# Emdash vs Kimi Code CLI (slim)

> Kimi Code CLI scores 58.1 (C) to Emdash's 53.9 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kimi-code-cli.md (~5,900 tokens) · this version ~2,280 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kimi-code-cli.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-kimi-code-cli
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Kimi Code CLI scores 58.1 (C) on agent readiness against Emdash's 53.9 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

- Emdash: D 53.9, rank #927 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/emdash.min.md
- Kimi Code CLI: C 58.1, rank #759 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kimi-code-cli.min.md
- Emdash, good for Developers who want parallel agents in worktrees, fed from their issue tracker, locally or over SSH. Also No key needed to call it; No incidents deducted, where Kimi Code CLI loses 8 points for them.
- Kimi Code CLI, good for Developers on Kimi models who want a terminal agent with ACP and a local REST API, or an open-source harness that also runs Claude, GPT or Gemini models. Ahead on Reliability, 68 against 55; Schema & documentation, 85 against 55; Agent ergonomics, 71 against 55; Security & auth, 45 against 38; Transparency & trust, 62 against 54. Also Free to start without a card.

| Category | Emdash | Kimi Code CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 55 | 68 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 55 | 85 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 55 | 71 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 38 | 45 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 70 | 72 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 54 | 62 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Emdash | Kimi Code CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | General Action, Inc. | Moonshot AI |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-06 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-08-13 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-08-13 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | yes |
| Popularity | none | 37k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, Kimi Code CLI +30: Emdash 55 (Harness reading. Docs site and a workspace server package (55).); Kimi Code CLI 85 (Framework reading. The `kimi web` server serves `/openapi.json` and `/asyncapi.json`, generated from its runtime validation schemas, but only from a running server behind auth, and the API is marked experimental. The ACP server's methods and capabilities are tabled (20). llms.txt indexes every page and each page is served as Markdown (10). The permission-mode, goal-mode and MCP pages say when to use each mode and what to avoid (16). The config reference gives type and default for each key, with enums for permission modes, output formats and rule decisions (13). Many examples, the server's error-code bands and ACP error codes are documented, but print-mode exit codes are documented only for goal runs (11). A dated changelog in the docs plus the technical changelog in the repository (15). Unchanged on 2 November; llms.txt now indexes 60 pages in two languages.)
- Agent ergonomics, Kimi Code CLI +16: Emdash 55 (Harness reading. Issue intake from Linear, GitHub, Jira and others, diff review, pull requests and CI checks in one place, local or over SSH (55).); Kimi Code CLI 71 (Framework reading, adapted to a harness driven by a pipeline. Global `tools.enabled` and `tools.disabled` lists, per-agent tool lists, deferred MCP tool loading and a read-only Plan mode (20). `stream-json` output and a step limit per turn by environment variable, but steps are unlimited by default and there's no wall-time or cost limit for the main turn (13). The server API returns coded envelopes and ACP returns standard JSON-RPC errors, but print mode documents no exit codes outside goal runs (12). Retries only on transient failures and never on an exhausted quota, with `--continue`, `--session`, fork, undo and ACP `session/load` (16). `kimi -p` needs one argument, with ACP and the REST API as programmatic surfaces but no SDK package in any language (10).)
- Reliability, Kimi Code CLI +13: Emdash 55 (Local software. Homebrew cask and installers for macOS, Windows and Linux (20). A code-consistency check and release workflows; no test workflow found (10). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Stable tags to v1.2.11, release notes on GitHub (10). Version 1.2.11 (15). 20 + 10 + 0 + 10 + 15 = 55.); Kimi Code CLI 68 (Local-package reading. An install script that verifies a checksum, npm `@moonshot-ai/kimi-code` with Node 22.19.0 or newer stated, and Homebrew core at 2.4.1, for macOS, Linux and Windows (20). A public CI workflow runs the build, a smoke test, sharded tests on Linux, tests on Windows, lint and typecheck. GitHub's pages answer 403 in this session, so whether it passes on main wasn't checked (15). The 18 October issue and pull-request counts came from shields.io badges, a third-party copy of GitHub data this run bars, so they are struck. The clone shows 95 commits from 13 authors since 18 October and a changelog that credits merged pull requests up to #4553 in 2.4.1, but which open issues are crashes or regressions, and how fast they're answered, couldn't be read (8). Changesets changelog with Major, Minor and Patch headings and no breaking-change label since 0.28.0. 2.2.0 made `executor = "kaos"` configs fail validation, 2.3.0 stopped bare-name plugin skill calls and 2.3.2, a patch, removed swarms from `kimi -p` and ACP (10). 2.4.1, past 1.0 (15). 20 + 15 + 8 + 10 + 15 = 68.)
- Transparency & trust, Kimi Code CLI +8: Emdash 54 (Apache 2.0 (30). A telemetry page on the docs site (not read) (18 of 30). No deprecation policy (5). Disclosed with an opt-out (15 of 20). 30 + 18 + 5 + 15 = 68.); Kimi Code CLI 62 (MIT (30). The docs have no privacy page for the CLI. The Kimi terms (effective 13 August 2026, NOVASCENT PRIVATE LIMITED, Singapore) let Moonshot use content to train its services unless the user opts out by email, prospectively only, and the Kimi privacy policy says content is used for training. The Kimi Platform privacy policy keeps inputs while the account is active. Neither says which applies to CLI sessions (12). The `kimi server` tree prints a deprecation notice until the next major version, a table names each deprecated config key and the version that replaced it, and the Python Kimi CLI was archived with a migration guide, though its notice gives no date for when old installations stop working (13). Telemetry is documented as on, with a config key and an environment variable to turn it off, but what it collects isn't listed, and print mode ignored the opt-out until 0.41.0 (9).)
- Security & auth, Kimi Code CLI +7: Emdash 38 (Harness reading. Telemetry is described as optional and disabled in Settings or with TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false, which reads as on by default (15 of 30). Worktree per task and remote machines over SSH (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). No security policy file found (3). 15 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 3 = 38.); Kimi Code CLI 45 (Harness reading of the framework checklist. 30 for credentials and 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. OAuth tokens sit in 0600 files and shell keys aren't read unless named. Telemetry is on by default and, in the 2.2.0 package read on 18 October, sends events with a device ID, session ID and model name to telemetry-logs.kimi.com. Auto-update is on by default (14). Interactive sessions ask before edits and commands, and a dangerous-command guard covers `rm -rf` and similar, but `kimi -p` runs under Never Ask, where everything is approved and the guard is off, with only static deny rules left. No sandbox found, and hooks fail open (7). The MCP page warns about untrusted servers and project `.kimi-code/mcp.json` entries, and since 2.1.0 project config waits for workspace trust, but no prompt-injection guidance was found for fetched web pages (6). Sessions on disk, `kimi export`, the `kimi vis` session visualiser, a diagnostic log and hooks for auditing (11). SECURITY.md names private GitHub advisories and an email, supports only the latest version and gives no response time. No security.txt was found on kimi.com, kimi.ai or moonshot.ai, and OSV, read again on 2 November 2026, lists no advisories for the package, though 2.1.0 shipped security fixes (7).)