# AXLR vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh) (slim)

> AXLR scores 70.6 (BB) to DeepSeek Harness's 49.5 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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AXLR scores 70.6 (BB) on agent readiness against DeepSeek Harness (dsh)'s 49.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- AXLR: BB 70.6, rank #168 of 1253 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/axlr.min.md
- DeepSeek Harness (dsh): D 49.5, rank #971 of 1253 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepseek-harness.min.md
- AXLR, good for A program or bot that needs one governed execution at a time, with a policy, a budget, a sandbox profile and correlation ids it sets itself and a result object it reads back, on a machine it controls, with the model on OpenRouter, a local server or a native Anthropic or OpenAI key. Ahead on Reliability, 70 against 33; Agent ergonomics, 83 against 68; Security & auth, 62 against 40; Maintenance & community, 79 against 71. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; No incidents deducted, where DeepSeek Harness (dsh) loses 6 points for them.
- DeepSeek Harness (dsh), good for Developers who use DeepSeek models and want a scriptable harness with ACP, a JSON event stream and a Python SDK.

| Category | AXLR | DeepSeek Harness (dsh) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 70 | 33 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 80 | 77 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 83 | 68 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 62 | 40 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 79 | 71 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 55 | 53 |

| Fact (where they differ) | AXLR | DeepSeek Harness (dsh) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Underpass AI | DeepSeek |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Licence | Apache-2.0, with a NOTICE naming Tirso García Ibáñez as the copyright holder | MIT |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-25 | 2026-10-17 |
| Popularity | 0 stars | 245k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Reliability, AXLR +37: AXLR 70 (Read as a local package, as claude-code, goose, opencode and openhands were. Release archives for Linux, macOS and Windows on amd64 and arm64 with a `.sha256` beside each, a GHCR image, an OCI Helm chart and source builds with Go 1.26, all stated in the docs; no Homebrew, npm or apt route (20). CI on main runs vet, race tests and a coverage gate above 80 per cent for both modules, with the sandbox tests required under bubblewrap, and the last ten runs on main to 1 November 2026 all passed; the release workflow tests on six native runners (25). 10 open issues, all opened by the founder on 19 and 21 October 2026 as trackers for service work (work modes, plugins, the sandbox setting, cost limits), none from an outside user and none a crash report, 0 open pull requests and about 100 merged; with 0 stars there is nobody else to report, so the handling of outside reports is untested (20). Tags are semver 0.x and the docs date each behaviour change inline ("until 14 October 2026…"), but the 21 releases have empty notes, there is no CHANGELOG.md, and the product contract records one retirement (the seven 1.0 skill definitions on 5 October 2026) without a notice period (5). Pre-1.0, which the README calls an evolving project (0). 20+25+20+5+0 = 70.); DeepSeek Harness (dsh) 33 (Local-package reading, graded on npm `latest` 0.2.0-rc.2, which the README's `npx @deepseek-ai/dsh` installs. Official npm package with Node 22.19+ and 24+ stated, and a Python wheel for Python 3.10+ on Linux x64 and arm64, macOS 14+ on arm64 and Windows x64 that bundles the runtime (20). A public CI workflow (.github/workflows/ci.yml) with a Node 22.19, 24 and 26 matrix, a separate real-API end-to-end workflow and 25 workflow files in the clone of 18 October, but run results couldn't be read, so whether it passes on master is unconfirmed (10). shields.io reads 0 open and 0 closed issues and 0 pull requests on 18 October. The README and CONTRIBUTING.md send bug reports to GitHub Discussions and refuse external pull requests, so issues are probably turned off, though the counts alone are ambiguous. Discussions couldn't be read, so crash reports and their handling are unchecked and scored absent (0). Alpha, next and latest dist-tags separate channels, but no changelog or breaking-change notes were found and the README warns generally of breaking changes (3). Developer preview, no 1.0 or stable release (0).)
- Security & auth, AXLR +22: AXLR 62 (Harness reading of the framework checklist, as for the other four harnesses. 30 for what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. No product telemetry in the console source (the outbound hosts are openrouter.ai, api.anthropic.com, api.openai.com, a configured local server, api.github.com and github.com for engine downloads, and registry.underpassai.com for the signed catalog index) or in the docs; payload capture is off by default since 9 October 2026, traces omit prompts and credentials, model keys are never given to commands or plugins, and Jev sends requests and answers to TypeSafe only when on, which the setup assistant does when `TYPESAFE_API_KEY` is set, with a notice on stderr (27). Approval cards, a destructive list that always asks, four work modes, a policy level per execution, a bubblewrap or container sandbox with an enforced egress allow list, and a service that approves nothing but reads. Against that, the setup assistant writes `autonomous: true`, `exec_sandbox` is off by default, forged tools run with the person's rights, and the README says the console and worker are not sandboxes (13). Forged tools are refused when a file changes since the forge, a policy forbids calls outside the model, and the docs say MCP tools keep their own side effects, but no prompt-injection guidance was found and MCP results reach the model unmarked (6). The service keeps an event journal, audit records, a receipt with the SHA-256 of every call's arguments and outcome, and correlation ids on every event; the console keeps session records, a redacted app log and `/session` (14). No SECURITY.md, no security.txt on either host, no advisories, no bug bounty; release checksums and a minisign-signed catalog are integrity, not a programme (2). 27+13+6+14+2 = 62.); DeepSeek Harness (dsh) 40 (Harness reading of the framework checklist, 30 for what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. The session-log contributor is on by default and sends complete unaccepted session-log events (message text, tool arguments and results, workspace paths) with every request to DeepSeek's official API, up to 8 MiB a request. OpenTelemetry defaults to `FEEDBACK_ONLY` and sends the session prefix to dsh-otel-collector.deepseeksvc.com after any feedback or rating. Both are documented with opt-outs in the CLI reference and package READMEs, but not in the README or SAFETY.md. Keys stay local (8). `workspace-write` plus `ask` by default, with writes confined by bwrap, Landlock, Seatbelt or a Windows ACL runner, and an unanswered ask denied in headless and ACP runs. Reads and network are not confined, `web_fetch` runs without approval (public destinations only), and the SDK's `sdk-minimal` profile pins `danger-full-access` with no approval service (13). SAFETY.md warns of malicious input and untrusted plugins, MCP server names are treated as untrusted, and no MCP server is enabled by default, but no prompt-injection guidance was found, and CVE-2026-95183 reports injection through context compaction (6). Local JSONL session logs record approval decisions as audit events (12). No SECURITY.md (none in a clone of 18 October either), no security.txt, no bug bounty, and OSV lists no advisory for `@deepseek-ai/dsh` or `deepseek-harness-sdk`. SAFETY.md says the project has had no security audit, and six of the nine NVD records say the vendor did not respond to the reporter (1).)
- Agent ergonomics, AXLR +15: AXLR 83 (Harness reading of the framework line, scored on what a program driving it has to supply. Six local tools plus the host's bookkeeping tools; work modes and an execution policy hide the tools a run may not use, `axlr_catalog` searches the catalog instead of loading it, forged tools keep the request prefix for the prompt cache, and a context cap of 75,000 prompt tokens opens a successor session (20). `local_read`, `local_search` and `local_list` page with `offset`, `next_offset` and `max_bytes`; `StreamEvents` takes `after`, `max_events` (1 to 256) and `wait_ms`; a budget per execution in seconds, requests, tool calls and dollars; 32 tool calls a turn and `max_session_usd` (20). The `--exec` run ends in one `result` line with a status, the pending call, every call's outcome and the usage, and exits 0, 3 or 1; service errors carry codes an agent can act on; a budget stop says which limit (`budget: requests 20 reached`) and leaves the session resumable (16). `Idempotency-Key` on every turn, approval and direct call with cross-transport replay, `expected_revision` on decisions, `expected_sha256` on worker writes, and an interrupted effectful call left `uncertain` for an operator rather than retried (19). One command runs a task, but the first launch needs an OpenRouter key or a local server, the service needs a CA, a principals file and remote KMP and MADE before a first session, and the only SDK is the Go library (8). 20+20+16+19+8 = 83.); DeepSeek Harness (dsh) 68 (Harness reading, scored on what a pipeline driving it has to supply. Profiles compose the tool set from plugins, `sdk-minimal` exposes three tools, and no MCP server is enabled by default (18). Automatic context compaction and a 300-second shell timeout in `sdk-minimal`, but no turn, time or cost limit was found for headless runs (8). Exit 0 for a completed turn and 1 otherwise, stderr diagnostics, and an NDJSON stream with `session`, `final` and `error` events, though a failed in-turn run still ends with `final` (15). `--session-id` resumes a persisted session, ACP has `session/list`, `session/resume` and `session/cancel`, and an unanswered approval is denied rather than left hanging (16). One-argument headless runs, ACP and a Python SDK, with no TypeScript SDK found and a model key required (11).)
- Maintenance & community, AXLR +8: AXLR 79 (v0.15.0 on 2026-10-25, with commits on main to 2026-11-01 (30). 21 releases between 4 and 25 October 2026 (20). One maintainer (368 of 399 commits, the rest by two agent accounts), 10 open issues that are his own trackers with no comments, about 100 merged pull requests and no outside report to measure a reply against (15). Not in the MCP registry; the Go module and a proto to generate clients from are the only client code, beside the GHCR image and Helm chart (5). Go 1.26 toolchain pinned, release actions pinned by commit SHA, a go-licenses check that the third-party bundle matches the dependency graph, and CI passing on main (9). 30+20+15+5+9 = 79.); DeepSeek Harness (dsh) 71 (0.2.1-rc.2 on npm and 0.2.1rc2 on PyPI on 17 October 2026 (30). 36 npm versions since 10 August 2026, with 14 since 18 September, and 32 `dsh-v` tags in the 90 days to 18 October in a clone of the repository (20). CONTRIBUTING.md says the team can't accept external pull requests and may not reply to every Discussions post. shields.io reads 0 issues and 0 pull requests, open or closed, which fits issues being turned off. The clone shows 22,395 commits since 10 June 2026, 8,645 of them merges, which says little about replies to users. Reply times in Discussions are unchecked (5). The Python SDK ships with each release, still as a pre-release (10). A CI workflow with a Node version matrix exists, with its current state unconfirmed (6).)