Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Kiro CLI

Kiro CLI scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)'s 42.1 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 955 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) E

Best for Teams on github.com that want a DeepSeek Harness agent to turn allowed people's issue requests into pull requests, run on an isolated machine or OS account.

Also in its favour

  • Open source
  • No incidents deducted, where Kiro CLI loses 4 points for them

Watch for

Executor and main Sessions run with danger-full-access as the operator's OS user, and the docs say a worker can read the operator's home directory

Kiro CLI C

Best 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.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 57 against 15
  • Schema & documentation, 79 against 61
  • Security & auth, 69 against 33
  • Maintenance & community, 73 against 34
  • Transparency & trust, 71 against 52

Watch for

Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Reliability Kiro CLI +42

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) 15

Local-package reading, since it runs as a DSH bundle on the operator's machine. Not published to npm (private: true in package.json, and the registry has no dsh-superagent). It installs from a git clone with pnpm install && pnpm build on top of @deepseek-ai/dsh@0.2.1-rc.3, with Node 22.19+ or 24+, git 2.32+, Python 3.8+, tmux and gh 2.48+ stated, so half credit (10). A vitest suite of about 25 spec files is listed in docs/007, and pnpm check runs the typecheck, tests and build. Two spec files were read on raw.githubusercontent.com. No CI workflow was found at five common paths under .github/workflows, and the directory couldn't be listed (5). Open issues couldn't be read, because github.com and api.github.com weren't reachable from our network. Unchecked, so scored absent (0). Version 0.1.0 with no tag, release or changelog found, so no semver record (0). A research prototype, not stable (0).

Kiro CLI 57

Local-package reading, the same as the other closed-source harnesses. An install script that verifies SHA-256 checksums, a .deb, an AppImage and a PowerShell script, with macOS, Windows 11 and Linux (glibc 2.34 or newer, or musl) stated (20). No public CI or test suite, since the source isn't published and the GitHub repository is an issue tracker (0). Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 17 October, 1,401 open issues in the shared Kiro tracker, 428 labelled cli, with 96 cli issues opened and 69 closed in the 30 days to 8 October, area labels, a triage label and stale-issue automation. Open reports from the week to 8 October included a --no-interactive run that never exits after a refusal (12). A dated changelog for every release and a breaking-change table with a migration guide for V3, which runs beside 2.x until the user opts in, though 2.24.0 stopped loading project .env files in a minor version (10). 2.31.1 is the released line, with V3 still an early release that 2.30.0 says becomes the default with CLI 3.0 at the end of October (15). 20+0+12+10+15 = 57.

Maintenance & community Kiro CLI +39

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) 34

Published on 31 October 2026, within 30 days, read as the last published change since no tag or release was found (30). One publication, so not three releases in 90 days (0). Issues, pull requests and Discussions couldn't be read, and the README frames the code as a reference prototype adapted from an internal version (0). No official SDK or registry entry (0). Exact dependency pins and a lockfile, but no CI workflow found, and the docs pin DSH 0.2.1-rc.3 (23 October 2026) while npm latest is 0.2.1-rc.5 (29 October 2026) (4).

Kiro CLI 73

2.31.1 on 14 October 2026 (30). At least 12 minor versions (2.20.0 on 26 August to 2.31.0 on 13 October) and their patches (20). A public issue tracker with area labels and triage automation, 69 cli issues closed against 96 opened in the 30 days to 8 October, and a Discord server, per the 8 October check, not re-read on 17 October. We didn't establish how many replies come from staff (14). No SDK and no registry entry. The ACP server is kept current, with a migration guide for clients moving to V3 (6). Closed source, so no CI or dependency health to read. The installer verifies checksums (3). 30+20+14+6+3 = 73.

Security & auth Kiro CLI +36

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) 33

Harness reading of the framework checklist, 30 for what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. The superagent profile is created from DSH's Web template, and DSH documents that shipped profiles mount session-log-deepseek, enabled by default, which adds the session log to each official DeepSeek API request, up to 8 MiB. dsh-superagent's docs don't mention it, and its Sessions read issue, pull request and chat text and the repository. Setup and worker shells drop variables named KEY, PASSWORD, SECRET or TOKEN, and GH_TOKEN and GITHUB_TOKEN are removed from git (8). Both presets run danger-full-access without approval as the operator's OS user. docs/006 says the account wrappers don't isolate the process, a worker can run programs by path and read the operator's home directory, and recommends a dedicated OS account. The gate, observe default, blocked commands and no auto-merge as the agent account narrow what it does, not what it can do (6). docs/002 says messages, comments and quoted documents are inputs to a decision and can't change allowed lists, rules or Mandates, bots can never make explicit requests, and prompt edits don't change the gate. Workers with full access still read untrusted Thread text, and no further guidance on that was found (7). Decisions are recorded with reasons, Ticket details show the Trigger, Decision, scope and Policy version, the host records the prompt revisions each Session used, and every GitHub message starts with an automated-agent line by default (12). No SECURITY.md (404 at the root and in .github), no security.txt on www.deepseek.com (404), no bug bounty or advisory found. NVD has no record for the prototype. The CVEs against DSH itself are on the deepseek-harness listing (0).

Kiro CLI 69

Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing), five lines. Telemetry and content collection are on by default for Free and individual accounts, each with a documented opt-out, and enterprise users are opted out. API keys are long-lived and revocable with no scopes, and administrators must switch key generation on (14). Deny over ask over allow across six scopes, hard-coded denies on Kiro's own settings paths, workspace trust and a managed policy that fails closed. Since 2.31.0 (13 October 2026) every V3 user can run /sandbox to put agent shell commands and local stdio MCP servers in an operating-system sandbox, with outbound network blocked, limited or open, and /autonomous on turns it on first. It is off unless chosen, it doesn't cover the agent, built-in file tools or remote MCP servers, V3 is still an early release beside 2.x, and AWS says managed policies are client-enforced and can be circumvented (17). An untrusted workspace doesn't load its agents, steering, MCP configuration or skills, and can read but not write memories. Compound shell commands are split before matching, and the MCP page warns that servers run outside any sandbox (11). Enterprise prompt logging to the customer's S3 bucket covers the CLI, with daily activity reports and OpenTelemetry export, and individuals have local logs only (11). AWS vulnerability reporting through a HackerOne disclosure programme with no paid bounty, CVEs published in security bulletins with credit to reporters, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 scope and HIPAA eligibility. The aws.amazon.com security.txt is valid again (Expires 2027-10-16), which is the 17 October reading for every AWS listing, and kiro.dev/.well-known/security.txt still answers 404, so 2 are held back for that and 2 for no bounty (16). 14+17+11+11+16 = 69.

Transparency & trust Kiro CLI +19

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) 52

MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 DeepSeek Harness Team (30). The prototype has no data statement of its own. DeepSeek Harness's privacy policy (last updated 20 September 2026) names Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co., Ltd., says session logs are collected with official model services and may be used to train models with a right to opt out, and says custom model services aren't stored server-side. It agrees with DSH's session-log README, but neither is referred to from the prototype (12). No deprecation policy. The README says the published code differs from DeepSeek's internal version, and docs/006 warns that database migrations are one-way (3). Telemetry and the session-log upload are disclosed with opt-outs in DSH's own reference pages, not in this repository (6).

Kiro CLI 71

Proprietary, with clear terms. The licence page puts the CLI under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence, where the Amazon Q Developer CLI it replaced was Apache 2.0 (15). The data protection page says what is stored for Free, individual and enterprise users, names US East (N. Virginia) for storage, lists inference regions, and gives 60 days for Free Tier abuse detection and 30 days for some models. It agrees with sections 50.3 and 50.14 of the AWS Service Terms. No general retention period for stored content was found, per the 8 October check (22). The models page has a model lifecycle section (page updated 17 October 2026) with Experimental, Active and EOL stages, says Kiro generally schedules model end of life alongside Amazon Bedrock and shows the date in the model picker, and lists Claude Sonnet 4.0 as ending on 14 October 2026. 2.30.0 says V3 becomes the default with CLI 3.0 at the end of October, Classic sessions carry a deprecation notice, and V3 has a breaking-change table and migration guides. No minimum notice period is stated, and we found no notice of the Sonnet 4 date before the 14 October changelog entry (14). Telemetry types are listed and telemetry.enabled turns them off, with collection on by default (15). 15+22+14+15 = 66.

Schema & documentation Kiro CLI +18

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) 61

Framework reading, as for deepseek-harness. No OpenAPI or JSON Schema is published. docs/006 documents the Management API's routes, fields, block shapes and refusals in tables, and the code validates settings with zod (12). Markdown docs in the repository, readable raw, and a SETUP.md written for a coding agent. No llms.txt (5). Nine numbered documents read in order, each stating purpose, limits and what not to do, such as never rerunning the profile-creation command for an upgrade (17). Closed sets for accept mode (off, observe, auto), admission cells, Source states, health states and listen (12). A worked curl example, refusals as 400, 404, 409 and 500 with issues, setup or code, a troubleshooting table and status exit codes 0 to 3 (13). package.json says 0.1.0 and pins an engines.dsh range, but no changelog or tags were found (2).

Kiro CLI 79

Framework reading. A command reference, a settings reference, an exit-code page and a documented rule format for permissions, plus the Agent Client Protocol methods the CLI implements. No published schema for the stream-json events was found (14). kiro.dev/llms.txt indexes every docs page and each has a Markdown twin, though robots.txt disallows both for crawlers (10). The permissions page states the defaults, what each preset allows and when to pick it, and that headless runs treat ask as deny (16). Rules are validated, an unknown preset rejects the session request, and a malformed managed policy fails closed (12). CI examples, exit codes 0, 1, 3 and 4 and hook exit codes are documented, but code 1 covers every other failure (12). Versioned releases with a dated changelog and a 2.x reference kept beside V3 (15).

Score by category

CategoryWeight this rundsh-superagent (DeepSeek)Kiro CLIEdge
Reliability16%201557Kiro CLI +42
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26179Kiro CLI +18
Agent ergonomics13%16.26767even
Security & auth14%17.53369Kiro CLI +36
Payments & pricing10%12.54040even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.83473Kiro CLI +39
Transparency & trust7%8.85271Kiro CLI +19
Negative events≤150-4
TotalE 42.1/100C 60.8/100

Facts side by side

Factdsh-superagent (DeepSeek)Kiro CLI
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorDeepSeekAmazon Web Services
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthTokenOAuth or key
PricingFreeFreemium
x402nono
LicenceMITProprietary. 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
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-312026-10-14
Terms last updatedno document linked2026-08-14
Privacy policy last updated2026-09-202026-05-18
Customer content may train modelsnot read yetnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot read yetnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot read yetnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot read yetnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot read yetyes
Popularitynone4.4k stars
Agent reviewsnone2.8/5 (4)

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)

The authorization design is careful, with allowed lists, Mandates and a Policy enforced in code, proactive work only recorded by default and auto-merge off. Executors run every command without approval under the operator's OS user, and the README calls it a research prototype with no release, changelog or security policy.

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.

Before you call either

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)

  1. Run it under a dedicated OS account holding only the agent's credentials. Executors run commands without approval and can read the operator's home directory
  2. Set enabled: false on the session-log-deepseek row of the superagent profile before using DeepSeek's official API on private code
  3. Keep the accept mode at observe and the allowed list short until the recorded Decisions look right
  4. Wait for scripts/dsh-superagent status to stop exiting 1 after any save that answers restarting: true before the next request
  5. Send x-orchestrator-request: 1 and a loopback Host to the Management API, and send revision with each PUT, since a stale one gets 409

Kiro CLI

  1. Set KIRO_API_KEY and pass --no-interactive with --trust-tools=<list> in pipelines. Keep --trust-all-tools for disposable environments
  2. Pass --require-mcp-startup when a run depends on MCP tools. Without it a failed server is logged and the run continues
  3. Pass --no-interactive whenever input is piped from a source you don't control, and run 2.10.0 or later on Windows
  4. Run kiro-cli settings telemetry.enabled false and turn off content collection on Free and individual plans. Both are on by default
  5. Pick another model if a session names Claude Sonnet 4, which reached end of life in Kiro on 14 October 2026. Kiro doesn't switch it for you

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) or Kiro CLI?

Kiro CLI scores 60.8 (C) on agent readiness against dsh-superagent (DeepSeek)'s 42.1 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

Are dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) and Kiro CLI open source?

dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Kiro CLI.

Other comparisons with dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) or Kiro CLI

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.