command-line frontends built over one shared engine. It is presented as an open-source alternative to Vortex and has built-in support for 86 games, with additional games available through a community plugin registry. A browser extension passes Nexus Mods download links and session cookies to Modrix so it can download and stage files without a Nexus API key. On Linux, the project describes Steam and Proton as first-class options and says Modrix usually detects Steam-installed games for a one-click add-and-switch action. Deployment uses hardlinks where possible, backs up files before overwriting, journals changes for crash recovery and supports reversing deployments. Modrix surfaces conflicts between enabled mods and offers rules and per-file overrides to resolve them. The CLI supports scripting and JSON output, and an MCP server exposes engine functions as tools for agents. The project states that it has zero telemetry and that Lua game plugins are sandboxed. It is GPL-2.0-only and costs nothing.