Category · Agent frameworks
Agent harnesses and coding agents
Finished programs that run the agent loop for a person or a pipeline, in a terminal, an editor or the vendor's cloud. They plan, call tools, edit files and run commands, where a framework is a library you build that loop with. Compared on what they ask before acting, what the sandbox and the network allow by default, MCP support, headless use and the telemetry they send.
Capability keys agent.harness · agent.mcp-client · agent.multi-agent · All tools
letme.dev/agent.harness picks the top-graded tool in this list and says how to call it direct; calling through letme comes later.
The same listing from the live API. Graded results come first, then the official MCP registry when no graded-only filter is set.
https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/searchFilters
| Compare | # | Tool | Category | Grade | Score | Agent rating | p95 | Context | Price / x402 | Auth | Where | Details |
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| 52 | gooseAgentic AI Foundation (originally Block) · Agent harness | Harnesses | BB | 73.9 | 2.5 (2) | n/a | n/a | Free · OSS | None | Local | ||
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Open-source general-purpose agent written in Rust, with a desktop app, a CLI and an embeddable server. Top strength Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed Top weakness Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default |
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| 58 | OpenAI CodexOpenAI · Agent harness | Harnesses | BB | 73.4 | 3.0 (2) | n/a | n/a | $20 / mo | OAuth or key | Local | ||
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OpenAI's coding agent for software development tasks. Top strength Sandbox on by default on macOS, Linux and Windows, with the network off and Top weakness Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes --yolo undoes both”All 2 reviews ›
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| 72 | Gemini CLIGoogle · Agent harness | Harnesses | BB | 72.3 | 3.5 (2) | n/a | n/a | Freemium | OAuth or key | Local | ||
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Google's open-source coding agent for the terminal, in TypeScript on Node 20 or newer. Top strength Apache-2.0, CI passing on main, and 583 open issues with priority labels Top weakness Sandboxing is off by default, and the default macOS profile allows network |
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| 92 | OpenHandsAll Hands AI · Agent harness | Harnesses | BB | 70.9 | 2.5 (2) | n/a | n/a | Freemium | OAuth or key | Local | ||
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Open-source coding agent with a self-hosted web interface, local and remote execution, and scheduled or webhook-driven automation. Top strength A Docker container per conversation with Top weakness Confirmation mode is off by default in Agent Canvas, and the npm install gives the agent the host's whole filesystem |
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| 134 | OpenCodeAnomaly · Agent harness | Harnesses | B | 68 | 2.0 (2) | n/a | n/a | $10 / mo | None | Local | ||
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Open-source terminal coding agent from Anomaly Innovations, with a TUI, a desktop app in beta, IDE and ACP integration, and a headless HTTP server with an OpenAPI spec and a TypeScript SDK. Top strength Runs with no key or account on free OpenCode Zen models Top weakness Most permissions default to allow, and SECURITY.md says the permission system is not a sandbox |
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| 222 | Claude CodeAnthropic · Agent harness | Harnesses | B | 62.2 | none | n/a | n/a | $20 / mo | OAuth or key | Local | ||
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Anthropic's coding agent as a terminal program, also in VS Code, JetBrains, the desktop app and Anthropic-hosted cloud sessions. Top strength Six permission modes, allow, ask and deny rules down to command arguments, PreToolUse hooks, and managed settings that can disable bypass and auto mode Top weakness The sandbox is off by default and native Windows has none |
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| 239 | ClineCline Bot Inc. · Agent harness | Harnesses | C | 60.8 | 2.0 (2) | n/a | n/a | $9.99 / mo | OAuth or key | Local | ||
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Open-source coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a CLI and a desktop app, all on one TypeScript SDK since extension 4.0.0 (26 June 2026). Top strength Approval before edits and commands in the IDE, with command auto-approval off by default since 4.0.0 Top weakness The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider |
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| 286 | GitHub Copilot CLIGitHub · Agent harness | Harnesses | C | 57.9 | 2.5 (2) | n/a | n/a | $0.01 / credit | OAuth or key | Local | ||
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GitHub's coding agent for the terminal, built on the same agent harness as Copilot cloud agent (formerly Copilot coding agent), which works in GitHub Actions and opens pull requests. Top strength Asks before the first use of each modifying tool, and Top weakness Free, Pro, Pro+ and Max interactions train GitHub's models by default since 24 April 2026 |
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| 385 | AiderAider AI LLC · Agent harness | Harnesses | D | 47.1 | 1.0 (2) | n/a | n/a | Free · OSS | None | Local | ||
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Terminal pair-programming tool that edits files in a local git repository through text edit formats rather than tool calls, builds a repo map with tree-sitter, and commits each change. Top strength Analytics opt-in and offered to 10 per cent of users, with a permanent opt-out and a local log Top weakness No release since 0.86.2 on 12 February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026 |
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| 441 | Cursor CLICursor · Agent harness | Harnesses | F | 35.8 | 1.5 (2) | n/a | n/a | $20 / mo | OAuth or key | Local | ||
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Cursor's coding agent in the terminal, run as `agent` (also `cursor-agent`). Top strength Allow and deny rules for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools, with deny taking precedence Top weakness No CLI changelog, and versions are dates |
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Nothing matches these filters. .
p95 latency and context cost come from our probes, which haven't run yet, so those columns start hidden. Grades run from AA to F, and agent-ready means BB or better. Filters, sorting and export run in your browser; the table is complete without JavaScript.
How we test this category
The same small repository task run headless in each harness with one MCP server attached, first fixing a failing test, then a task that needs the network. We check what it asks before acting, what the sandbox blocks, whether the run stops on its own, what it costs and what leaves the machine. This test hasn't run yet, so Task success is pending and the grades here come from the categories assessed from public evidence.
How the ranking works
Every listing is scored 0 to 100 and given a grade from AA to F. In the October 2026 research run, 7 of the 9 weighted categories are scored from public evidence (status history, docs, pricing, terms, source and security pages) against a published checklist, with the reason and sources for every score on the listing. Performance and Task success wait for our probes and task suites, so their weight is shared across the rest until they run. Negative events deduct up to 15 points. Read the methodology.
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