Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Antigravity CLI vs Sculptor

Antigravity CLI scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Sculptor's 53.1 (D), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Sculptor leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do agent harnesses.

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Which one, for what

Antigravity CLI C

Best for Developers on Google AI plans or Gemini Enterprise who want a terminal agent with a sandbox on by default and access to several model families, depending on plan.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 78 against 45
  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 50

Watch for

Closed source. The repository holds the README, changelog and examples, with no source and no licence file

Sculptor D

Best for Developers who want parallel coding agents in isolated workspaces and are fine with a research preview.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
  • Maintenance & community, 75 against 68

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • Open source
  • No incidents deducted, where Antigravity CLI loses 3 points for them

Watch for

Labelled an experimental research preview that may change drastically

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Schema & documentation Antigravity CLI +33

Antigravity CLI 78

Framework reading. No published JSON Schema for settings.json, mcp_config.json or hooks.json was found, although the docs type each key (10). llms.txt at antigravity.google/llms.txt, and every docs page has a Markdown copy (10). Pages say when to use each permission preset and execution mode, what each allows and when the sandbox applies (15). Presets, modes, output formats, status values and effort levels are enumerated (13). The headless page documents the output envelope, the status values and exit codes, with a jq example (15). A dated changelog on the docs site and versioned release notes and tags in the repository (15). 10+10+15+13+15+15 = 78.

Sculptor 45

Harness reading. A README, specs and agent docs in the repository; no API reference (45).

Payments & pricing Sculptor +30

Antigravity CLI 30

Harness reading of the published rubric. No payment protocol in the docs, the pricing page or the plans page (0). Plan prices are public without a login, with a $0 individual plan and Gemini Enterprise Standard or Plus from $30 a seat a month, and Google AI Pro at $20 and Ultra at $100 or $200 a month per Google's 19 May 2026 post. Overages draw on AI credits at Gemini Enterprise consumption rates, which were not read, so this is plan-level pricing (10). The pricing page lists the $0 plan as needing no subscription, and none of the pages read asks for a payment method, but the account flow was not tested (20). Sign-in is a browser flow with a Google account, or a Gemini API key set by hand, and the CLI won't start unauthenticated (0). 0+10+20+0 = 30.

Sculptor 60

Free self-hosted software with nothing to buy, so 0 for a protocol and 20 each for public pricing, a free tier and onboarding with no sign-up, 60.

Agent ergonomics Antigravity CLI +28

Antigravity CLI 78

Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. MCP tools can be allowed or refused by server and tool, and a 20,000-token budget for user rules stops large rule sets from crowding out skills and MCP tools (16). No turn or spend cap appears in the flag reference, and --print-timeout sets a wall-clock limit only, with no limit by default (10). The JSON envelope carries a status field and token usage, and since 1.4.11 a finished_reason field says why a turn ended early (16). Exit codes are documented, but a tool soft-denied in headless mode still exits 0 (14). --continue and --conversation resume earlier runs (14). A Python SDK on PyPI, which is a separate package, and no second SDK language for the CLI (8). 16+10+16+14+14+8 = 78.

Sculptor 50

Harness reading. Workspaces as isolated copies, review and merge back, and built-in skills (50).

Maintenance & community Sculptor +7

Antigravity CLI 68

1.4.12 on 30 October 2026, marked Latest in the docs changelog, 5 days before this check (30). 56 tagged releases from 1.1.11 (6 August) to 1.4.12, each with a changelog entry; 1.5.0 is tagged and in the repository changelog on 4 November but not yet in the docs changelog, so it isn't counted (20). Responsiveness rests on a public changelog, a community forum linked from the terms and the GitHub repository, but no replies could be read (8). The google-antigravity Python SDK is a separate package and no SDK for the CLI itself was found; PyPI couldn't be read on 4 November, so the line rests on the 10 October reading (10). No public CI or dependency list for the CLI, since the source is not published (0). 30+20+8+10+0 = 68.

Sculptor 75

Commits on 6 November 2026 and frequent tagged versions (30). More than three releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent; the README says Imbue can't take many outside contributions yet (0). Current official downloads (15). CI on pull requests (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runAntigravity CLISculptorEdge
Reliability16%204343even
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27845Antigravity CLI +33
Agent ergonomics13%16.27850Antigravity CLI +28
Security & auth14%17.55357Sculptor +4
Payments & pricing10%12.53060Sculptor +30
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86875Sculptor +7
Transparency & trust7%8.85557Sculptor +2
Negative events≤15-30
TotalC 54.7/100D 53.1/100

Facts side by side

FactAntigravity CLISculptor
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorGoogleImbue, Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyNone
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceProprietary. The repository holds the README, changelog and examples, with no source and no licence file. Use is under the Google Antigravity Additional Terms of Service, the Google Terms of Service and the Privacy PolicyMIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-302026-11-06
Terms last updatedno date givenno document linked
Privacy policy last updated2026-10-01no document linked
Customer content may train modelsyes, with an opt-outnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot read yet

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Antigravity CLI

Google's terminal agent, a closed-source binary whose default Auto mode runs commands in a terminal sandbox on macOS, Linux and Windows 11, with documented headless JSON output. Interactions are collected for Google product improvement unless users opt out, a headless run exits 0 when a tool is denied, and 1.4.7 fixed a cross-user token flaw without an advisory.

Sculptor

Imbue's open-source app for parallel coding agents in isolated workspaces, with telemetry off until you choose otherwise. It's an experimental research preview that warns of bugs and drastic changes, Mac and Linux only, with no changelog.

Before you call either

Antigravity CLI

  1. Read the status and finished_reason fields from --output-format json and read stderr too. A tool refused for lack of approval still exits 0
  2. Pre-approve each shell command and tool a headless run needs with action(target) rules under permissions.allow in ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/settings.json, because headless runs cannot ask
  3. Export GEMINI_API_KEY after setting modelProvider to gemini. The CLI won't start when the key is missing, and setting the variable alone has no effect
  4. Turn off Enable Telemetry in /config before running on private repositories if Interactions should not be used for product improvement
  5. Grant sandbox access to ~/.docker or ~/.kube explicitly since 1.4.6 if a task needs Docker or Kubernetes credentials

Sculptor

  1. Download from the README's links, connect a repository and create a workspace before prompting
  2. Review the diff before merging a workspace back to main

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Antigravity CLI or Sculptor?

Antigravity CLI scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Sculptor's 53.1 (D), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Sculptor leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

Are Antigravity CLI and Sculptor open source?

No open-source release is listed for Antigravity CLI. Sculptor is open source (MIT).

Other comparisons with Antigravity CLI or Sculptor

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