# AXLR vs Prime Agent (slim)

> AXLR scores 70.6 (BB) to Prime Agent's 60.7 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-prime-agent.md (~6,950 tokens) · this version ~3,580 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-prime-agent.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-prime-agent
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-01
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

AXLR scores 70.6 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.7 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

- AXLR: BB 70.6, rank #168 of 1253 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/axlr.min.md
- Prime Agent: C 60.7, rank #584 of 1253 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.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 65; Schema & documentation, 80 against 42; Agent ergonomics, 83 against 73; Security & auth, 62 against 50. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better.
- Prime Agent, good for Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine. Ahead on Transparency & trust, 67 against 55. Also No key needed to call it.

| Category | AXLR | Prime Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 70 | 65 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 80 | 42 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 83 | 73 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 62 | 50 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 79 | 79 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 55 | 67 |

| Fact (where they differ) | AXLR | Prime Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Underpass AI | Prime Intellect |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Licence | Apache-2.0, with a NOTICE naming Tirso García Ibáñez as the copyright holder | MIT |
| Last release | 2026-10-25 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | yes |
| Popularity | 0 stars | 22k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.8/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, AXLR +38: AXLR 80 (An OpenAPI 3.1 file for the service (15 paths, 23 schemas, `mutualTLS` security scheme, `additionalProperties: false` on request bodies), a checked proto for the gRPC service, and the 19 MCP tools built from the same shared schemas (25). No llms.txt on either site (404), and the docs site renders HTML; the Markdown sources are in the repository (5). The product contract tables what each of the four interfaces can and cannot do, the work-mode table states each mode's purpose and tool policy, the transport parity ledger names every verb's arguments and behaviour, and `axlr_tools` tells the model to look for a tool before forging one (15). Typed inputs throughout, `Idempotency-Key` 16 to 128 safe ASCII characters, `expected_revision` a positive integer, policy levels, sandbox profiles and egress values enumerated, budgets as four integers, and the service rejects unknown fields, invalid types and bodies over 4 MiB (14). Examples in every guide, an error shape of `code`, `message` and `request_id`, named codes (`409 idempotency_conflict`, `400 invalid_cursor`, `422 invalid_policy`, `invalid_budget`, `sandbox_unavailable`, `not_ready`, `invalid_id`), a gRPC status mapping, and the worker's five statuses and three exit codes; no single error reference page (14). `/v1` routes and an OpenAPI version of 0.1.0 against a 0.15.0 release, and no changelog beyond the dated notes inside the docs (7). 25+5+15+14+14+7 = 80.); Prime Agent 42 (Harness reading of the framework line. `--mode json` emits a session event stream and `rpc` and `acp` modes exist, but we found no published schema or reference for them outside the source (10). docs.primeintellect.ai serves an llms.txt that has no Prime Agent page (0). The README states what the agent does, how it differs and that it is not a sandbox, and the bundled skills say when to use each function (10). CLI values are validated with messages that list the valid choices, and MCP tool schemas are read live from the server (7). The README gives the install line and seven commands, and the MCP skill documents its error types, but there is no headless or configuration guide (5). Versioned releases with notes for stable versions, none of substance for nightlies (10).)
- Security & auth, AXLR +12: 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.); Prime Agent 50 (Harness reading of the framework checklist, as used for the other 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. Usage telemetry is on by default. It is pseudonymous, limited to primitive values with no prompts, tool content or file paths per the source, disclosed on first run and mirrored to a local `telemetry.jsonl` (18). No approval prompts were found and there is no sandbox, which the README states. MCP tools can be limited with `enabledTools` and `disabledTools`, and the agent is told to recommend a connection, not make one (4). The README tells users to work only with trusted repositories, instructions and skills. No detection or mitigation found (5). Append-only JSONL session files, a `prime-agent incident` timeline command and the local telemetry mirror (12). The vendor's security policy has a reporting address, safe harbour, response times and discretionary rewards, scoped to its website and API. The repository has no SECURITY.md and no published advisories, CONTRIBUTING.md says to report privately without naming an address, and security.txt returned 404. cargo-deny runs in CI (11).)
- Transparency & trust, Prime Agent +12: AXLR 55 (Apache-2.0 with a NOTICE (30). No privacy policy or terms on underpassai.com or axlr.underpassai.com; the docs' 'Where data goes' and 'Diagnostics and privacy' sections say that model requests go to OpenRouter, the local server or the native API, that Jev sends text to TypeSafe only when on, that sessions live under `$XDG_STATE_HOME/axlr`, that payload capture is off by default and redacted when on, and that traces are deleted after 30 days; nothing covers the engine downloads' or the catalog registry's handling of a client's requests (15). No deprecation policy; pre-1.0 changes are dated inline in the docs and the product contract records the 5 October 2026 retirement of the first skill catalogue after the fact (6). No telemetry to disclose, and the docs say in two places what leaves the machine and how to stop payload capture, though no single page says there is no telemetry (17). 30+15+6+17 = 68.); Prime Agent 67 (MIT in the LICENSE file and Cargo.toml, with a notice that the code is a port of a TypeScript product originally copyright Mario Zechner (30). The first-run notice and the telemetry crate README say what is sent and what is excluded, and name the endpoint and PostHog, but the vendor privacy policy is dated 23 February 2024, does not describe agent telemetry and gives no retention period for it (12). No deprecation policy found. Removed flags are recorded in change fragments (5). Telemetry is disclosed with a setting, a command and two environment variables to turn it off (20).)
- Agent ergonomics, AXLR +10: 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.); Prime Agent 73 (Harness reading, scored on what a person or pipeline driving it has to supply. The model sees three tools (bash, edit, ipython), and MCP tools are searched, described and called from Python instead of being loaded into the prompt (23). Autonomous mode has limits for turns, tokens, time and continuations, a goal token budget and automatic compaction (17). A JSON event stream and exit codes for headless runs, described in the crate README and source only (10). Sessions resume, the daemon restarts workers and restores from JSONL files, refinements can be rolled back and quality gates retry (15). One command starts it and no SDK was found. A provider must be chosen through an interactive `/login` or supplied as a key first (8).)
- Reliability, AXLR +5: 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.); Prime Agent 65 (Read with the local-software lines. The vendor's installer fetches checksummed binaries for macOS and Linux on x64 and arm64, with an npm install needing Node.js 20.6 or later as the fallback, but the stable pointer is the TypeScript build while the Rust code on main ships only on the nightly channel, and Windows builds are beta only (17). A public CI workflow runs fmt, clippy with warnings as errors, sharded workspace tests and cargo-deny, and its badge read passing on 8 October 2026 (25). 20 open issues and 91 open pull requests on 8 October. Issues hold only work the maintainers accepted, and the Discussions bug category lists reports from the past two weeks of session-worker crashes, truncated RPC output and provider hangs, whose reply state we did not read (15). Stable releases carry written notes and changes are recorded as fragments in `.changes`, including the removal of the `--tools` flags, but there is no changelog file, the nightly notes are boilerplate and the project is at 0.x (8). Version 0.9.8, and the Rust build is a beta (0).)