Boba vs CowAgent

Boba

Boba is a free texting assistant for one-to-one and group chats over iMessage, RCS and SMS, started by sending one message with no card or app. No outside agent can call it, its privacy notice uses inputs and outputs to train its models with no opt-out found, and no status page or security contact was found.

CowAgent

MIT software with seven releases in 90 days, memory kept as plain files in the owner's workspace and three per-session permission modes. Source and Docker installs default to full-access, no action asks for approval, and an open report of 31 July 2026 says group members could reach the owner's files through the bot.

Boba

1. Don't plan to call Boba from another agent. It answers only text messages in the Messages app.
2. Tell people in a group chat that messages sent to Boba may be used to train its models.

CowAgent

1. Set agent_permission_mode to workspace-write or read-only before connecting any channel. Source and Docker installs default to full-access
2. Keep the bot out of group chats that include other people. Any member who mentions it reaches the same tools as the owner
3. Set web_password before changing web_host to 0.0.0.0. The password is empty by default
4. Set external_api_token to enable POST /v1/chat/completions, and send conversation_id to keep one session. The model field does not select a model
5. Run it in a container for a hard boundary. The docs and the source both say the permission modes are not isolation