Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Antigravity CLI vs Verdent

Antigravity CLI scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Verdent's 39.7 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. 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 55
  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 35
  • Security & auth, 53 against 33
  • Payments & pricing, 30 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 68 against 61

Watch for

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

Verdent E

Best for A person who wants a desktop app to plan and run several coding tasks at once, possibly on their own Claude Code or Codex.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

No CLI, print mode, API or SDK, so a pipeline can't start or read a run except through a paired chat bot

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.

Agent ergonomics Antigravity CLI +43

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.

Verdent 35

Harness reading. MCP servers per project or globally, subagents, skills and rules, but no per-tool disabling or deferred loading found (10). No output-size, turn-limit or budget controls for a run were found beyond credit balances (5). No exit codes or error format, since there is no headless mode (3). Parallel workers in git worktrees and a review column make runs reviewable and reversible, with no resume by ID documented (10). No CLI, API or SDK. A pipeline can only reach Manager through a paired Telegram, Slack or Feishu bot (7). 10+5+3+10+7 = 35.

Schema & documentation Antigravity CLI +23

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.

Verdent 55

Framework reading for a harness. No schema for settings or output, only mcp.json examples in the standard mcpServers shape (5). Every current docs page has a Markdown twin at the same path with .md, though no llms.txt (10). The docs say when to use Agent Mode or Plan Mode and what Plan Mode can't do, but the Agent Mode page lists the actions that need approval only as "certain tool executions" and "destructive operations" (12). Modes and BYOA agent types are enumerated, permissions are not (5). Examples on the MCP, BYOA and messaging pages, and a recovery page, with no error codes (8). Version numbers and a dated public changelog (15). The archived 1.0 docs are still served beside the current ones. 5+10+12+5+8+15 = 55.

Security & auth Antigravity CLI +20

Antigravity CLI 53

Framework reading (credentials and telemetry defaults, approvals and sandboxing, guardrails, audit, security programme), five lines. Credentials are a Google account sign-in kept in the operating system keyring, or a Gemini API key in settings.json. The README says using the CLI allows Google to collect Interactions until the user opts out (10). Since 1.3.5 on macOS and Linux and 1.4.4 on Windows 11 24H2 the default for personal accounts is Auto mode, which runs commands in the terminal sandbox, hides ~/.ssh, .env and, since 1.4.6, ~/.docker and ~/.kube, blocks network access outside approved domains, and has a separate agent review commands that leave the sandbox. Auto approves file edits and safe commands without asking, Turbo turns the sandbox off, and business accounts start in Default (18). Hooks run before and after tool calls and can block one, and since 1.4.11 a PreInvocation hook can stop a turn. No documented defence against prompt injection in fetched content was found (7). The CLI log records model resolution, and approvals show in the conversation, but no exportable audit log was found (10). google.com has a valid security.txt with reports to g.co/vulnz (per the 10 October check), antigravity.google serves none, no CLI advisory appears in the changelog, and NVD returns no CVE for Antigravity on 4 November. The repository's advisory page couldn't be read (8). 10+18+7+10+8 = 53.

Verdent 33

Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing). Conversation history and tool results go to Verdent's US servers and on to Azure, Bedrock or Vertex, with zero data retention stated for Vertex and Bedrock only. Event logging to log.verdent.ai has no documented opt-out. BYOA keys stay on the machine (10). Plan Mode is read-only, Agent Mode asks before destructive commands and edits outside scope, and workers are isolated by git worktree, but there is no sandbox or network control and the approval list isn't enumerated (9). No prompt-injection guidance found, while web search and fetch results enter the context (2). Usage history in the dashboard, no audit log found (5). A security page with a disclosure address and a five-day acknowledgement, SOC 2 and ISO/IEC 42001 being pursued rather than held, no security.txt and no bug bounty (7). 10+9+2+5+7 = 33.

Payments & pricing Antigravity CLI +10

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.

Verdent 20

Harness reading of the published rubric, scored on the Verdent subscription the agent needs. No payment protocol (0). Plan prices from $5 a month, top-up prices and the credit value of about $0.059 are public without a login (20). Free Mode and the free trial ended on 29 October 2026, so there is no free tier (0). A person signs up in a browser (0). 0+20+0+0 = 20.

Maintenance & community Antigravity CLI +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.

Verdent 61

Closed service. v2.18.0 on 29 October 2026, eight days before this check (30). More than three dated releases in the 90 days from 8 August, among them 2.10.0 to 2.18.0 (20). A dated public changelog, a support address, Discord and a subreddit, with no public tracker to read reply times (8). No official SDK or MCP server to keep current (0). No public packages or CI to judge (3). 30+20+8+0+3 = 61.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runAntigravity CLIVerdentEdge
Reliability16%204343even
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27855Antigravity CLI +23
Agent ergonomics13%16.27835Antigravity CLI +43
Security & auth14%17.55333Antigravity CLI +20
Payments & pricing10%12.53020Antigravity CLI +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86861Antigravity CLI +7
Transparency & trust7%8.85555even
Negative events≤15-3-2
TotalC 54.7/100E 39.7/100

Facts side by side

FactAntigravity CLIVerdent
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorGoogleVerdent AI, Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumPaid
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 PolicyProprietary. The terms of use from Verdent AI, Inc. forbid reverse engineering or copying any component, and no source is published
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-302026-10-29
Terms last updatedno date given2026-05-25
Privacy policy last updated2026-10-012026-05-26
Customer content may train modelsyes, with an opt-outyes
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textyes
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text

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.

Verdent

A desktop and editor coding agent that splits a goal into parallel workers in git worktrees, with a read-only Plan Mode, MCP servers and the option to run workers on Claude Code or Codex. It has no CLI, API or sandbox, sends context through Verdent's servers, and has had no free tier since 29 October 2026.

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

Verdent

  1. Don't plan to drive Verdent headless. Hand the task to the person using the desktop app, or use a harness with a print mode
  2. Start large changes in Plan Mode and review plan.md before switching to Agent Mode
  3. Add MCP servers in the project's .mcp.json or ~/.verdent/mcp.json in the mcpServers shape
  4. Keep work under git, since rollback relies on git and there is no sandbox
  5. Budget in credits at about $0.059 each, because there is no free allowance since 29 October 2026

Questions

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

Antigravity CLI scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Verdent's 39.7 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

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