# Crush vs Traycer

> Traycer scores 57 (C) to Crush's 49.8 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-traycer
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-traycer.md (~5,150 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Traycer scores 57 (C) on agent readiness against Crush's 49.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Crush leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do agent harnesses.

- Crush: grade D, 49.8/100, rank #1082 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crush.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crush.json
- Traycer: grade C, 57/100, rank #816 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/traycer.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/traycer.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 1500 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Crush (D)

Good for: Developers who want a Go terminal agent with a wide provider list, local models and Claude Code-compatible hooks.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 55 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 75

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: `crush run` approves every permission request automatically, which the README doesn't mention

### Traycer (C)

Good for: Teams who want several coding agents working together with shared context and boards.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 65 against 52
- Agent ergonomics, 65 against 52

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Crush loses 6 points for them

Watch for: Privacy Mode is opt-in for individuals; with it off, prompts may be logged


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Crush +25

- Crush (55): No payment protocol (0). Scored on Charm's Hyper provider. Its public provider file at hyper.charm.land/v1/provider lists per-million-token figures for 22 models without a login, but no pricing page confirms them as billed rates, and plan prices sit in a script-rendered app (15). The CLI is free to use and runs with your own provider key or a local model, so nothing needs a card (20). A local model through Ollama, llama.cpp or LM Studio, or an existing provider key in the environment, works with no Charm account, so an agent can install it and run a task without a person signing up (20).
- Traycer (30): Scored on the paid option, Traycer's own inference subscription, whose price wasn't read (0 of 20). No protocol (0). Bring-your-own-agent use is free (20). Accounts for sync and teams weren't checked, half (10). 0 + 0 + 20 + 10 = 30.

### Reliability: Traycer +13

- Crush (52): Local-package reading. `@charmland/crush` on npm, a Homebrew tap, Winget, Scoop, AUR, Nix, FreeBSD pkg, Charm's apt and yum repositories and release binaries, with supported platforms named in the README (20). The public build workflow runs `go test -race -failfast ./...` on Linux, macOS and Windows for every push to main and every pull request, but GitHub pages and the API answer 403 to us, so results are unread (15). The 18 October issue and pull request counts came from shields.io badges, a third-party copy of GitHub data, and are struck. The repository's own refs show 2,574 pull requests to #4224, 272 of them open with a merge ref, and 147 merges into main in the 90 days to 4 November. Crash and regression issues couldn't be read (10). Release notes are generated from commit messages, with no CHANGELOG file and no breaking-change headings found. The legacy JSON config is deprecated in favour of `crushrc` while still loading (7, held partial). v0.99.0, before 1.0, with no stability statement (0). 20 + 15 + 10 + 7 + 0 = 52.
- Traycer (65): Local software. Builds for macOS, Linux and Windows, and package-manager publishing workflows (20). test.yml, CodeQL, OpenSSF Scorecard and secret scanning run on the repository; pass state not read (15). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). CHANGELOG.md (15). Host 1.5.3 (15). 20 + 15 + 0 + 15 + 15 = 65.

### Agent ergonomics: Traycer +13

- Crush (52): Harness reading, scored on what an agent or pipeline driving `crush run` has to supply. About 20 built-in tools, any of which `permissions deny` hides, MCP servers take per-server `disabled_tools`, and skills can be turned off or kept out of the model's list. No lazy loading of MCP tools found (17). No turn, time or cost limit on `crush run`, and the only output controls are `--quiet` and `--verbose` (6). Errors come back as plain messages with a non-zero exit, such as the one for an unconfigured provider, with no documented codes and no JSON error record (8). `--session` and `--continue` resume a run, and `crush session list`, `show`, `last`, `rename` and `delete` take `--json` (13). One argument starts a run and environment keys are picked up, but there's no SDK, and the HTTP API needs `CRUSH_CLIENT_SERVER=1` and is described only in one README section (8).
- Traycer (65): Harness reading. Model switching within an agent, agent-to-agent loops, a CLI and cross-device sync (65).

### Maintenance & community: Crush +7

- Crush (82): v0.99.0 tagged on 29 October 2026 (6 days, 30). 21 release tags from 7 August to 29 October, v0.88.1 to v0.99.0, besides a moving `nightly` tag that isn't counted (20). The 18 October shields.io counts are struck. The repository's refs show 147 merges into main and 438 commits in the 90 days to 4 November, with 272 open pull requests carrying a merge ref, and new contributors signing the CLA most days. Reply times couldn't be read (12). No SDK, as with other harnesses. npm, Homebrew, Winget, Scoop, apt, yum and NUR builds come from the release workflow (12, held partial). Dependabot, a `go mod tidy` check in CI and nightly security scans, with CI results unread (8). 30 + 20 + 12 + 12 + 8 = 82.
- Traycer (75): Commits on 6 November 2026 and host 1.5.3 (30). More than three releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current apps and CLI packages (15). CI with tests (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Crush | Traycer | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 52 | 65 | Traycer +13 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 65 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 65 | Traycer +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 41 | 42 | Traycer +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 55 | 30 | Crush +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 75 | Crush +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 60 | Traycer +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **49.8 · D** | **57 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Crush | Traycer |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Charm | Traycer AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | FSL-1.1-MIT (source-available, each release converts to MIT two years after it is made available) | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Popularity | 29k stars, 5.6k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.3/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Crush

- -6.9 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): security, correction
- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: new evidence

### Traycer

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Crush.** Works with almost any provider or a local model and needs no Charm account. `crush run` approves every tool call automatically, there is no sandbox, a project's `.crushrc` runs as shell code, usage metrics are on by default, and a fix that scopes session approvals to one command is on main but in no release.

**Traycer.** An open-source app for running several coding agents together with shared context, agent-to-agent messaging and team boards, on every desktop OS. Privacy Mode is opt-in for individuals, and the README says Sentry and PostHog may be on in release builds.

## Before you call either

### Crush

1. Add `permissions deny` rules or a PreToolUse hook before `crush run`. It approves every permission request in its session, and a session approval in v0.99.0 covers later commands in the same directory
2. Read `.crushrc`, `crushrc` and `crush.json` in a cloned repository before running Crush there. They execute as shell code at startup
3. Set `CRUSH_DISABLE_METRICS=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` to stop usage metrics to data.charm.land
4. Wrap `crush run` in your own timeout. It has no turn, time or cost limit flag
5. Configure a provider by environment variable or `crushrc` first. With none, `crush run` exits with an error asking for interactive setup

### Traycer

1. Turn on Privacy Mode if you're an individual user and don't want prompts logged
2. CLI agents you configure send requests straight to their provider; Traycer's own inference goes through Traycer

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Crush or Traycer?

Traycer scores 57 (C) on agent readiness against Crush's 49.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Crush leads on payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

### Are Crush and Traycer open source?

No open-source release is listed for Crush. Traycer is open source (MIT).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-traycer.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-traycer.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "crush", "b": "traycer"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare crush traycer`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crush.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/traycer.json

## Other comparisons with Crush or Traycer

- [Agent Zero vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-crush.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-traycer.md)
- [Aider vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-crush.md)
- [Aider vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-traycer.md)
- [Amp vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-crush.md)
- [Amp vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-traycer.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-crush.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-traycer.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-crush.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-traycer.md)
- [AXLR vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-crush.md)
- [AXLR vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-traycer.md)
- [Claude Code vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-crush.md)
- [Claude Code vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-traycer.md)
- [Cline vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-crush.md)
- [Cline vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-traycer.md)
- [Conductor vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-crush.md)
- [Conductor vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-traycer.md)
- [Crush vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Crush vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Crush vs dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-deepseek-superagent.md)
- [Crush vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-devin.md)
- [Crush vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Crush vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-emdash.md)
- [Crush vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Crush vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Crush vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-goose.md)
- [Crush vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harness2.md)
- [Crush vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Crush vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-jules.md)
- [Crush vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-junie.md)
- [Crush vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Letta](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-letta.md)
- [Crush vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Crush vs MiniMax Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-minimax-code.md)
- [Crush vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Crush vs OpenAI Agents API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-openai-agents-api.md)
- [Crush vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Crush vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-opencode.md)
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- [Crush vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Crush vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Crush vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Crush vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Crush vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Crush vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Crush vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Crush vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-verdent.md)
- [Crush vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Crush vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-warp.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-traycer.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-traycer.md)
- [dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-traycer.md)
- [Devin vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-traycer.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-traycer.md)
- [Pi vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-traycer.md)
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- [goose vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-traycer.md)
- [Harness² vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-traycer.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-traycer.md)
- [Jules vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-traycer.md)
- [Junie CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-traycer.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-traycer.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-traycer.md)
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- [mini-swe-agent vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-traycer.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-traycer.md)
- [Mistral Vibe CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-vibe-cli-vs-traycer.md)
- [Muse Code vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-traycer.md)
- [OpenAI Agents API vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-api-vs-traycer.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-traycer.md)
- [OpenCode vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-traycer.md)
- [OpenHands vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-traycer.md)
- [Orca vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-traycer.md)
- [Paseo vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-traycer.md)
- [Prime Agent vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-traycer.md)
- [Qoder CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qoder-cli-vs-traycer.md)
- [Qwen Code vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-code-vs-traycer.md)
- [Mirror CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-mirror-vs-traycer.md)
- [Rovo Dev CLI vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rovo-dev-cli-vs-traycer.md)
- [Sculptor vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sculptor-vs-traycer.md)
- [T3 Code vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/t3-code-vs-traycer.md)
- [Traycer vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/traycer-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Traycer vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/traycer-vs-verdent.md)
- [Traycer vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/traycer-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Traycer vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/traycer-vs-warp.md)
- [Clawboo vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-crush.md)
- [Clawboo vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-traycer.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-crush.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-traycer.md)
- [Crush vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Crush vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Crush vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Harness vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-traycer.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-traycer.md)
- [Paperclip vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-traycer.md)
- [Parallax vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallax-agents-vs-traycer.md)

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp