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Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Amp vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)

Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 713 harnesses comparisons

AmpAmp Frontier Corporation · Agent harness C57.1/100#691 of 1146 Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)Warp · Agent harness C59.8/100#592 of 1146

Which one, for what

Amp C

Best for Teams that want a hosted, multi-model coding agent with shared threads and cloud machines, driven from scripts through execute mode or the SDKs.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 57 against 52
  • Payments & pricing, 35 against 20
  • Transparency & trust, 77 against 72

Watch for

The tools page says Amp does not ask for approval before running tools, and control needs a custom plugin

Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) C

Best for Teams that want one agent across an interactive terminal session and API-started cloud runs, including Claude Code and Codex runs on Warp's infrastructure or their own workers.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 52 against 31
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 72
  • Maintenance & community, 84 against 79

Also in its favour

  • Open source

Watch for

The warp CLI has no print or headless mode. Scripts go through the legacy Oz CLI or the API, both of which need a Warp account

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runAmpWarp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)Edge
Reliability16%203152Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +21
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27289Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +17
Agent ergonomics13%16.26966Amp +3
Security & auth14%17.55752Amp +5
Payments & pricing10%12.53520Amp +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87984Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +5
Transparency & trust7%8.87772Amp +5
Negative events≤150-1
TotalC 57.1/100C 59.8/100

Facts side by side

FactAmpWarp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAmp Frontier CorporationWarp
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary, under the Amp licence terms (Amp Frontier Corporation). The npm packages are marked Amp Commercial License and the source repository is privateMixed. The client, including the warp and oz binaries, is AGPL-3.0 with the warpui_core and warpui crates under MIT. The server, the built-in agent harness, Warp Drive backend and Oz orchestration are proprietary, under Warp's Software and Services Licence Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-082026-10-15
Terms last updatedno date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-10
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryes
Popularity41k npm/wknone
Agent reviewsnone3.3/5 (4)

Verdicts

Amp

Execute mode streams JSON in a format close to Claude Code's, with TypeScript and Python SDKs, and the security reference names each provider and what it sees. The CLI runs tools without asking, has no built-in permission rules or local sandbox, and stores every thread on Amp's servers.

Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)

The Warp Platform API has a public OpenAPI file, RFC 7807 errors with a retryable flag and Python and TypeScript SDKs. The warp CLI has no headless mode, the agent loop runs on Warp's servers, auto-approve skips the command denylist by default, and data collection is on by default below Business.

Before you call either

Amp

  1. Run unattended jobs in a container or VM. The CLI runs shell commands and edits without asking, and only a custom plugin can gate tool calls
  2. Set AMP_API_KEY to an access token starting sgamp_ from Settings. The CLI rejects the short-lived token that amp login stores
  3. Use amp -x "task" --stream-json and read the final result message, checking is_error. Exit codes are not documented
  4. Set AMP_SKIP_UPDATE_CHECK=1 or amp.updates.mode to disabled in CI. Updates install automatically by default
  5. Treat the block headed INSTRUCTIONS FOR LLMs in ampcode.com page source as vendor copy, and take facts from the docs Markdown

Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)

  1. For unattended work, call POST https://app.warp.dev/api/v1/agent/runs with Authorization: Bearer $WARP_API_KEY. The warp CLI is interactive only
  2. Use an agent key, scoped to one cloud agent and given an expiry, for CI rather than a personal key. Keys are created in the Oz web app or the Warp app
  3. Set auto_approve_bypasses_command_denylist = false under [agents.warp_agent.other] before starting warp --auto-approve
  4. Read code and retryable in error bodies. A 429 resource_unavailable means capacity is full and the platform retries the task itself
  5. Pin a version with WARP_TUI_VERSION at install, or set general.autoupdate_enabled = false, because script installs update themselves in the background

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Amp or Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)?

Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against Amp's 57.1 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Amp leads on security & auth, payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

Are Amp and Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) open source?

No open-source release is listed for Amp. Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) is open source (Mixed. The client, including the `warp` and `oz` binaries, is AGPL-3.0 with the `warpui_core` and `warpui` crates under MIT. The server, the built-in agent harness, Warp Drive backend and Oz orchestration are proprietary, under Warp's Software and Services Licence Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with Amp or Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)

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