# Cursor CLI vs Muse Code

> Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) to Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-muse-code
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-muse-code.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-muse-code.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-muse-code.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: 2026-10-12

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cursor CLI leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- Cursor CLI: grade F, 35.3/100, rank #968 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-cli.json
- Muse Code: grade C, 61.3/100, rank #487 of 993. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/muse-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/muse-code.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 226 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## 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.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 25 against 20

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

Watch for: No CLI changelog, and versions are dates

### Muse Code (C)

Good for: Developers who want Meta's Muse models, Muse Wonder Full included, in a terminal or CI agent with the sandbox and approvals on from the first run.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 27
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 39
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 42
- Security & auth, 67 against 46
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 62

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Cursor CLI loses 5 points for them

Watch for: Closed source, with no public CI or issue tracker for the CLI found and release notes that carry no dates


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cursor CLI | Muse Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 27 | 45 | Muse Code +18 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 39 | 84 | Muse Code +45 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 42 | 79 | Muse Code +37 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 46 | 67 | Muse Code +21 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 20 | Cursor CLI +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 75 | Muse Code +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 59 | 57 | Cursor CLI +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **35.3 · F** | **61.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cursor CLI | Muse Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cursor | Meta |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, under Cursor's terms of service (Anysphere, Inc., updated 3 September 2026). No source is published | Proprietary binary, used under the Meta Model API Terms of Service, which cover Meta's coding harness. Subscriptions are also under the Meta Subscription Terms of Service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs in the linked repository are MIT. |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-10-11 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-03 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-29 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | none | 63k 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.

**Muse Code.** Muse Code runs with approvals and an OS sandbox on by default, per-host network approval, an append-only event log and a headless mode with documented exit codes. It is the only route to Muse Wonder Full. It is closed source with undated release notes and no free route, and subscriptions allow training on code unless Contributor mode is turned off.

## 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

### Muse Code

1. Set `META_API_KEY` for headless runs. Browser sign-in isn't available in CI or for Meta Managed Accounts
2. Gate on your own test command, not the exit code. `muse exec` returns 0 when the turn completes even if tests still fail
3. Pass `--max-model-steps` on unattended runs so a stuck task can't loop
4. Prefer `--disable-approval` to `--yolo` in CI so the sandbox stays on. On Linux the runner needs a working bubblewrap and a non-musl build
5. Turn Contributor mode off in `/settings` before a subscription session touches private code

## Questions

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

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Cursor CLI's 35.3 (F), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Cursor CLI leads on payments & pricing.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Cursor CLI or Muse Code

- [Agent Zero vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Aider vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Aider vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Amp vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Amp vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Claude Code vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Claude Code vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Cline vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-devin.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openhands.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Devin vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Pi vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-muse-code.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-muse-code.md)
- [goose vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Muse Code vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Muse Code vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-opencode.md)
- [Muse Code vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-openhands.md)
- [Muse Code vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-prime-agent.md)
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