{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "goose", "name": "goose", "vendor": "Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block)", "vendorUrl": "https://goose-docs.ai", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Open-source general-purpose agent written in Rust, with a desktop app, a CLI and an embeddable server.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/goose.json", "repo": "https://github.com/aaif-goose/goose", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@aaif/goose-acp" }, { "registry": "oci", "name": "ghcr.io/aaif-goose/goose" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account of its own. Model keys go in the system keyring through `goose configure`, in provider environment variables, or come from an existing Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini subscription through ACP providers.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and Apache-2.0, with nothing to buy. You pay your model provider, or nothing with a local model.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs or the source (checked 2026-10-01).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 54800, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-01" }, "docsUrl": "https://goose-docs.ai/docs/quickstart", "llmsTxt": "https://goose-docs.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "free", "no-card", "foundation", "llms-txt", "docker" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-16", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 73.9, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 82, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1135, "categoryRank": 1, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 82, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 60, "reliability": 77, "schema": 81, "security": 77, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-17" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-07-24. GHSA-r5pp-p5r8-466r (CVE-2026-72718, 7.0 at NVD), a repository's git `core.fsmonitor` setting ran arbitrary commands during `goose review` without approval or a sandbox. Fixed in 1.44.0 and published, inside six months, -2. https://github.com/aaif-goose/goose/security/advisories/GHSA-r5pp-p5r8-466r" ], "verdict": "Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed. Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default.", "bestFor": "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.", "strengths": [ "Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed", "Four permission modes, per-tool always, ask or never rules, and an extension allowlist an administrator can host", "Headless `goose run` with `--output-format json` or `stream-json`, `--max-turns` and recipes with typed parameters, retries and success checks", "15+ providers, built-in local inference, and existing Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini subscriptions through ACP", "Weekly releases with dated notes, 13 in the 90 days to 17 October 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default", "No sandbox, and prompt-injection detection and adversary mode are off by default", "No privacy policy on goose-docs.ai, and the usage-data page doesn't say where data goes or how long it's kept", "No breaking-change section in the ten release notes before 1 October", "About 270 open issues, many recent ones unanswered" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `GOOSE_MODE=smart_approve` or `approve` before a run. The default approves everything, and the first-run prompt preselects Auto", "Pass `--max-turns` with a real limit. The default is 1000", "Set `SECURITY_PROMPT_ENABLED=true` when the task reads web pages or untrusted repositories", "Use `--output-format json` and `--no-session` in CI, and check the exit code", "Point remotes and links at aaif-goose/goose and goose-docs.ai. The block/goose paths redirect" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 2.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 73.9 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 82, "maintenance": 86, "payments": 60, "reliability": 77, "schema": 81, "security": 77, "transparency": 73 }, "provenanceScore": 53 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://github.com/aaif-goose/goose/releases/download/stable/download_cli.sh | bash # or: brew install block-goose-cli", "headless": { "command": "goose run --no-session --max-turns 30 --output-format json -t \"$TASK\"", "env": { "GOOSE_MODE": "smart_approve", "GOOSE_MODEL": "\u003cmodel\u003e", "GOOSE_PROVIDER": "\u003cprovider\u003e", "SECURITY_PROMPT_ENABLED": "true" } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/goose" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Agentic AI Foundation (Linux Foundation)", "domain": "goose-docs.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/aaif-goose/goose/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "The docs footer reads Copyright AAIF (Agentic AI Foundation). Block donated goose, and the escalation contact in SECURITY.md is still a block.xyz address.", "We found no terms or privacy page on goose-docs.ai and no security.txt among the docs site's static files.", "The repository moved from block/goose to aaif-goose/goose, announced on the goose blog on 7 April 2026." ], "score": 53 }, "requirements": { "card": "no", "freeTier": true, "minutes": 5, "credential": "api-key", "hosting": [ "self-hosted" ], "euResidency": "unknown", "trainsOnData": "no", "zeroRetention": "unknown", "selfHost": "yes" }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose.json", "live": { "slug": "goose", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "aaif-goose/goose", "version": "v1.55.0", "released": "2026-10-16", "seenAt": "2026-10-18T02:50:28.591755975Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@aaif/goose-acp", "version": "1.55.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-18T02:50:27.756879279Z" } ], "githubStars": 55381, "npmWeekly": 221, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://goose-docs.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18T15:53:56.672963132Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://goose-docs.ai/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-18T14:25:08.190769807Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "goose-docs.ai", "registered": "2026-03-30", "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/goose-docs.ai", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18T13:42:11.900152938Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-18T15:53:56.672963132Z" } }, "answer": "goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.", "b": { "slug": "harness2", "name": "Harness²", "vendor": "Google (Google Research)", "vendorUrl": "https://harness2.github.io", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Harness² is Google Research's open-source Python framework that has an editor model rewrite an agent's harness (prompts, guardrails, memory, tools, skills, subagents, scripts and plugins) for each task and keeps lessons for later tasks, with model weights fixed.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness2", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness2.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness2.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness2.json", "repo": "https://github.com/google-research/harness2", "license": "Apache-2.0. Bundled benchmark runners keep their upstream licences (Apache-2.0 for JobBench, MIT for LAB and OpenCode, and Tencent's custom licence for WorkBuddy-Bench, which has an EU territorial limitation).", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No Harness² account or key. Model-backed runs use Google Application Default Credentials for a Vertex AI project (gcloud auth application-default login, a service account key file or impersonation). The optional Codex bridge generates its own local access key.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free under Apache-2.0, with nothing to buy. Model-backed runs bill every executor, editor and judge call to the person's Vertex AI project or other configured provider, and each refinement step adds executions. The local demo needs no credentials.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the README, docs or source (checked 2026-10-18). The software has nothing to buy.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 4200, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-18" }, "docsUrl": "https://github.com/google-research/harness2/tree/main/docs", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "apache-2.0", "local", "self-hosted", "free", "python", "cli", "linux" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-08", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 41.6, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 1029, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1135, "categoryRank": 26, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 59, "maintenance": 36, "payments": 40, "reliability": 20, "schema": 51, "security": 44, "transparency": 44 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-18" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Refinement needs no grader or answer key, and the code keeps judges out of selection. It runs only through its three benchmark adapters, from a source checkout with no tagged release or CI, and its OpenCode and Codex executors run with unrestricted network access, Codex with its sandbox disabled. The benchmark gains are the authors' claims.", "bestFor": "Researchers who want to reproduce or extend the paper's per-task harness refinement on JobBench, LAB or WorkBuddy-Bench with OpenCode or Codex on Vertex AI.", "strengths": [ "Refining a harness needs no grader, rubric or answer key. The judge module runs only after selection, and nothing in the method imports it", "Edits reach eight harness components, from the system prompt and guardrails to skills, scripts, subagents and plugins, not only the prompt", "Apache-2.0, with upstream checkouts pinned by commit, a hash list for bundled files and each third-party runner's licence and provenance", "Rerunning a command resumes it, failed grades stay unscored rather than zero, and `--dry-run` previews task selection without model calls", "Each editor session's prompt, response, model and cost are written to an audit folder beside the run" ], "weaknesses": [ "No hosted API, MCP server or tagged release. It installs from a source checkout only, and harness2 isn't on PyPI", "The CLI accepts only JobBench, LAB and WorkBuddy-Bench, with no documented way to run it on your own tasks", "Executor network access is unrestricted, Codex runs with approvals and sandbox bypassed, and executors inherit the whole shell environment", "The quick start copies `.env.example`, which the repository doesn't contain, and no .gitignore keeps a filled-in .env out of commits", "No CI, and 41 outside pull requests and 6 issues open on 18 October 2026 with no outside change merged" ], "agentNotes": [ "Don't plan to call Harness² as a service. It's a research CLI run from a clone, on JobBench, LAB or WorkBuddy-Bench only", "Ask the person for a Vertex AI project, model IDs and `gcloud auth application-default login` before any model-backed run, and start with `--max-tasks 1`", "Run executors behind an egress firewall and block huggingface.co and github.com after setup, as the docs advise, so rubrics can't be fetched", "Write .env yourself with GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT, HARNESS2_SOLVER_MODEL and HARNESS2_JUDGE_MODEL, since .env.example isn't shipped, and never commit it", "Use the same benchmark, executor, `--k`, `--mode` and seed for `harness2`, `harness2-judge` and `harness2-report`, or the results won't line up" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 2.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 41.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 59, "maintenance": 36, "payments": 40, "reliability": 20, "schema": 51, "security": 44, "transparency": 48 }, "provenanceScore": 40 }, "connect": { "install": "git clone https://github.com/google-research/harness2.git \u0026\u0026 cd harness2 \u0026\u0026 uv venv --python 3.12 .venv \u0026\u0026 source .venv/bin/activate \u0026\u0026 uv pip install -e '.[render]' \u0026\u0026 harness2-demo --output runs/demo --k 2", "headless": { "command": "harness2-setup lab \u0026\u0026 harness2-check --bench lab \u0026\u0026 harness2 --bench lab --k 1 --mode parallel --only-domains antitrust-competition --max-tasks 1", "env": { "GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT": "\u003cyour-vertex-project\u003e", "HARNESS2_JUDGE_MODEL": "\u003cmodel-id\u003e", "HARNESS2_SOLVER_MODEL": "\u003cprovider/model\u003e" } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/harness2" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Google LLC", "domain": "harness2.github.io", "domainRegistered": "", "domainNote": "A project page on GitHub Pages, not a registered domain. The code is in the google-research organisation on GitHub.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-18", "notes": [ "LICENSE is Apache-2.0, and pyproject.toml and every source file name Google LLC. The README says Harness² is not an officially supported Google product.", "No terms or privacy policy govern the package or the project page. Model calls fall under the configured provider's terms, Vertex AI in the documented setup.", "The repository has no SECURITY.md, and harness2.github.io/.well-known/security.txt returns 404. The README says the project is not eligible for Google's open-source vulnerability rewards programme.", "No changelog, tags or GitHub releases. The version is 0.1.0 in pyproject.toml.", "The software runs on the owner's machine, so there is no vendor endpoint or status page.", "The project page has no robots.txt and carries a noindex, nofollow robots meta tag. It was read once as a public page." ], "score": 40 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness2.json" }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block)", "b": "Google (Google Research)", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0", "b": "Apache-2.0. Bundled benchmark runners keep their upstream licences (Apache-2.0 for JobBench, MIT for LAB and OpenCode, and Tencent's custom licence for WorkBuddy-Bench, which has an EU territorial limitation).", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-16", "b": "2026-10-08", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no document linked", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "55k stars", "b": "4.2k stars", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "2.5/5 (2)", "b": "2.5/5 (4)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, goose or Harness²?" }, { "answer": "Yes. goose is open source (Apache-2.0). Harness² is open source (Apache-2.0. Bundled benchmark runners keep their upstream licences (Apache-2.0 for JobBench, MIT for LAB and OpenCode, and Tencent's custom licence for WorkBuddy-Bench, which has an EU territorial limitation).).", "question": "Are goose and Harness² open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 77 against 20", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 81 against 51", "Agent ergonomics, 82 against 59", "Security \u0026 auth, 77 against 44", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 40", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 36", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 63 against 44" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "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.", "slug": "goose", "watchFor": "Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Researchers who want to reproduce or extend the paper's per-task harness refinement on JobBench, LAB or WorkBuddy-Bench with OpenCode or Codex on Vertex AI.", "slug": "harness2", "watchFor": "No hosted API, MCP server or tagged release. It installs from a source checkout only, and harness2 isn't on PyPI" } ], "job": { "capability": "agent.harness", "name": "Agent harnesses" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-goose.json", "title": "Agent Zero vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Agent Zero vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-goose.json", "title": "Aider vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Aider vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-goose.json", "title": "Amp vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Amp vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-goose.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose.json", "title": "Claude Code vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.json", "title": "Cline vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Cline vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-goose.json", "title": "Devin vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Devin vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-goose.json", "title": "Droid CLI vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Droid CLI vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-goose.json", "title": "Pi vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Pi vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-goose.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness2.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-goose.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness2.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs Harness²", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness2" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harnessrouter.json", "title": "goose vs HarnessRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harnessrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kilo-code-cli.json", "title": "goose vs Kilo Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kilo-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "goose vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-muse-code.json", "title": "goose vs Muse Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-muse-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "goose vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-opencode.json", "title": "goose vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openhands.json", "title": "goose vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "goose vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "goose vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "goose vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-reflection-mirror" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-harnessrouter.json", "title": "Harness² vs HarnessRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-harnessrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kilo-code-cli.json", "title": "Harness² vs Kilo Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kilo-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Harness² vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-muse-code.json", "title": "Harness² vs Muse Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-muse-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Harness² vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Harness² vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Harness² vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Harness² vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Harness² vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "Harness² vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-reflection-mirror" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-goose.json", "title": "CLI Manager vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "goose vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "goose vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-parallax-agents.json", "title": "goose vs Parallax", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-parallax-agents" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 57, "edge": "goose", "goose": 77, "harness2": 20, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 30, "edge": "goose", "goose": 81, "harness2": 51, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 23, "edge": "goose", "goose": 82, "harness2": 59, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 33, "edge": "goose", "goose": 77, "harness2": 44, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "goose", "goose": 60, "harness2": 40, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 50, "edge": "goose", "goose": 86, "harness2": 36, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 19, "edge": "goose", "goose": 63, "harness2": 44, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.", "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "goose": "Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed. Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default.", "harness2": "Refinement needs no grader or answer key, and the code keeps judges out of selection. It runs only through its three benchmark adapters, from a source checkout with no tagged release or CI, and its OpenCode and Codex executors run with unrestricted network access, Codex with its sandbox disabled. The benchmark gains are the authors' claims." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2.min.md" }, "markdown": "goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.\n\n- goose: grade BB, 73.9/100, rank #82 of 1135. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/goose.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/goose.json\n- Harness²: grade E, 41.6/100, rank #1029 of 1135. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness2.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness2.json\n- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md\n- All 354 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### goose (BB)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 77 against 20\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 81 against 51\n- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 59\n- Security \u0026 auth, 77 against 44\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 40\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 86 against 36\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 63 against 44\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default\n\n### Harness² (E)\n\nGood for: Researchers who want to reproduce or extend the paper's per-task harness refinement on JobBench, LAB or WorkBuddy-Bench with OpenCode or Codex on Vertex AI.\n\nWatch for: No hosted API, MCP server or tagged release. It installs from a source checkout only, and harness2 isn't on PyPI\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | goose | Harness² | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 77 | 20 | goose +57 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 51 | goose +30 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 59 | goose +23 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 77 | 44 | goose +33 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 40 | goose +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 36 | goose +50 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 44 | goose +19 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **73.9 · BB** | **41.6 · E** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | goose | Harness² |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Agentic AI Foundation (originally Block) | Google (Google Research) |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | None | None |\n| Pricing | Free | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0. Bundled benchmark runners keep their upstream licences (Apache-2.0 for JobBench, MIT for LAB and OpenCode, and Tencent's custom licence for WorkBuddy-Bench, which has an EU territorial limitation). |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-08 |\n| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |\n| Customer content may train models | | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | |\n| Popularity | 55k stars | 4.2k stars |\n| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 2.5/5 (4) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**goose.** Telemetry off until the user opts in, with the collected fields listed. Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default.\n\n**Harness².** Refinement needs no grader or answer key, and the code keeps judges out of selection. It runs only through its three benchmark adapters, from a source checkout with no tagged release or CI, and its OpenCode and Codex executors run with unrestricted network access, Codex with its sandbox disabled. The benchmark gains are the authors' claims.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### goose\n\n1. Set `GOOSE_MODE=smart_approve` or `approve` before a run. The default approves everything, and the first-run prompt preselects Auto\n2. Pass `--max-turns` with a real limit. The default is 1000\n3. Set `SECURITY_PROMPT_ENABLED=true` when the task reads web pages or untrusted repositories\n4. Use `--output-format json` and `--no-session` in CI, and check the exit code\n5. Point remotes and links at aaif-goose/goose and goose-docs.ai. The block/goose paths redirect\n\n### Harness²\n\n1. Don't plan to call Harness² as a service. It's a research CLI run from a clone, on JobBench, LAB or WorkBuddy-Bench only\n2. Ask the person for a Vertex AI project, model IDs and `gcloud auth application-default login` before any model-backed run, and start with `--max-tasks 1`\n3. Run executors behind an egress firewall and block huggingface.co and github.com after setup, as the docs advise, so rubrics can't be fetched\n4. Write .env yourself with GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT, HARNESS2_SOLVER_MODEL and HARNESS2_JUDGE_MODEL, since .env.example isn't shipped, and never commit it\n5. Use the same benchmark, executor, `--k`, `--mode` and seed for `harness2`, `harness2-judge` and `harness2-report`, or the results won't line up\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, goose or Harness²?\n\ngoose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.\n\n### Are goose and Harness² open source?\n\nYes. goose is open source (Apache-2.0). Harness² is open source (Apache-2.0. Bundled benchmark runners keep their upstream licences (Apache-2.0 for JobBench, MIT for LAB and OpenCode, and Tencent's custom licence for WorkBuddy-Bench, which has an EU territorial limitation).).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"goose\", \"b\": \"harness2\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare goose harness2`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/goose.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness2.json\n\n## Other comparisons with goose or Harness²\n\n- [Agent Zero vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-goose.md)\n- [Agent Zero vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Aider vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-goose.md)\n- [Aider vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Amp vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-goose.md)\n- [Amp vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-goose.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Claude Code vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-goose.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Cline vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.md)\n- [Cline vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-goose.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Devin vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-goose.md)\n- [Devin vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Droid CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-goose.md)\n- [Droid CLI vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Pi vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-goose.md)\n- [Pi vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-harness2.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-goose.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness2.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-goose.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness2.md)\n- [goose vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harnessrouter.md)\n- [goose vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)\n- [goose vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [goose vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-muse-code.md)\n- [goose vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [goose vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-opencode.md)\n- [goose vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openhands.md)\n- [goose vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [goose vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [goose vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-reflection-mirror.md)\n- [Harness² vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-harnessrouter.md)\n- [Harness² vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)\n- [Harness² vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Harness² vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-muse-code.md)\n- [Harness² vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Harness² vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-opencode.md)\n- [Harness² vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-openhands.md)\n- [Harness² vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Harness² vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Harness² vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-reflection-mirror.md)\n- [CLI Manager vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-goose.md)\n- [goose vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [goose vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [goose vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-parallax-agents.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "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.", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-18", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "goose vs Harness²", "url": "" } ], "description": "goose scores 73.9 (BB) to Harness²'s 41.6 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "goose BB 73.9", "Harness² E 41.6", "scores" ], "h1": "goose vs Harness²", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-goose-vs-harness2.png", "path": "/compare/goose-vs-harness2", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "goose vs Harness² for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-18", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness2" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2850, "slim": 580 }, "version": 1 }