Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Droid CLI vs Muse Code

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Droid CLI's 59.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Droid CLI leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 226 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

Droid CLI C

Best for Teams that want a terminal coding agent with tiered autonomy, command rules and an optional sandbox, and that will pay for a Factory plan.

Ahead on

  • Transparency & trust, 64 against 57

Watch for

No free tier or trial was found. Plans start at $20 a month and included usage is stated only as rolling rate limits without numbers

Muse Code C

Best 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

  • Schema & documentation, 84 against 79
  • Agent ergonomics, 79 against 72
  • Payments & pricing, 20 against 10

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

CategoryWeight this runDroid CLIMuse CodeEdge
Reliability16%204945Droid CLI +4
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27984Muse Code +5
Agent ergonomics13%16.27279Muse Code +7
Security & auth14%17.56367Muse Code +4
Payments & pricing10%12.51020Muse Code +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87975Droid CLI +4
Transparency & trust7%8.86457Droid CLI +7
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 59.1/100C 61.3/100

Facts side by side

FactDroid CLIMuse Code
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorFactoryMeta
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingPaidPaid
x402nono
LicenceProprietary, under Factory's Terms and Conditions. The droid npm package is marked UNLICENSED and the public repository holds documentation only. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0Proprietary 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 documentedyesyes
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-082026-10-11
Terms last updated2026-07-14
Privacy policy last updated2026-08-20couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryes
Popularity49 stars, 7.8k npm/wk63k npm/wk

Verdicts

Droid CLI

droid exec is read-only unless --auto raises the autonomy level, with command rules, an optional kernel-enforced sandbox, JSON output and documented exit codes. No free tier, status page or security.txt was found, the source is closed, and usage metrics go to Factory by default.

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

Droid CLI

  1. Set FACTORY_API_KEY (starts fk-) from the API keys page in Factory settings for headless runs. Interactive use signs in through a browser
  2. Start with droid exec and no flags for analysis. Add --auto low for edits and --auto medium for installs, tests and local commits
  3. Use --output-format json and read is_error, num_turns and session_id. Treat a non-zero exit code as failure
  4. Set sandbox.enabled to true before running on untrusted code. In droid exec a sandbox violation is denied without a prompt
  5. Pin the version in CI with npm install -g droid@<version>, or set FACTORY_DROID_AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED=false on standalone installs, which update themselves

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, Droid CLI or Muse Code?

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Droid CLI's 59.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Droid CLI leads on transparency & trust.

Other comparisons with Droid CLI or Muse Code

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