# Aider vs Mirror CLI > Mirror CLI scores 54.2 (C) to Aider's 46.9 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-reflection-mirror - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-reflection-mirror.md (~2,750 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-reflection-mirror.min.md (~580 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-reflection-mirror.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author. - Updated: 2026-10-17 Mirror CLI scores 54.2 (C) on agent readiness against Aider's 46.9 (D), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Aider leads on reliability, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses. - Aider: grade D, 46.9/100, rank #949 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/aider.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/aider.json - Mirror CLI: grade C, 54.2/100, rank #765 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/reflection-mirror.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/reflection-mirror.json - Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md - All 331 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Aider (D) Good for: A person pair-programming in a terminal who wants git-tracked edits and a small context footprint, with any model. Ahead on: - Reliability, 54 against 37 - Agent ergonomics, 65 against 58 - Transparency & trust, 63 against 58 Also in its favour: - No key needed to call it Watch for: No release since 0.86.2 on 12 February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026 ### Mirror CLI (C) Good for: Developers who want Reflection's Beam in a terminal coding agent built alongside the model, or an open-source harness that also runs other providers and local endpoints. Ahead on: - Schema & documentation, 65 against 56 - Maintenance & community, 47 against 13 Also in its favour: - Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 1.0 out of 5 - No incidents deducted, where Aider loses 8 points for them Watch for: Version 0.1.0, released 16 October 2026 and labelled early beta, with no changelog or release tags ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Aider | Mirror CLI | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 54 | 37 | Aider +17 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 65 | Mirror CLI +9 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 58 | Aider +7 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 59 | 58 | Aider +1 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 47 | Mirror CLI +34 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 58 | Aider +5 | | Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **46.9 · D** | **54.2 · C** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Aider | Mirror CLI | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness | | Vendor | Aider AI LLC | Reflection | | Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) | | Transports | | | | Auth | None | API key | | Pricing | Free | Free | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | no | yes | | Last release | 2026-02-12 | 2026-10-16 | | Terms last updated | no document linked | | | Privacy policy last updated | no date given | | | Customer content may train models | | | | Terms restrict automated access | | | | Terms restrict benchmarking | | | | Terms or service can change without notice | | | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | | | | Popularity | 49k stars | none | | Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | 3/5 (4) | ## Verdicts **Aider.** Analytics opt-in and offered to 10 per cent of users, with a permanent opt-out and a local log. No release since 0.86.2 on 12 February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026. **Mirror CLI.** Mirror CLI is Apache-2.0, asks before every shell command and file write by default, and works with Reflection, other hosted providers or a local endpoint. It is a one-day-old 0.1.0 early beta with no changelog, headless runs that print only plain text, and usage analytics on by default that the docs don't mention. ## Before you call either ### Aider 1. Read `.aider.conf.yml` in any cloned repository before starting aider. Its `test-cmd` and `lint-cmd` run without asking 2. Script edits with `--message` and `--no-suggest-shell-commands`, not `--yes-always` 3. Use Python 3.12 or earlier for the PyPI release 4. Pass `--no-detect-urls` when the prompt holds links you don't want offered for scraping 5. Check `git log` after a run. Each edit is its own commit ### Mirror CLI 1. Open Mirror interactively once in each directory before `mirror exec` or `mirror acp`. Both refuse to run until the usage and folder notices are accepted 2. Pass `--approval-mode auto` to `mirror exec` only inside a container or VM. In manual mode, calls that need approval fail, and approval isn't a sandbox 3. Set `--max-iterations` on unattended runs. Turns are unlimited by default 4. Check the result with your own tests. `exec` returns 0 whenever it prints an answer 5. Never share logs recorded with `--log-level debug`. The docs say they contain request headers with the API key ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Aider or Mirror CLI? Mirror CLI scores 54.2 (C) on agent readiness against Aider's 46.9 (D), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Aider leads on reliability, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. ### Are Aider and Mirror CLI open source? Yes. Aider is open source (Apache-2.0). Mirror CLI is open source (Apache-2.0). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-reflection-mirror.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-reflection-mirror.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "aider", "b": "reflection-mirror"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare aider reflection-mirror` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/aider.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/reflection-mirror.json ## Other comparisons with Aider or Mirror CLI - [Agent Zero vs Aider](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-aider.md) - [Agent Zero vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Aider vs Amp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-amp.md) - [Aider vs Antigravity CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-antigravity-cli.md) - [Aider vs Claude Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-claude-code.md) - [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md) - [Aider vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli.md) - [Aider vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-devin.md) - [Aider vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-droid-cli.md) - [Aider vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-earendil-pi.md) - [Aider vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-gemini-cli.md) - [Aider vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-github-copilot-cli.md) - [Aider vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-goose.md) - [Aider vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-harnessrouter.md) - [Aider vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-kilo-code-cli.md) - [Aider vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-kiro-cli.md) - [Aider vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-muse-code.md) - [Aider vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex.md) - [Aider vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-opencode.md) - [Aider vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openhands.md) - [Aider vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent.md) - [Aider vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-qwen-code.md) - [Amp vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Antigravity CLI vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Claude Code vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Cline vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Cursor CLI vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Devin vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Droid CLI vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Pi vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Gemini CLI vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [goose vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [HarnessRouter vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Kilo Code CLI vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Kiro CLI vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Muse Code vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [OpenAI Codex vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [OpenCode vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [OpenHands vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Prime Agent vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Qwen Code vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-code-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [CLI Manager vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Harness vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Paperclip vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-reflection-mirror.md) - [Parallax vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallax-agents-vs-reflection-mirror.md) --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp