# Cursor CLI vs Kilo Code CLI

> Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kilo-code-cli
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kilo-code-cli.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kilo-code-cli.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kilo-code-cli.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harness.

- Cursor CLI: grade F, 35.3/100, rank #828 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json
- Kilo Code CLI: grade BB, 75.4/100, rank #47 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kilo-code-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kilo-code-cli.json

## Which one, for what

### Cursor CLI (F)

Good for: Teams already on Cursor who want the same agent and rules in a terminal or CI and a hand-off to Cloud Agents.

Watch for: No CLI changelog, and versions are dates

### Kilo Code CLI (BB)

Good for: Developers who want an open-source terminal agent with per-tool permission rules, an optional sandbox and a choice of provider, and the same engine in VS Code and JetBrains.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 27
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 39
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 42
- Security & auth, 66 against 46
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 25
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 62
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 59

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Cursor CLI loses 5 points for them

Watch for: Telemetry to PostHog is on by default, and the privacy policy and PRIVACY.md don't mention it


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cursor CLI | Kilo Code CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 27 | 85 | Kilo Code CLI +58 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 39 | 90 | Kilo Code CLI +51 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 42 | 72 | Kilo Code CLI +30 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 46 | 66 | Kilo Code CLI +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 50 | Kilo Code CLI +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 87 | Kilo Code CLI +25 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 76 | Kilo Code CLI +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **35.3 · F** | **75.4 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cursor CLI | Kilo Code CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cursor | Kilo Code Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-03 | 2026-09-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-29 | 2026-05-29 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | none | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**Kilo Code CLI.** Shell commands ask before running by default, and an optional operating-system sandbox blocks writes outside the workspace and outbound network. Telemetry to PostHog is on by default and the sandbox is off, so an unattended `kilo run --auto` approves everything not denied unless both are configured first.

## Before you call either

### Cursor CLI

1. Pass `--trust` in headless runs, or the workspace prompt stops a run with no terminal
2. Write deny rules in .cursor/cli.json before using `--force`. It runs any command they don't match
3. Don't use `--approve-mcps` in repositories you didn't write. Two 2025 CLI advisories came through MCP
4. Set `CURSOR_API_KEY` in CI. `agent login` opens a browser
5. Record `agent --version` with each run. Versions are dates and there's no CLI changelog to compare against

### Kilo Code CLI

1. Set `sandbox.enabled` to true in the global `kilo.jsonc` before `kilo run --auto`. `--auto` approves every permission request not explicitly denied
2. Set `experimental.openTelemetry` to false, or `KILO_TELEMETRY_LEVEL` to a value other than `all`, to stop telemetry
3. Add needed hosts to `sandbox.allowed_hosts` in global config. MCP tool calls are unavailable while network restriction is on
4. Without `--auto` a non-interactive run rejects every permission prompt and exits 1
5. Put provider keys in global config or the environment. `{env:VAR}` in a project `kilo.json` is ignored

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cursor CLI or Kilo Code CLI?

Kilo Code CLI scores 75.4 (BB) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Cursor CLI and Kilo Code CLI open source?

No open-source release is listed for Cursor CLI. Kilo Code CLI is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

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