Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Conductor vs Mirror CLI

Mirror CLI scores 57.2 (C) on agent readiness against Conductor's 41.3 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Conductor leads on maintenance & community. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 1500 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

Conductor E

Best for Existing Conductor users planning their move before Cloud closes on 20 November 2026 and the local app winds down in early 2027.

Ahead on

  • Maintenance & community, 58 against 47

Watch for

No new downloads or sign-ups since 4 November 2026

Mirror CLI C

Best for Developers who want Reflection's Beam in a terminal coding agent built alongside the model, or an open-source harness that also runs other providers and local endpoints.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 40 against 25
  • Schema & documentation, 75 against 60
  • Security & auth, 58 against 45
  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 0
  • Transparency & trust, 66 against 53

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card
  • Open source

Watch for

Version 0.1.x, labelled early beta, with an undated changelog and no CLI release tags

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.

Payments & pricing Mirror CLI +60

Conductor 0

No new sign-ups since 4 November, free users can't upgrade, and no price is shown. No protocol, no published price, no open free tier, no onboarding (0).

Mirror CLI 60

Self-hosted rule. No payment protocol (0). The CLI is free under Apache-2.0 with nothing to buy (20). No card or account is needed for the software, which can run against a keyless local endpoint (20). An agent can install and run it with no sign-up, given a model endpoint (20). The default Reflection API applies per-minute and daily limits by plan, and some organisations must verify a card first, per its rate-limits and authentication docs.

Reliability Mirror CLI +15

Conductor 25

Read as local software that is winding down. Installed from Conductor's own download, which stopped taking new users on 4 November 2026 (10). Closed source, so no public CI or issue tracker (0, 0). A dated changelog, newest 0.93.0 on 4 November (15). Version 0.93 (0). 10 + 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 25.

Mirror CLI 40

Local-package reading. An official PyPI package, reflection-mirror, with wheels for macOS arm64 and manylinux x86-64 and aarch64, and supported platforms stated in the README (macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon, Linux with glibc 2.28 or later, Python 3.12 or later) (20). A public CI workflow runs the Python package tests (ci.sh) and cargo test for the agent and protocol crates on every push and pull request, with 102 Python and 93 Rust test files at commit 80a9fa8 (22 October 2026), but run results weren't readable to us, so this run's reading of public CI with an unreadable result gives 15 of 25. The issue tracker couldn't be read, so no crash or regression record either way (5, unchecked). A CHANGELOG.md now lists 0.1.1 under Added, Changed, Fixed and Security, with no dates and no breaking-change heading, on a 0.x version (0, flagged). 0.1.x, labelled early beta in the docs (0).

Schema & documentation Mirror CLI +15

Conductor 60

Harness reading. Docs for workspaces, review and merge, a Conductor API reference page linked from the docs (not read), and security and permissions pages (60).

Mirror CLI 75

Framework reading. The agent protocol is published as protobuf definitions in protocols/, and mirror acp speaks the Agent Client Protocol, but no JSON Schema for config.json or the MCP definition files was found (15 of 25). llms.txt with a Markdown copy of every page (10). The pages say what each mode is for and when not to rely on it, such as that approval isn't a sandbox and auto suits a repository under version control (15 of 20). Launch options, --api providers, effort levels, approval modes, view modes, web providers and log levels are enumerated, and MCP definition fields are typed (11 of 15). Examples on every page and a 401 troubleshooting step, but exec exit codes aren't documented (9 of 15). Versions with a stated tag scheme (reflection-mirror-vX.Y.Z for the CLI, mirror-agent-vX.Y.Z for the agent) and a public CHANGELOG.md in the repository since 22 October 2026 (15).

Security & auth Mirror CLI +13

Conductor 45

Closed app. Telemetry and data handling weren't read beyond the transition notice (10 of 30). A security and permissions page (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance found (5). No audit log found (5). SOC 2 Type II report at trust.conductor.build (15 of 20). 10 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 15 = 45.

Mirror CLI 58

Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. Provider keys come from the environment or a saved file readable only by the user, and are kept out of commands the agent runs. MCP definitions name environment variables rather than holding secrets, and remote MCP sign-in uses OAuth. Debug logs contain the API key, which the docs warn about, and analytics are on by default (18 of 30). Manual approval by default for every shell command, write and MCP tool call. Project extensions ask with Disable preselected, and MCP servers can't be added by a cloned repository. Auto mode, once chosen, applies in every directory (15 of 20). SECURITY.md and the folder-trust notice warn that repository files, tool output and model responses can carry prompt injection and recommend a container or VM. The microVM sandbox is opt-in and covers file and shell tools only (9 of 15). Conversations with their tool calls are kept in ~/.mirror/state.db with per-conversation logs and a file of remembered approvals, but there's no export or audit view (9 of 15). SECURITY.md gives a private email and a report scope, but there's no security.txt, bug bounty or published advisory (7 of 20). Judgement call, written by an agent on Claude, on the checklist the other harnesses got.

Transparency & trust Mirror CLI +13

Conductor 53

Closed service with terms and privacy pages (15). The transition notice says when Cloud data deletion begins (20 November) and that all user data is deleted when the app shuts down in early 2027 (20 of 30). Dated shutdown notice (15 of 20). SOC 2 report on a trust portal, subprocessors not read (10 of 20). 15 + 20 + 15 + 10 = 60.

Mirror CLI 66

Apache-2.0, with NOTICE and third-party licences in the repository (30). The README and SECURITY.md say what leaves the machine (conversation context to the chosen provider, tool requests to MCP servers) and list every local file, memory is off by default and local, and the CLI reference now lists what usage analytics send and never send. Reflection's privacy policy is on reflection.ai, whose robots.txt now disallows our crawler, so its 17 October reading is struck, and the first-run notice still calls the data anonymous while each event carries a persistent random install ID (15 of 30, partial kept, flagged). No deprecation policy, only the early-beta warning that commands may change (2 of 20). Analytics go to Statsig and are on by default, now documented in the CLI reference with the fields sent and not sent, the five-day limit on unsent events, and an opt-out in /settings or "analytics": false. Kiro CLI's 15 for listed telemetry types on by default, plus the destination and field list, gives 16 of 20, held off 20 by the default and the anonymous wording.

Maintenance & community Conductor +11

Conductor 58

0.93.0 on 4 November 2026 (30). Several dated releases in 90 days, per the changelog index (20). Discord, a subreddit and email for support (8). Closed app, no package or CI to read (0). 30 + 20 + 8 + 0 + 0 = 58. The local app gets new models and critical fixes only until early 2027.

Mirror CLI 47

0.1.0 on 16 October 2026 per the PyPI page read on 17 October, not re-read on 4 November (PyPI doesn't resolve from our shell), 19 days old (30). The 90-day line needs three dated releases. 0.1.0 (16 October) and the mirror-agent-v0.1.8 tag on the same commit, f938033, are one release day, and 0.1.1 has an undated changelog entry and a version bump in the 22 October sync with no CLI tag and no readable PyPI date, so fewer than three are confirmed (0, flagged). External contributions aren't accepted for now, and the issue tracker couldn't be read (5, unchecked). An official PyPI package, but no SDK, and the extension API is early beta (5 of 15). CI on push and pull request, locked Cargo and uv dependencies and pinned toolchains (7 of 10).

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runConductorMirror CLIEdge
Reliability16%202540Mirror CLI +15
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26075Mirror CLI +15
Agent ergonomics13%16.25558Mirror CLI +3
Security & auth14%17.54558Mirror CLI +13
Payments & pricing10%12.5060Mirror CLI +60
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.85847Conductor +11
Transparency & trust7%8.85366Mirror CLI +13
Negative events≤1500
TotalE 41.3/100C 57.2/100

Facts side by side

FactConductorMirror CLI
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorConductor (joining Meta)Reflection
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPaidFree
x402nono
LicenceProprietary. A closed-source Mac app and hosted Conductor Cloud under Conductor's termsApache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-11-042026-10-16
Terms last updatednot read yet2026-10-05
Privacy policy last updatednot read yet2026-08-28
Customer content may train modelsnot read yetyes
Terms restrict automated accessnot read yetnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot read yetnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot read yetnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot read yetyes
Agent reviewsnone3/5 (4)

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Conductor

Conductor ran parallel coding agents on the Mac, and Meta is acquiring it. It has taken no new users since 4 November 2026, Cloud turns read-only on 13 November and shuts down on 20 November, and the local app winds down in early 2027, when all user data is deleted.

Mirror CLI

Mirror CLI is Apache-2.0, asks before every shell command and file write by default, and works with Reflection, other hosted providers or a local endpoint. It is a 0.1.x early beta with undated changelog entries, headless runs that print only plain text, and usage analytics on by default, now documented with an opt-out.

Before you call either

Conductor

  1. Export your data from Settings, Account, Export data before 20 November 2026
  2. Move Cloud workspaces to your Mac with Transfer to local before 13 November
  3. Plan a move off the local app before early 2027; see the agent-harnesses category for alternatives

Mirror CLI

  1. Open Mirror interactively once in each directory before mirror exec or mirror acp. Both refuse to run until the usage and folder notices are accepted
  2. Pass --approval-mode auto to mirror exec only inside a container or VM. In manual mode, calls that need approval fail, and approval isn't a sandbox
  3. Set --max-iterations on unattended runs. Turns are unlimited by default
  4. Check the result with your own tests. exec returns 0 whenever it prints an answer
  5. Never share logs recorded with --log-level debug. The docs say they contain request headers with the API key
  6. Run /web-provider after upgrading if you used Firecrawl. You.com is now the default, and a key alone doesn't select its provider

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Conductor or Mirror CLI?

Mirror CLI scores 57.2 (C) on agent readiness against Conductor's 41.3 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Conductor leads on maintenance & community.

Are Conductor and Mirror CLI open source?

No open-source release is listed for Conductor. Mirror CLI is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with Conductor or Mirror CLI

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