# DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs goose

> goose scores 73.9 (BB) to DeepSeek Harness's 49.2 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-goose
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-goose.md (~3,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-goose.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-goose.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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.
- Updated: 2026-10-18

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against DeepSeek Harness (dsh)'s 49.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- DeepSeek Harness (dsh): grade D, 49.2/100, rank #909 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepseek-harness.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepseek-harness.json
- goose: grade BB, 73.9/100, rank #82 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/goose.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### DeepSeek Harness (dsh) (D)

Good for: Developers who use DeepSeek models and want a scriptable harness with ACP, a JSON event stream and a Python SDK.

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.5 out of 5

Watch for: By default each request to DeepSeek's official API carries the session log, including message text, tool arguments and results, up to 8 MiB a request

### goose (BB)

Good for: People and pipelines that want one agent across many model providers or local models, with recipes for repeatable jobs and a desktop app for non-engineers.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 77 against 33
- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 68
- Security & auth, 77 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 86 against 71
- Transparency & trust, 63 against 50

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | DeepSeek Harness (dsh) | goose | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 33 | 77 | goose +44 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 81 | goose +4 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 82 | goose +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 40 | 77 | goose +37 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 86 | goose +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 63 | goose +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **49.2 · D** | **73.9 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | DeepSeek Harness (dsh) | goose |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | DeepSeek | Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-17 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 245k npm/wk | 55k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | 2.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**DeepSeek Harness (dsh).** Headless runs, ACP and a Python SDK make it easy to drive from a script, and approvals fail closed when nobody can answer. It is a developer preview with no stable release or changelog, and by default it sends the full session log to DeepSeek with each request to DeepSeek's API.

**goose.** Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed. Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default.

## Before you call either

### DeepSeek Harness (dsh)

1. Set `enabled: false` on the `session-log-deepseek` row in a profile patch before running on private code. Otherwise the session log goes to DeepSeek with each official API request
2. Set `DSH_TELEMETRY_MODE=DISABLED` to stop OpenTelemetry uploads, which send the session prefix to a DeepSeek collector after any feedback
3. Treat exit code 1 and the `turn_end` reason as failure. A `--json` stream can end with a `final` event for a failed run
4. Run in a disposable container or VM. The sandbox doesn't confine reads or network, and SAFETY.md says the project has had no security audit
5. Pin the version. npm `latest` (0.2.0-rc.2) and `next` (0.2.1-rc.2) differ, DeepSeek's changelog asks for 0.2.1-rc.1 or later, and the README warns of breaking changes

### goose

1. Set `GOOSE_MODE=smart_approve` or `approve` before a run. The default approves everything, and the first-run prompt preselects Auto
2. Pass `--max-turns` with a real limit. The default is 1000
3. Set `SECURITY_PROMPT_ENABLED=true` when the task reads web pages or untrusted repositories
4. Use `--output-format json` and `--no-session` in CI, and check the exit code
5. Point remotes and links at aaif-goose/goose and goose-docs.ai. The block/goose paths redirect

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, DeepSeek Harness (dsh) or goose?

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against DeepSeek Harness (dsh)'s 49.2 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Are DeepSeek Harness (dsh) and goose open source?

Yes. DeepSeek Harness (dsh) is open source (MIT). goose is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with DeepSeek Harness (dsh) or goose

- [Agent Zero vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Agent Zero vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-goose.md)
- [Aider vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Aider vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-goose.md)
- [Amp vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Amp vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-goose.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-goose.md)
- [Claude Code vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Claude Code vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose.md)
- [Cline vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Cline vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.md)
- [Crush vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Crush vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-goose.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-devin.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-harness2.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-jules.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-junie.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-muse-code.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-opencode.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-openhands.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-warp.md)
- [Devin vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-goose.md)
- [Droid CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [Pi vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-goose.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-goose.md)
- [goose vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2.md)
- [goose vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [goose vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-jules.md)
- [goose vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-junie.md)
- [goose vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [goose vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [goose vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [goose vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [goose vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [goose vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-muse-code.md)
- [goose vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [goose vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-opencode.md)
- [goose vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openhands.md)
- [goose vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [goose vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [goose vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [goose vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [goose vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [goose vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-warp.md)
- [CLI Manager vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [CLI Manager vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-goose.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-paperclip.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [goose vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [goose vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-paperclip.md)
- [goose vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-parallax-agents.md)

---

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