We’re building Ever Works in public. Some things may be incomplete, missing, or broken while we continue improving the platform.We’re building Ever Works in public — expect a few rough edges.
Compare · Directory builders
Commercial directory CMS & monetization platform
eDirectory is the commercial directory CMS with listings, events, classifieds, deals, banner ads and member billing in one install. Ever Works researches the listings from the web, writes them with sources, generates the site code, and keeps the directory fresh on a schedule — content and code in your Git.
eDirectory is a commercial directory CMS that has shipped since 2003: business listings, events, classifieds, deals, articles, banner advertising and member billing in one install, operated from an admin panel by a publisher whose business is selling listings, and sold either as a hosted subscription or as a one-time PHP source licence you host yourself. Its August 2026 release added an AI Setup Assistant that shapes a new site’s branding, locations, category tree, homepage and suggested pricing tiers in one pass, and its AI can draft listing descriptions, summarize reviews and propose owner replies inside the admin. What it does not do is find the listings: nothing in eDirectory researches, discovers, sources or writes the entries for you — CSV bulk import is there, but you supply the data — and no AI runs on a schedule. Ever Works starts from a topic instead: its agents research the listings from the web with a source per entry, write the descriptions and comparison pages, generate the site from a template you own, and keep re-checking and extending the directory on a schedule, with content and code committed to your own Git on an open-source (AGPLv3) runtime you can self-host. eDirectory’s AI assists an operator; Ever Works’ AI is the operator. Where eDirectory leads today — events and classifieds, coupon redemption with lead capture, banner inventory, revenue reporting, native mobile apps and no-code visual editors — the table below says so.
eDirectory’s AI Setup Assistant runs once, at the first login of a new version-14 licence, and configures the shell — branding, locations, categories, homepage widgets, suggested pricing tiers — with sample content it cannot come back to regenerate; its auto-suggest refines descriptions for listings you have already entered, and CSV bulk import moves data you already have. Sourcing the catalogue stays your job. Ever Works treats the research as the deliverable: its pipeline analyzes the topic, runs web searches, extracts and deduplicates candidate listings, validates each source, assigns categories and tags and captures screenshots, so what lands on the site is a set of real entries with a source URL each — plus generated A-vs-B comparison pages and curated collections. The directory is the Work kind Ever Works has spent the longest on, and it shows in the output.
Nothing in eDirectory runs unattended: its AI answers when an operator clicks, and keeping listings current, replacing dead links and adding new entries are admin work. Ever Works runs the upkeep itself. Scheduled Updates re-run the generation pipeline on seven cadences from hourly to monthly, with retries and an automatic pause after repeated failures; source validation re-checks every listing for reachability and for whether the URL is actually a good source, flagging generic or weak ones and suggesting better; and named Agents wake on their own heartbeats with budgets, quality gates and a merge policy deciding whether their work lands. New listings, refreshed descriptions and dead-link fixes arrive as commits or pull requests without anyone at the keyboard.
In eDirectory the content lives in the platform’s database behind the admin panel — CSV gets data in and out, but there is no repository of record, no history you can diff and no pull-request workflow — and the $1,499 source licence hands you the PHP codebase under a commercial licence, with no public repository and no OSI licence. Plans bundle five to ten plugins while the mod store prices further capabilities at $97 to $299 each, and the Open API is reserved for the Enterprise tiers. Ever Works gives every Work three repositories in your own Git account — the data, the Markdown and the website, cloned from a template you can fork — and the runtime is open source under AGPLv3 as a whole product with no paid feature tier; its 102 plugins ship in-tree, it takes your choice of eleven AI providers including local models, and a REST API, an MCP server and a CLI come with every install. The generated directory site is not a shell either: it ships checkout across four payment providers with plan-gated features, sponsor ads, promo codes, moderated submissions, star-rated reviews, a map view, newsletter capture, 21 locales and llms.txt. What it does not have yet — events, classifieds, coupon redemption with lead capture, banner ad zones, revenue reports, native mobile apps, a visual page editor — is exactly what eDirectory does well, and the table below says so.
eDirectory can run several directory sites from one backend with one admin interface, and each of them is a site an operator runs. Ever Works starts above the site: a Mission holds the goal, proposes Ideas, and builds Works on a schedule, each with its own Knowledge Base and its own Agents. One goal can become several self-maintaining directories, awesome-list repositories and marketing sites — and, on the roadmap, stores and whole companies — rather than a set of directories you keep operating by hand.
Ever Works vs eDirectory, head to head.
| Feature | Ever Works | eDirectory |
|---|---|---|
| Prompt → working app/site | ✓ | Setup assistant: once, sample content |
| Researches the topic for you | ✓ | – |
| Writes the content (copy, posts, SEO) | Researched listings, categories, comparisons | AI suggests copy in the admin |
| Generated code from a template base | ✓ | Themes, not generated code |
| Ongoing autonomous maintenance | Scheduled | Operator-driven |
| Content version-controlled in Git | ✓ | Database; CSV import / export |
| Code in your Git | ✓ | With the source licence; no Git |
| Open source | ✓ | Proprietary (source licence available) |
| Self-hostable runtime | ✓ | Source licence tier |
| No vendor lock-in | ✓ | CSV export; source licence |
| Events, classifieds & deals modules | Events / classifieds: no; deals: promo codes only | ✓ |
| Member billing & revenue reports | Plans, checkout, sponsor ads; no revenue reports | ✓ |
| Native iOS / Android app builder | – | Enterprise tiers |
| Visual page & template editors | Settings form + works.yml | ✓ |
Choose eDirectory when you already know your listings and intend to sell them: you need events, classifieds, deals and banner inventory in one install today, you want native mobile apps without a development contract, nobody on the team touches Git, and a flat monthly bill with bundled training — or a one-time source licence you host yourself — fits better than running a runtime. It also leads today on coupon redemption with lead capture, operator revenue reporting, no-code visual editors and a track record since 2003 with more than 3,500 customers. Budget for an Enterprise tier if you need the app builder, the Open API or an unbranded footer.
Visit eDirectory ↗Give Ever Works a topic and its agents research the listings, write the descriptions, deploy the site, and keep the directory growing — all version-controlled in your own Git.