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Head to head · Agent harness · October 2026 research run

goose vs Qwen Code

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Qwen Code's 72.4 (BB), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Qwen Code leads on schema & documentation. Both do agent harness.

gooseAgentic AI Foundation (originally Block) · Agent harness BB73.9/100#72 of 722 Qwen CodeAlibaba (Qwen team) · Agent harness BB72.4/100#93 of 722

Which one, for what

goose BB

Good 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 69
  • Security & auth, 77 against 53

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it

Watch for

Autonomous mode, which approves every tool call, is the default

Qwen Code BB

Good for Developers and CI jobs that want an open-source harness tied to no single model vendor, with run budgets and SDKs.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 91 against 81

Watch for

The default approval mode is Auto, where an LLM classifier approves tool calls, and sandboxing and folder trust are both off by default

Score by category

CategoryWeight this rungooseQwen CodeEdge
Reliability16%207769goose +8
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28191Qwen Code +10
Agent ergonomics13%16.28285Qwen Code +3
Security & auth14%17.57753goose +24
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88688Qwen Code +2
Transparency & trust7%8.86363even
Negative events≤15-20
Total73.9 · BB72.4 · BB

Facts side by side

FactgooseQwen Code
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAgentic AI Foundation (originally Block)Alibaba (Qwen team)
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthNoneAPI key
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0Apache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-09-232026-10-05
Terms last updatedno document linked2026-10-01
Privacy policy last updatedno document linked2026-10-01
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the text
Popularity55k stars28k stars, 105k npm/wk
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)none

Verdicts

goose

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

Qwen Code

Apache-2.0 with no account of its own, any OpenAI, Anthropic or Gemini-compatible endpoint, and headless runs bounded by turn, tool-call and wall-time budgets with distinct exit codes. Out of the box, Auto mode lets an LLM classifier approve tool calls, with the sandbox and folder trust both off. Usage statistics are on by default.

Before you call either

goose

  1. Set GOOSE_MODE=smart_approve or approve before a run. The default approves everything
  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

Qwen Code

  1. Pass --approval-mode on every run. The settings default is auto, and one docs page says headless runs default to asking, so don't rely on either
  2. Add --max-session-turns, --max-wall-time and --max-tool-calls. All three are unlimited by default. Exit 53 is the turn limit and 55 a budget
  3. --yolo doesn't turn on a sandbox. Add --sandbox, or on Linux set tools.executionSandbox with network set to closed
  4. Set QWEN_USAGE_STATISTICS_ENABLED=false to stop usage statistics
  5. Authenticate with OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENAI_BASE_URL and OPENAI_MODEL in CI. The browser sign-in is discontinued

Questions

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

goose scores 73.9 (BB) on agent readiness against Qwen Code's 72.4 (BB), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Qwen Code leads on schema & documentation.

Are goose and Qwen Code open source?

Yes. goose is open source (Apache-2.0). Qwen Code is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with goose or Qwen Code

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