{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "cursor-cli", "name": "Cursor CLI", "vendor": "Cursor", "vendorUrl": "https://cursor.com/cli", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Cursor's coding agent in the terminal, run as `agent` (also `cursor-agent`).", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json", "dns": "cursor-cli.grade.anchorterminal.com", "license": "Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "`agent login` through a browser, or an API key passed with `--api-key` or `CURSOR_API_KEY` for headless runs.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Hobby is free with limited Agent requests and needs no card. Individual is $20 a month, Teams $40 a user a month and Enterprise by quote. Every plan includes a set amount of model usage, with on-demand usage billed in arrears, and the pricing page gives no dollar or request figure for either (checked 2026-10-02).", "priceSummary": "$20 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-02).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-02" }, "docsUrl": "https://cursor.com/docs/cli/overview", "llmsTxt": "https://cursor.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "official", "harness", "coding-agent", "cli", "closed-source", "mcp", "llms-txt", "free-tier", "no-card", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-28", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 35.4, "grade": "F", "agentReady": false, "rank": 1374, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 55, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 42, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 25, "reliability": 27, "schema": 39, "security": 46, "transparency": 60 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "low", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": -5, "negativeNotes": [ "2025-10-02 and 2025-11-03. Four high advisories that name the CLI, all fixed. Remote code execution in Cursor CLI through Cursor Agent MCP OAuth2 communication (GHSA-wj33-264c-j9cq), arbitrary code execution through a permissive CLI config (GHSA-v64q-396f-7m79), a sensitive-file overwrite bypass in the CLI agent (GHSA-x2vq-h6v6-jhc6) and command injection through an untrusted MCP configuration in Cursor CLI Beta (GHSA-4hwr-97q3-37w2). All older than six months, so 1 point each (https://github.com/cursor/cursor/security/advisories)", "2026-01-14. GHSA-82wg-qcm4-fp2w, high, terminal tool allowlist bypass through environment variables. It doesn't name the CLI, which runs the same terminal tool and allowlist idea. Fixed and published, 1 point. Judgement call. We left out the 2026 sandbox escapes titled for Cursor Desktop and Cloud Agents (https://github.com/cursor/cursor/security/advisories)" ], "verdict": "Allow and deny rules for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools, with deny taking precedence. No CLI changelog, and versions are dates.", "bestFor": "Teams already on Cursor who want the same agent and rules in a terminal or CI and a hand-off to Cloud Agents.", "strengths": [ "Allow and deny rules for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools, with deny taking precedence", "Print mode with text, json and stream-json output, plus `--resume` and `--continue`", "Plan and ask (read-only) modes alongside the default agent mode", "Hands a task to Cloud Agents by prefixing the message with `\u0026`", "A free Hobby plan with no card, and a status page with a CLI component" ], "weaknesses": [ "No CLI changelog, and versions are dates", "The install script checks no checksum or signature", "No documentation of CLI telemetry or of what runs without approval by default", "Four high advisories named the CLI in October and November 2025", "Closed source, with no public issue tracker" ], "agentNotes": [ "Pass `--trust` in headless runs, or the workspace prompt stops a run with no terminal", "Write deny rules in .cursor/cli.json before using `--force`. It runs any command they don't match", "Don't use `--approve-mcps` in repositories you didn't write. Two 2025 CLI advisories came through MCP", "Set `CURSOR_API_KEY` in CI. `agent login` opens a browser", "Record `agent --version` with each run. Versions are dates and there's no CLI changelog to compare against" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 1.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "low", "grade": "F", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 35.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 42, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 25, "reliability": 27, "schema": 39, "security": 46, "transparency": 27 }, "provenanceScore": 92, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-10-01", "maintenance": "2026-10-01", "payments": "2026-10-01", "reliability": "2026-10-01", "schema": "2026-10-01", "security": "2026-10-01", "transparency": "2026-10-01" }, "last": "2026-10-01", "lastMoved": "2026-10-27", "oldest": "2026-10-01", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "curl https://cursor.com/install -fsS | bash", "headless": { "run": "agent -p \"fix the failing test\" --output-format json --trust" } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/cursor-cli" }, "sameCompany": [ "cursor-agent-sdk", "grok-bot" ], "area": "frameworks", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Individual plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 20, "note": "includes a set amount of model usage" }, { "item": "Teams", "unit": "seat-month", "usd": 40, "note": "per user" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Anysphere, Inc.", "domain": "cursor.com", "domainRegistered": "1995-12-20", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://cursor.com/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://cursor.com/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.cursor.com", "changelog": "https://cursor.com/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "The terms of service (updated 3 September 2026) name Anysphere, Inc.", "RDAP (Verisign) gives cursor.com a registration date of 1995-12-20, long before Anysphere.", "cursor.com/.well-known/security.txt has a Contact line pointing to Cursor's GitHub security advisories and no Expires line, which RFC 9116 requires. The site's tracker reads a file with a Contact and no Expires as valid.", "The changelog covers all of Cursor, and we found no CLI-only changelog." ], "score": 92 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.json", "live": { "slug": "cursor-cli", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.cursor.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T18:21:00.264482028Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://cursor.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:25.031295704Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://cursor.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T15:32:16.017227163Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "cursor.com", "registered": "1995-12-20", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/cursor.com", "checkedAt": "2026-11-01T14:10:15.995316039Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://cursor.com/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T14:02:15.591566673Z", "changedAt": "2026-11-07T14:02:15.591566673Z", "fingerprint": "ded6edd65638" }, { "url": "https://cursor.com/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-27T03:41:16.606560209Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-21T00:22:04.890633076Z", "fingerprint": "60c67a53fa8c" }, { "url": "https://cursor.com/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-27T03:41:18.553221655Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-21T00:22:07.052190293Z", "fingerprint": "d31f70e876bc" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T18:21:00.264482028Z" } }, "answer": "Emdash scores 53.9 (D) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.4 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cursor CLI leads on security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "emdash", "name": "Emdash", "vendor": "General Action, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://emdash.sh", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Emdash is an open-source desktop app that runs coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Amp in parallel, each in its own Git worktree, locally or on remote machines over SSH, with issue intake and pull requests.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/emdash", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/emdash.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/emdash.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/emdash.json", "dns": "emdash.grade.anchorterminal.com", "repo": "https://github.com/generalaction/emdash", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "none", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and open source. You pay for the coding agents it runs, through your own subscriptions or API keys (checked 2026-11-07).", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No payment protocol in the repository or README (checked 2026-11-07).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-11-07" }, "docsUrl": "https://emdash.sh/docs", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "apache-2.0", "desktop-app", "telemetry", "new" ], "lastRelease": "2026-11-06", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 53.9, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 927, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1486, "categoryRank": 35, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 55, "maintenance": 70, "payments": 60, "reliability": 55, "schema": 55, "security": 38, "transparency": 54 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "low", "date": "2026-11-07" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "A mature open-source app for parallel coding agents in Git worktrees, with issue intake from a dozen trackers and remote machines over SSH. Telemetry is on unless you turn it off, and no test workflow was found in the repository.", "bestFor": "Developers who want parallel agents in worktrees, fed from their issue tracker, locally or over SSH.", "strengths": [ "Each task in its own Git worktree and branch", "Issues from Linear, GitHub, Jira, GitLab, Asana and more go straight to an agent", "Works on remote machines over SSH", "Apache 2.0, version 1.2, with macOS, Windows and Linux builds" ], "weaknesses": [ "Telemetry on unless turned off in Settings or with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false", "No test workflow found, only consistency and release workflows", "No security policy file" ], "agentNotes": [ "Launch with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false if you don't want telemetry", "Use the SSH mode to keep agents on a remote machine" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "low", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 53.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 55, "maintenance": 70, "payments": 60, "reliability": 55, "schema": 55, "security": 38, "transparency": 68 }, "provenanceScore": 40, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-11-07", "maintenance": "2026-11-07", "payments": "2026-11-07", "reliability": "2026-11-07", "schema": "2026-11-07", "security": "2026-11-07", "transparency": "2026-11-07" }, "last": "2026-11-07", "oldest": "2026-11-07", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "brew install --cask emdash" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/emdash" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "General Action, Inc.", "domain": "emdash.sh", "domainRegistered": "", "domainNote": "Not looked up: RDAP isn't requested under the 1 November 2026 rules.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-11-07", "notes": [ "The licence names General Action, Inc.. The repository is github.com/generalaction/emdash." ], "score": 40 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/emdash.json", "live": { "slug": "emdash", "securityTxt": { "url": "https://emdash.sh/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:15.230445185Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-11-07T16:01:15.230445185Z" } }, "edges": [ { "by": 35, "category": "payments", "leads": "emdash", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "reasons": { "a": "Harness reading of the published rubric. No payment protocol (0). Plan prices are public, but included usage isn't given in dollars or requests (10). Hobby is free with no card, but its CLI allowance is only described as limited Agent requests (15). A person signs in through a browser to use it or to get an API key (0).", "b": "Free self-hosted software with nothing to buy, so 0 for a protocol and 20 each for public pricing, a free tier and onboarding with no sign-up, 60." }, "scores": { "a": 25, "b": 60 } }, { "by": 28, "category": "reliability", "leads": "emdash", "name": "Reliability", "reasons": { "a": "Local-package reading. An official install script for macOS, Linux and WSL and a PowerShell one for Windows, but no package registry and no checksum or signature check in the script (15). No public CI or test suite, since the source isn't published (0). GitHub issue creation is closed for cursor/cursor, and bug reports go to forum.cursor.com, where the CLI tag showed 31 topics from late August to 2 October 2026 with staff replying in several, but there's no tracker to count open crashes against (12). Date-based versions (2026.09.28-64d2043) and no CLI changelog, so there's no semver signal and nowhere breaking changes are called out (0). Not 1.0 and not declared stable. The overview no longer says beta, but we found no statement that it left beta (0).", "b": "Local software. Homebrew cask and installers for macOS, Windows and Linux (20). A code-consistency check and release workflows; no test workflow found (10). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Stable tags to v1.2.11, release notes on GitHub (10). Version 1.2.11 (15). 20 + 10 + 0 + 10 + 15 = 55." }, "scores": { "a": 27, "b": 55 } }, { "by": 16, "category": "schema", "leads": "emdash", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "reasons": { "a": "Framework reading. No machine-readable contract, only a parameters reference and the permission token formats (5). cursor.com/llms.txt lists the CLI pages with Markdown twins (10). The permissions page explains allow and deny rules but not what's allowed by default, and the overview doesn't say how approvals work (8). Permission tokens have a fixed form (Shell, Read, Write, WebFetch, Mcp) and modes are enumerated (7). Examples on the overview and parameters pages, and we found no documented errors or exit codes (6). No CLI changelog, and versions are dates (3).", "b": "Harness reading. Docs site and a workspace server package (55)." }, "scores": { "a": 39, "b": 55 } }, { "by": 13, "category": "ergonomics", "leads": "emdash", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "reasons": { "a": "Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. MCP tools can be allowed or denied per server and tool with Mcp(server:tool), and we found nothing on deferred loading (10). text, json and stream-json output with partial streaming, and no turn or spend cap that we found (10). No documented error format or exit codes (5). `--resume` and `--continue` (12). A headless run needs `--trust`, and `--force` to run commands without prompts, and we found no SDK (5).", "b": "Harness reading. Issue intake from Linear, GitHub, Jira and others, diff review, pull requests and CI checks in one place, local or over SSH (55)." }, "scores": { "a": 42, "b": 55 } }, { "by": 8, "category": "security", "leads": "cursor-cli", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "reasons": { "a": "Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. We found no description of what the CLI sends home. Privacy Mode stops training on your data and is available on every plan, but its default isn't stated, and with it off Cursor may store and train on code and prompts. Headless runs use a long-lived API key (8). Allow and deny lists for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools with deny winning, plan and ask modes, and `--sandbox`, but `--force`, `--yolo` and `--approve-mcps` switch the checks off, and the docs don't say what the CLI allows by default or whether team-enforced run modes reach it (12). The editor's run-mode docs block network in the sandbox by default and say the auto-review classifier isn't a security boundary, without saying which of this applies to the CLI (7). Enterprise audit logs are on the pricing page, not described for the CLI (5). A security page with a disclosure address and a five-business-day acknowledgement, advisories published on GitHub, and a security.txt contact, but no bug bounty that we found (14). SOC 2 and ISO 27001 aren't scored on the framework reading.", "b": "Harness reading. Telemetry is described as optional and disabled in Settings or with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false, which reads as on by default (15 of 30). Worktree per task and remote machines over SSH (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). No security policy file found (3). 15 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 3 = 38." }, "scores": { "a": 46, "b": 38 } }, { "by": 8, "category": "maintenance", "leads": "emdash", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "reasons": { "a": "Version 2026.09.28-64d2043, dated 28 September 2026 (30). Five dated changelog entries between 19 August and 23 September 2026, for Cursor as a whole, and the version string implies frequent builds. Judgement call, since none of the entries is CLI-only (20). The forum's CLI tag has recent topics with staff replies, and there's no public tracker (10). No SDK found (0). No public CI, and an installer without integrity checks (2).", "b": "v1.2.11 on 6 November 2026 (30). v1.2.9, v1.2.10 and v1.2.11 within two weeks (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current installers and Homebrew cask (15). Release workflows, no test CI (5). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 5 = 70." }, "scores": { "a": 62, "b": 70 } } ], "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Cursor", "b": "General Action, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published", "b": "Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-28", "b": "2026-11-06", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-09-03", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-09-29", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not read yet", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not read yet", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not read yet", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not read yet", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not read yet", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "1.5/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Emdash scores 53.9 (D) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.4 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cursor CLI leads on security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Cursor CLI or Emdash?" }, { "answer": "No open-source release is listed for Cursor CLI. Emdash is open source (Apache-2.0).", "question": "Are Cursor CLI and Emdash open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Security \u0026 auth, 46 against 38", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 60 against 54" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Teams already on Cursor who want the same agent and rules in a terminal or CI and a hand-off to Cloud Agents.", "slug": "cursor-cli", "watchFor": "No CLI changelog, and versions are dates" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 55 against 27", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 55 against 39", "Agent ergonomics, 55 against 42", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 25", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 70 against 62" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it", "Open source", "No incidents deducted, where Cursor CLI loses 5 points for them" ], "goodFor": "Developers who want parallel agents in worktrees, fed from their issue tracker, locally or over SSH.", "slug": "emdash", "watchFor": "Telemetry on unless turned off in Settings or with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false" } ], "history": { "cursor-cli": [ { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-27", "delta": 0.1, "from": 35.3, "fromGrade": "F", "to": 35.4, "toGrade": "F" }, { "causes": [ "method" ], "date": "2026-10-08", "delta": -0.5, "from": 35.8, "fromGrade": "F", "to": 35.3, "toGrade": "F" } ], "emdash": null }, "job": { "capability": "agent.harness", "name": "Agent harnesses" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Agent Zero vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Agent Zero vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Aider vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Aider vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Amp vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Amp vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Auggie CLI vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Auggie CLI vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "AXLR vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-emdash.json", "title": "AXLR vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Cline vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Conductor vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Conductor vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Crush vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Crush vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-deepseek-harness.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-deepseek-harness" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-deepseek-superagent.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-deepseek-superagent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-devin.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Devin", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-devin" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-droid-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Droid CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-droid-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-earendil-pi.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Pi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-earendil-pi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-gemini-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Gemini CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-gemini-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-github-copilot-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs GitHub Copilot CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-github-copilot-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harnessrouter.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs HarnessRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harnessrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-jules.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Jules", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-jules" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-junie.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Junie CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-junie" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kilo-code-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Kilo Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kilo-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kimi-code-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Kimi Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kimi-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-letta.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Letta", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-letta" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs mini-swe-agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-minimax-code.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs MiniMax Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-minimax-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Mistral Vibe CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-mistral-vibe-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-muse-code.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Muse Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-muse-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-agents-api.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Agents API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-agents-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openmausbot.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs OpenMausBot", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openmausbot" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-orca.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Orca", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-orca" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-paseo.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Paseo", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-paseo" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qoder-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Qoder CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qoder-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-reflection-mirror" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-rovo-dev-cli.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Rovo Dev CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-rovo-dev-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-sculptor.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Sculptor", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-sculptor" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-t3-code.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs T3 Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-t3-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-traycer.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Traycer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-traycer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-unstoppable.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Unstoppable", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-unstoppable" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-verdent.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Verdent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-verdent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-vibe-trading.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Vibe-Trading", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-vibe-trading" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-warp.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-warp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-emdash.json", "title": "DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-emdash.json", "title": "dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Devin vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Droid CLI vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Pi vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-gemini-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs Gemini CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-gemini-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-github-copilot-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs GitHub Copilot CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-github-copilot-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-goose.json", "title": "Emdash vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Emdash vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harnessrouter.json", "title": "Emdash vs HarnessRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harnessrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-jules.json", "title": "Emdash vs Jules", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-jules" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-junie.json", "title": "Emdash vs Junie CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-junie" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kilo-code-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs Kilo Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kilo-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kimi-code-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs Kimi Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kimi-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-letta.json", "title": "Emdash vs Letta", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-letta" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-mini-swe-agent.json", "title": "Emdash vs mini-swe-agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-mini-swe-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-minimax-code.json", "title": "Emdash vs MiniMax Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-minimax-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs Mistral Vibe CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-mistral-vibe-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-muse-code.json", "title": "Emdash vs Muse Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-muse-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openai-agents-api.json", "title": "Emdash vs OpenAI Agents API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openai-agents-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Emdash vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Emdash vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Emdash vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openmausbot.json", "title": "Emdash vs OpenMausBot", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-openmausbot" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-orca.json", "title": "Emdash vs Orca", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-orca" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-paseo.json", "title": "Emdash vs Paseo", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-paseo" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Emdash vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-qoder-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs Qoder CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-qoder-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Emdash vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "Emdash vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-reflection-mirror" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-rovo-dev-cli.json", "title": "Emdash vs Rovo Dev CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-rovo-dev-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-sculptor.json", "title": "Emdash vs Sculptor", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-sculptor" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-t3-code.json", "title": "Emdash vs T3 Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-t3-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-traycer.json", "title": "Emdash vs Traycer", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-traycer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-unstoppable.json", "title": "Emdash vs Unstoppable", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-unstoppable" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-verdent.json", "title": "Emdash vs Verdent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-verdent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-vibe-trading.json", "title": "Emdash vs Vibe-Trading", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-vibe-trading" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-warp.json", "title": "Emdash vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-warp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-emdash.json", "title": "Clawboo vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-emdash.json", "title": "CLI Manager vs Emdash", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-emdash" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Emdash vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Emdash vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-parallax-agents.json", "title": "Emdash vs Parallax", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-parallax-agents" } ], "panel": null, "scores": [ { "by": 28, "cursor-cli": 27, "edge": "emdash", "emdash": 55, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 16, "cursor-cli": 39, "edge": "emdash", "emdash": 55, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 13, "cursor-cli": 42, "edge": "emdash", "emdash": 55, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 8, "cursor-cli": 46, "edge": "cursor-cli", "emdash": 38, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 35, "cursor-cli": 25, "edge": "emdash", "emdash": 60, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 8, "cursor-cli": 62, "edge": "emdash", "emdash": 70, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 6, "cursor-cli": 60, "edge": "cursor-cli", "emdash": 54, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Emdash scores 53.9 (D) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.4 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cursor CLI leads on security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do agent harnesses.", "tasks": null, "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "cursor-cli": "Allow and deny rules for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools, with deny taking precedence. No CLI changelog, and versions are dates.", "emdash": "A mature open-source app for parallel coding agents in Git worktrees, with issue intake from a dozen trackers and remote machines over SSH. Telemetry is on unless you turn it off, and no test workflow was found in the repository." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash.min.md" }, "markdown": "Emdash scores 53.9 (D) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.4 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cursor CLI leads on security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do agent harnesses.\n\n- Cursor CLI: grade F, 35.4/100, rank #1374 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json\n- Emdash: grade D, 53.9/100, rank #927 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/emdash.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/emdash.json\n- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md\n- All 1500 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Cursor CLI (F)\n\nGood for: Teams already on Cursor who want the same agent and rules in a terminal or CI and a hand-off to Cloud Agents.\n\nAhead on:\n- Security \u0026 auth, 46 against 38\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 60 against 54\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No CLI changelog, and versions are dates\n\n### Emdash (D)\n\nGood for: Developers who want parallel agents in worktrees, fed from their issue tracker, locally or over SSH.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 55 against 27\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 55 against 39\n- Agent ergonomics, 55 against 42\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 25\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 70 against 62\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n- Open source\n- No incidents deducted, where Cursor CLI loses 5 points for them\n\nWatch for: Telemetry on unless turned off in Settings or with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: Emdash +35\n\n- Cursor CLI (25): Harness reading of the published rubric. No payment protocol (0). Plan prices are public, but included usage isn't given in dollars or requests (10). Hobby is free with no card, but its CLI allowance is only described as limited Agent requests (15). A person signs in through a browser to use it or to get an API key (0).\n- Emdash (60): Free self-hosted software with nothing to buy, so 0 for a protocol and 20 each for public pricing, a free tier and onboarding with no sign-up, 60.\n\n### Reliability: Emdash +28\n\n- Cursor CLI (27): Local-package reading. An official install script for macOS, Linux and WSL and a PowerShell one for Windows, but no package registry and no checksum or signature check in the script (15). No public CI or test suite, since the source isn't published (0). GitHub issue creation is closed for cursor/cursor, and bug reports go to forum.cursor.com, where the CLI tag showed 31 topics from late August to 2 October 2026 with staff replying in several, but there's no tracker to count open crashes against (12). Date-based versions (2026.09.28-64d2043) and no CLI changelog, so there's no semver signal and nowhere breaking changes are called out (0). Not 1.0 and not declared stable. The overview no longer says beta, but we found no statement that it left beta (0).\n- Emdash (55): Local software. Homebrew cask and installers for macOS, Windows and Linux (20). A code-consistency check and release workflows; no test workflow found (10). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Stable tags to v1.2.11, release notes on GitHub (10). Version 1.2.11 (15). 20 + 10 + 0 + 10 + 15 = 55.\n\n### Schema \u0026 documentation: Emdash +16\n\n- Cursor CLI (39): Framework reading. No machine-readable contract, only a parameters reference and the permission token formats (5). cursor.com/llms.txt lists the CLI pages with Markdown twins (10). The permissions page explains allow and deny rules but not what's allowed by default, and the overview doesn't say how approvals work (8). Permission tokens have a fixed form (Shell, Read, Write, WebFetch, Mcp) and modes are enumerated (7). Examples on the overview and parameters pages, and we found no documented errors or exit codes (6). No CLI changelog, and versions are dates (3).\n- Emdash (55): Harness reading. Docs site and a workspace server package (55).\n\n### Agent ergonomics: Emdash +13\n\n- Cursor CLI (42): Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. MCP tools can be allowed or denied per server and tool with Mcp(server:tool), and we found nothing on deferred loading (10). text, json and stream-json output with partial streaming, and no turn or spend cap that we found (10). No documented error format or exit codes (5). `--resume` and `--continue` (12). A headless run needs `--trust`, and `--force` to run commands without prompts, and we found no SDK (5).\n- Emdash (55): Harness reading. Issue intake from Linear, GitHub, Jira and others, diff review, pull requests and CI checks in one place, local or over SSH (55).\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: Cursor CLI +8\n\n- Cursor CLI (46): Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. We found no description of what the CLI sends home. Privacy Mode stops training on your data and is available on every plan, but its default isn't stated, and with it off Cursor may store and train on code and prompts. Headless runs use a long-lived API key (8). Allow and deny lists for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools with deny winning, plan and ask modes, and `--sandbox`, but `--force`, `--yolo` and `--approve-mcps` switch the checks off, and the docs don't say what the CLI allows by default or whether team-enforced run modes reach it (12). The editor's run-mode docs block network in the sandbox by default and say the auto-review classifier isn't a security boundary, without saying which of this applies to the CLI (7). Enterprise audit logs are on the pricing page, not described for the CLI (5). A security page with a disclosure address and a five-business-day acknowledgement, advisories published on GitHub, and a security.txt contact, but no bug bounty that we found (14). SOC 2 and ISO 27001 aren't scored on the framework reading.\n- Emdash (38): Harness reading. Telemetry is described as optional and disabled in Settings or with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false, which reads as on by default (15 of 30). Worktree per task and remote machines over SSH (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). No security policy file found (3). 15 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 3 = 38.\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: Emdash +8\n\n- Cursor CLI (62): Version 2026.09.28-64d2043, dated 28 September 2026 (30). Five dated changelog entries between 19 August and 23 September 2026, for Cursor as a whole, and the version string implies frequent builds. Judgement call, since none of the entries is CLI-only (20). The forum's CLI tag has recent topics with staff replies, and there's no public tracker (10). No SDK found (0). No public CI, and an installer without integrity checks (2).\n- Emdash (70): v1.2.11 on 6 November 2026 (30). v1.2.9, v1.2.10 and v1.2.11 within two weeks (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current installers and Homebrew cask (15). Release workflows, no test CI (5). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 5 = 70.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Cursor CLI | Emdash | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 27 | 55 | Emdash +28 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 39 | 55 | Emdash +16 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 42 | 55 | Emdash +13 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 46 | 38 | Cursor CLI +8 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 60 | Emdash +35 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 70 | Emdash +8 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 54 | Cursor CLI +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **35.4 · F** | **53.9 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Cursor CLI | Emdash |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Cursor | General Action, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | None |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published | Apache-2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-11-06 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-09-03 | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-29 | no document linked |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not read yet |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not read yet |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |\n| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | none |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Cursor CLI\n\n- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist\n- -0.5 on 8 October 2026: checklist\n\n### Emdash\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Cursor CLI.** Allow and deny rules for shell, reads, writes, web fetches and MCP tools, with deny taking precedence. No CLI changelog, and versions are dates.\n\n**Emdash.** A mature open-source app for parallel coding agents in Git worktrees, with issue intake from a dozen trackers and remote machines over SSH. Telemetry is on unless you turn it off, and no test workflow was found in the repository.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Cursor CLI\n\n1. Pass `--trust` in headless runs, or the workspace prompt stops a run with no terminal\n2. Write deny rules in .cursor/cli.json before using `--force`. It runs any command they don't match\n3. Don't use `--approve-mcps` in repositories you didn't write. Two 2025 CLI advisories came through MCP\n4. Set `CURSOR_API_KEY` in CI. `agent login` opens a browser\n5. Record `agent --version` with each run. Versions are dates and there's no CLI changelog to compare against\n\n### Emdash\n\n1. Launch with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false if you don't want telemetry\n2. Use the SSH mode to keep agents on a remote machine\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Cursor CLI or Emdash?\n\nEmdash scores 53.9 (D) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.4 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cursor CLI leads on security \u0026 auth and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Are Cursor CLI and Emdash open source?\n\nNo open-source release is listed for Cursor CLI. Emdash is open source (Apache-2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"cursor-cli\", \"b\": \"emdash\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cursor-cli emdash`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/emdash.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Cursor CLI or Emdash\n\n- [Agent Zero vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Agent Zero vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Aider vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Aider vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Amp vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Amp vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Auggie CLI vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Auggie CLI vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-emdash.md)\n- [AXLR vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [AXLR vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Cline vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Conductor vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Conductor vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Crush vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Crush vs 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Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-sculptor.md)\n- [Emdash vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-t3-code.md)\n- [Emdash vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-traycer.md)\n- [Emdash vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-unstoppable.md)\n- [Emdash vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-verdent.md)\n- [Emdash vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-vibe-trading.md)\n- [Emdash vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-warp.md)\n- [Clawboo vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-emdash.md)\n- [CLI Manager vs Emdash](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-emdash.md)\n- [Emdash vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Emdash vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Emdash vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-parallax-agents.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-11-07", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Cursor CLI vs Emdash", "url": "" } ], "description": "Emdash scores 53.9 (D) to Cursor CLI's 35.4 (F) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Cursor CLI F 35.4", "Emdash D 53.9", "scores" ], "h1": "Cursor CLI vs Emdash", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/default.png", "path": "/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Emdash for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-11-07", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-emdash" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 5350, "slim": 2080 }, "version": 1 }