{ "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", "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": 35.3, "grade": "F", "agentReady": false, "rank": 617, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 629, "categoryRank": 17, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 42, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 25, "reliability": 27, "schema": 39, "security": 46, "transparency": 59 }, "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": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 35.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 42, "maintenance": 62, "payments": 25, "reliability": 27, "schema": 39, "security": 46, "transparency": 27 }, "provenanceScore": 91 }, "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" }, "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": 91 }, "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": "2026-10-08T19:06:34.068208988Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://cursor.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:46.365788319Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://cursor.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:17.721936541Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "cursor.com", "registered": "1995-12-20", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/cursor.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:09:09.510989819Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://cursor.com/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:46.108342977Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:03:43.356086965Z", "fingerprint": "ff1c429484e4" }, { "url": "https://cursor.com/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:48.161554363Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "a5f74b5510f1" }, { "url": "https://cursor.com/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:50.171295182Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "5db93dae47db" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T19:06:34.068208988Z" } }, "answer": "Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category.", "b": { "slug": "kiro-cli", "name": "Kiro CLI", "vendor": "Amazon Web Services", "vendorUrl": "https://kiro.dev/cli/", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "AWS's coding agent for the terminal and the successor to the Amazon Q Developer CLI. It runs interactive chat, non-interactive runs for pipelines with an API key, MCP servers and an Agent Client Protocol server for editors.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json", "repo": "https://github.com/kirodotdev/Kiro", "license": "Proprietary. Licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence (https://kiro.dev/license/). The GitHub repository is the public issue tracker and doesn't hold the source", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "`kiro-cli login` with GitHub, Google, AWS Builder ID, AWS IAM Identity Centre or an external identity provider, in a browser or by device flow on a remote machine. Pipelines use an API key in `KIRO_API_KEY`, created at app.kiro.dev by Pro, Pro+, Pro Max and Power subscribers. Keys are long-lived, named and revocable, with no scopes, and API key generation is off by default for subscriptions an administrator manages. An active browser session takes precedence over the key.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Kiro Free is $0 with 50 credits a month and a reduced model list. Pro is $20 a user a month with 1,000 credits, Pro+ $40 with 2,000, Pro Max $100 with 5,000 and Power $200 with 10,000, and extra credits cost $0.04 each. Models use credits at different rates (Auto is the 1.0x baseline). API keys for headless runs need a paid plan, and a paid plan needs a card. GovCloud prices are about 20 per cent higher with no free tier (checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$20 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the pricing page or the CLI changelog (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 4356, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://kiro.dev/docs/cli/", "llmsTxt": "https://kiro.dev/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "official", "harness", "coding-agent", "cli", "closed-source", "mcp", "acp", "llms-txt", "free-tier", "no-card", "telemetry-default-on" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-05", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 59.9, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 370, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 629, "categoryRank": 11, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 73, "payments": 40, "reliability": 57, "schema": 79, "security": 66, "transparency": 67 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": -4, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-08-04. CVE-2026-18656 and CVE-2026-18657 (bulletin 2026-074-AWS), an uncontrolled search path on Windows let a planted executable in a crafted project directory run when a user opened it. Kiro CLI for Windows before 2.10.0 and Kiro IDE 1.0.0 to 1.0.212. Fixed and published with credit to the reporters, inside six months (https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-074-aws/). -2", "2026-05-22. CVE-2026-9255 (bulletin 2026-035-AWS), content piped to kiro-cli on stdin could answer the tool approval prompt, so a local actor could run tools and shell commands without the user's approval. kiro-cli before 1.28.0. Fixed and published, inside six months (https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/2026-035-aws/). -2" ], "verdict": "Permission rules follow deny over ask over allow, cloned repositories can't add rules, and a headless session treats every ask as a deny. Content from Free and individual paid accounts is used for service improvement, including model training, unless the user opts out, and API keys for pipelines need a paid plan.", "bestFor": "Teams on AWS that want one agent configuration across terminal, IDE and web, with central permission policy, prompt logging to their own S3 bucket and IAM Identity Centre sign-in.", "strengths": [ "Capability permissions with deny over ask over allow, stored outside the repository so a clone can't add rules", "An untrusted workspace doesn't load its own agents, steering files, MCP configuration or skills, and asks before every shell command", "Headless runs with `--no-interactive`, JSON Lines output, and exit codes 3 and 4 for MCP startup and missing-agent failures", "Eleven minor releases between 26 August and 5 October 2026 in a dated changelog", "Plan prices, the $0.04 credit price and per-model credit multipliers are public, with a free tier of 50 credits a month" ], "weaknesses": [ "Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out", "Closed source since it replaced the Apache 2.0 Amazon Q Developer CLI, with no public CI or test suite", "API keys for headless runs need a paid plan, are long-lived and carry no scopes", "No local sandbox in the CLI, and AWS says its managed permission policies are client-enforced and can be circumvented", "Two CVEs in 2026 (CVE-2026-9255 in May, CVE-2026-18656 and CVE-2026-18657 in August), both fixed" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `KIRO_API_KEY` and pass `--no-interactive` with `--trust-tools=\u003clist\u003e` in pipelines. Keep `--trust-all-tools` for disposable environments", "Pass `--require-mcp-startup` when a run depends on MCP tools. Without it a failed server is logged and the run continues", "Pass `--no-interactive` whenever input is piped from a source you don't control, and run 2.10.0 or later on Windows", "Run `kiro-cli settings telemetry.enabled false` and turn off content collection on Free and individual plans. Both are on by default", "Export variables in the shell before starting. Since 2.24.0 a project `.env` file is no longer loaded into sessions, MCP servers or tools" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 59.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 73, "payments": 40, "reliability": 57, "schema": 79, "security": 66, "transparency": 62 }, "provenanceScore": 72 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://cli.kiro.dev/install | bash", "headless": { "run": "KIRO_API_KEY=ksk_... kiro-cli chat --no-interactive --trust-tools=read,grep \"Find all TODO comments in src/\"" } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/kiro-cli" }, "area": "frameworks", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Kiro Pro", "unit": "month", "usd": 20, "note": "per user, with 1,000 credits" }, { "item": "Add-on credit", "unit": "credit", "usd": 0.04, "note": "paid plans, beyond the plan's credits" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Amazon Web Services, Inc.", "domain": "kiro.dev", "domainRegistered": "2019-03-01", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://aws.amazon.com/agreement/", "privacy": "https://aws.amazon.com/privacy/", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://kiro.dev/changelog/cli/", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "Kiro's licence page says the Kiro IDE and CLI are licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence. Section 50.14 of the AWS Service Terms names Amazon Web Services, Inc. as the contracting party for subscriptions bought through the Stripe portal.", "The AWS Customer Agreement (last updated 14 August 2026) governs use, with the AWS Service Terms sections 50.3 and 50.14 for Kiro. The AWS Privacy Notice (last updated 18 May 2026) is the privacy link in Kiro's footer.", "kiro.dev/.well-known/security.txt answers 404. aws.amazon.com publishes a security.txt whose Expires line reads 24 September 2026, which had passed when we read it.", "No status page for Kiro was found on kiro.dev or in its docs.", "RDAP (Google Registry) gives kiro.dev a registration date of 1 March 2019, before the product." ], "score": 72 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.json", "live": { "slug": "kiro-cli", "pages": [ { "url": "https://kiro.dev/changelog/cli/", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:21:05.911888808Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "f2b1951f0330" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T18:21:05.911888808Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Cursor", "b": "Amazon Web Services", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Freemium", "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": "Proprietary. Licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence (https://kiro.dev/license/). The GitHub repository is the public issue tracker and doesn't hold the source", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-28", "b": "2026-10-05", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-09-03", "b": "2026-08-14", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-09-29", "b": "2026-05-18", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "4.4k stars", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "1.5/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Cursor CLI or Kiro CLI?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "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, 57 against 27", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 79 against 39", "Agent ergonomics, 67 against 42", "Security \u0026 auth, 66 against 46", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 25", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 73 against 62", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 67 against 59" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Teams on AWS that want one agent configuration across terminal, IDE and web, with central permission policy, prompt logging to their own S3 bucket and IAM Identity Centre sign-in.", "slug": "kiro-cli", "watchFor": "Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out" } ], "job": { "capability": "agent.harness", "name": "Agent harness" }, "others": [ { "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-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Aider vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "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-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Amp vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "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-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "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-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "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-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-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-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-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/devin-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Devin vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Pi vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "goose vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paperclip" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 30, "cursor-cli": 27, "edge": "kiro-cli", "key": "reliability", "kiro-cli": 57, "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 40, "cursor-cli": 39, "edge": "kiro-cli", "key": "schema", "kiro-cli": 79, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 25, "cursor-cli": 42, "edge": "kiro-cli", "key": "ergonomics", "kiro-cli": 67, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 20, "cursor-cli": 46, "edge": "kiro-cli", "key": "security", "kiro-cli": 66, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 15, "cursor-cli": 25, "edge": "kiro-cli", "key": "payments", "kiro-cli": 40, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 11, "cursor-cli": 62, "edge": "kiro-cli", "key": "maintenance", "kiro-cli": 73, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 8, "cursor-cli": 59, "edge": "kiro-cli", "key": "transparency", "kiro-cli": 67, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harness.", "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.", "kiro-cli": "Permission rules follow deny over ask over allow, cloned repositories can't add rules, and a headless session treats every ask as a deny. Content from Free and individual paid accounts is used for service improvement, including model training, unless the user opts out, and API keys for pipelines need a paid plan." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.min.md" }, "markdown": "Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harness.\n\n- Cursor CLI: grade F, 35.3/100, rank #617 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json\n- Kiro CLI: grade C, 59.9/100, rank #370 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json\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\nWatch for: No CLI changelog, and versions are dates\n\n### Kiro CLI (C)\n\nGood for: Teams on AWS that want one agent configuration across terminal, IDE and web, with central permission policy, prompt logging to their own S3 bucket and IAM Identity Centre sign-in.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 57 against 27\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 79 against 39\n- Agent ergonomics, 67 against 42\n- Security \u0026 auth, 66 against 46\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 25\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 73 against 62\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 67 against 59\n\nWatch for: Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Cursor CLI | Kiro CLI | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 27 | 57 | Kiro CLI +30 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 39 | 79 | Kiro CLI +40 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 42 | 67 | Kiro CLI +25 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 46 | 66 | Kiro CLI +20 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 40 | Kiro CLI +15 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 73 | Kiro CLI +11 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 67 | Kiro CLI +8 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | -4 | |\n| **Total** | | **35.3 · F** | **59.9 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Cursor CLI | Kiro CLI |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Cursor | Amazon Web Services |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published | Proprietary. Licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence (https://kiro.dev/license/). The GitHub repository is the public issue tracker and doesn't hold the source |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-05 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-09-03 | 2026-08-14 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-29 | 2026-05-18 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |\n| Popularity | none | 4.4k stars |\n| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | none |\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**Kiro CLI.** Permission rules follow deny over ask over allow, cloned repositories can't add rules, and a headless session treats every ask as a deny. Content from Free and individual paid accounts is used for service improvement, including model training, unless the user opts out, and API keys for pipelines need a paid plan.\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### Kiro CLI\n\n1. Set `KIRO_API_KEY` and pass `--no-interactive` with `--trust-tools=\u003clist\u003e` in pipelines. Keep `--trust-all-tools` for disposable environments\n2. Pass `--require-mcp-startup` when a run depends on MCP tools. Without it a failed server is logged and the run continues\n3. Pass `--no-interactive` whenever input is piped from a source you don't control, and run 2.10.0 or later on Windows\n4. Run `kiro-cli settings telemetry.enabled false` and turn off content collection on Free and individual plans. Both are on by default\n5. Export variables in the shell before starting. Since 2.24.0 a project `.env` file is no longer loaded into sessions, MCP servers or tools\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Cursor CLI or Kiro CLI?\n\nKiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in every scored category.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"cursor-cli\", \"b\": \"kiro-cli\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cursor-cli kiro-cli`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Cursor CLI or Kiro CLI\n\n- [Aider vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Aider vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Amp vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Amp vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-devin.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-earendil-pi.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-gemini-cli.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-opencode.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openhands.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Devin vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Pi vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [goose vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openhands.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paperclip.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Cursor CLI vs Kiro CLI", "url": "" } ], "description": "Kiro CLI scores 59.9 (C) 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.", "facts": [ "Cursor CLI F 35.3", "Kiro CLI C 59.9", "scores" ], "h1": "Cursor CLI vs Kiro CLI", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.png", "path": "/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Kiro CLI for AI agents, F 35.3 vs C 59.9", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2300, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }