Write a review

Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

goose vs MiniMax Code

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against MiniMax Code's 67.5 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 752 harnesses comparisons

gooseAgentic AI Foundation (originally Block) · Agent harness BB73.9/100#82 of 1175 MiniMax CodeMiniMax · Agent harness B67.5/100#277 of 1175

Which one, for what

goose BB

Best 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 63
  • Agent ergonomics, 82 against 75
  • Security & auth, 77 against 57
  • Maintenance & community, 86 against 77

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

MiniMax Code B

Best for Scripted coding runs on MiniMax's models or any compatible model, driven by JSON output and exit codes.

Also in its favour

  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 2.5 out of 5

Watch for

Pre-1.0 and labelled a source preview, with npm at 0.6.12 and the public source at 0.6.5

Score by category

CategoryWeight this rungooseMiniMax CodeEdge
Reliability16%207763goose +14
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28181even
Agent ergonomics13%16.28275goose +7
Security & auth14%17.57757goose +20
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88677goose +9
Transparency & trust7%8.86361goose +2
Negative events≤15-20
TotalBB 73.9/100B 67.5/100

Facts side by side

FactgooseMiniMax Code
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAgentic AI Foundation (originally Block)MiniMax
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthNoneOAuth or key
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0MIT for first-party code, with the bundled sandbox runtime under Apache-2.0. The desktop app's source isn't published
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-162026-10-15
Terms last updatedno document linked2026-01-19
Privacy policy last updatedno document linked2026-01-19
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryes
Popularity55k stars2k stars, 6.8k npm/wk
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)3.5/5 (4)

Verdicts

goose

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

MiniMax Code

An MIT-licensed terminal coding agent with a headless mode that returns versioned JSON, documented exit codes and an ACP server, and telemetry off by default. It's pre-1.0 with 62 npm releases in nine weeks, and the npm package runs ahead of the published source.

Before you call either

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

MiniMax Code

  1. Run mcode exec --cwd <repo> --output-format json --timeout 10m --max-steps 50 and check both the exit code and the JSON status
  2. Keep --permission full and off for a container or throwaway workspace. The default smart fails when it would need a person
  3. Set MCODE_PROVIDER_API_KEY and add a provider for BYOK. M Plan models need a browser sign-in with mcode login --region global
  4. Set MINIMAX_DATA_DIR per CI runner. Keys and sessions live in ~/.minimax by default
  5. Pin a version. npm published 62 releases in nine weeks and the public source trails it

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, goose or MiniMax Code?

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against MiniMax Code's 67.5 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

Are goose and MiniMax Code open source?

Yes. goose is open source (Apache-2.0). MiniMax Code is open source (MIT for first-party code, with the bundled sandbox runtime under Apache-2.0. The desktop app's source isn't published).

Other comparisons with goose or MiniMax Code

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.

Get an auditSee a sample report