{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "harness-autonomous", "name": "Harness", "vendor": "Autonomous, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.autonomous.ai/harness", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Harness, by Autonomous, is an open-source app that runs Claude Code, Codex and twelve other coding agents in tmux sessions across a person's computers. Agents can start, wait for and read other agents through its CLI or MCP tools.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json", "repo": "https://github.com/autonomous-ai/openharness", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "stdio" ], "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "No account for harnesses on one computer. Agents starting harnesses, remote machines and the phone need the person's Harness account, signed in with Google or Apple in a browser (PKCE) or by QR from the phone. Agents use the person's own Claude Code or Codex credentials.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "The desktop app, CLI and phone apps are free and MIT licensed. Agent subscriptions and model usage are the person's own. The Harness Device ($149) and Harness Pro ($299) are optional hardware.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the README, llms.txt, the agents page or the CLI source (checked 2026-10-17). The software has nothing to buy.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 7, "popularity": { "githubStars": 1284, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-17" }, "docsUrl": "https://harness.autonomous.ai/agents", "llmsTxt": "https://harness.autonomous.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "mit", "local", "free", "no-card", "macos", "linux", "typescript", "mcp", "llms-txt", "desktop-app", "cli", "agent-skill" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-17", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 60.3, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 570, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1133, "categoryRank": 14, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 82, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 40, "reliability": 35, "schema": 85, "security": 57, "transparency": 68 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "low", "date": "2026-10-17" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "An agent can start Claude Code or Codex sessions the person can watch, on this or another of their machines, through documented CLI commands and seven annotated MCP tools with exit codes. Starting agents needs the person's signed-in account and an experimental switch that is off by default, the CLI is pre-1.0, and usage counts are shared by default.", "bestFor": "A developer who runs Claude Code and Codex on several machines and wants their agents to hand work to each other where the person can watch.", "strengths": [ "Seven MCP tools with typed JSON Schema inputs, `additionalProperties: false`, readOnlyHint on reads and server instructions on when not to start one", "llms.txt and an agents page list every command, the exit codes 0 to 5 and 124, and a `Next:` line after each answer", "Agents may start harnesses only after the person turns on an account switch an agent cannot flip, with at most four live harnesses each", "MIT licence for the app, CLI, daemon, relay and device firmware, with 548 tags between 9 September and 17 October 2026", "Remote terminal traffic is end-to-end encrypted, direct over WebRTC where the network allows, and relays forward ciphertext" ], "weaknesses": [ "Starting harnesses needs the person signed in with Google or Apple in a browser and an experimental account switch, off by default", "The CLI agents call is version 0.4.18 and the npm MCP package in the repository was never published", "Product usage counts are shared by default, with an opt-out in Settings or `harness privacy off`", "Installing Harness adds its commands to Claude Code's and Codex's permission rules, and Codex runs them outside its sandbox", "Autonomous's privacy policy and terms cover its stores and websites and do not mention Harness" ], "agentNotes": [ "Run `harness whoami` first. If it says you may not start harnesses, tell the person and do the work yourself", "Ask the person before installing Harness, and leave `harness login` and the agents-start-agents switch to them", "Treat exit 5 as final and do not retry. Treat exit 3 as needs the person, and never answer a harness's question or permission prompt", "Name every harness, put the whole task in `harness new`, then wait, read with `harness show` and close only the ones you started", "Run each `harness` command on its own or joined with `\u0026\u0026`, since piped commands no longer match the permission rule" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "low", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 60.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 82, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 40, "reliability": 35, "schema": 85, "security": 57, "transparency": 64 }, "provenanceScore": 72 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://harness.autonomous.ai/cli/install.sh | bash \u0026\u0026 harness start", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add harness -- harness mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "harness": { "args": [ "mcp" ], "command": "harness" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.multi-agent", "tool": "https://letme.dev/harness-autonomous" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Autonomous, Inc.", "domain": "autonomous.ai", "domainRegistered": "2017-12-16", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://www.autonomous.ai/terms-of-use", "privacy": "https://www.autonomous.ai/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/autonomous-ai/openharness/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-17", "notes": [ "The LICENSE file reads Copyright (c) 2026 Autonomous, Inc., and the privacy policy (last updated 7 July 2026) names Autonomous, Inc. The terms choose the law of California with binding arbitration.", "The privacy policy and terms cover Autonomous's websites, stores and apps in general. Neither names Harness or its product usage counts, which are described in the repository.", "RDAP at Identity Digital gives a registration date of 2017-12-16 for autonomous.ai.", "security.txt returned 404 on www.autonomous.ai and harness.autonomous.ai on 17 October 2026. The repository's SECURITY.md asks for reports to dee@autonomous.ai, with acknowledgement within three working days.", "CHANGELOG.md covers only the provider protocol (0.3.0, 6 August 2026). The CLI release workflow cuts a GitHub Release per tag, which we could not read because GitHub's web pages and API were not reachable from our network.", "The software runs on the owner's machines. Accounts, the relay and the backend are Autonomous's, and no status page was found." ], "score": 72 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.json", "live": { "slug": "harness-autonomous", "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.autonomous.ai/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:13:27.381383505Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "caddd4dd6217" }, { "url": "https://www.autonomous.ai/terms-of-use", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:13:29.742966815Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "c30237c8a371" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-17T23:13:29.742966815Z" } }, "answer": "Harness scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Paperclip leads on reliability, security \u0026 auth, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community.", "b": { "slug": "paperclip", "name": "Paperclip", "vendor": "Paperclip Labs, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://paperclip.ing", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Paperclip is an open-source, self-hosted server and web interface that organises AI agents into a company with an org chart, tasks, budgets and approvals. It drives Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw and other harnesses through adapters.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paperclip", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paperclip.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paperclip.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paperclip.json", "repo": "https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "paperclipai" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@paperclipai/mcp-server" }, { "registry": "oci", "name": "ghcr.io/paperclipai/paperclip" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "No Paperclip account. The default `local_trusted` mode needs no login on loopback. Authenticated mode uses browser sessions for people, board API keys for scripts, and agent API keys or short-lived run JWTs as bearer tokens.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and MIT, self-hosted, with nothing to buy. The owner pays each harness's model provider or subscription. Paperclip Cloud is a waitlist with no published price.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the site or the server source (checked 2026-10-08). The only mention in the repository is a link to a third-party skill in a planning note.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 98666, "npmWeekly": 59684, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.paperclip.ing", "llmsTxt": "https://paperclip.ing/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.multi-agent", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "local", "free", "no-card", "llms-txt", "docker", "mcp", "typescript" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-05", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 59, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 620, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1133, "categoryRank": 17, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 60, "reliability": 66, "schema": 81, "security": 64, "transparency": 65 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": -10, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-04-10 to 2026-04-16. Ten advisories published in a week, four of them critical, among them GHSA-68qg-g8mg-6pr7 (CVE-2026-41679, 10.0, unauthenticated remote code execution through an import authorisation bypass) and two cross-tenant agent key flaws rated 9.9. All ten list 2026.416.0 as the fix. Fixed and published, a little under six months old, -5. https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/security/advisories", "2026-07-22. GHSA-x8hx-rhr2-9rf7 (9.6), drive-by remote code execution against the default `local_trusted` mode through DNS rebinding. The advisory names no patched version. The current source applies the hostname guard to `local_trusted` private deployments, so we read it as fixed without a documented version, -3. https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/security/advisories/GHSA-x8hx-rhr2-9rf7", "2026-04-16. GHSA-gqqj-85qm-8qhf (8.7), a `codex_local` agent inherited a Gmail connector from the owner's ChatGPT account and sent real email. The advisory names no patched version, and `codex_local` still defaults to bypassing approvals and the sandbox, -2. https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/security/advisories/GHSA-gqqj-85qm-8qhf" ], "verdict": "Board approvals, budgets with a hard stop and an activity log sit above whichever harnesses do the work, and eleven stable versions shipped in 90 days. The Claude Code and Codex adapters skip permission prompts and the sandbox by default, and twelve security advisories, five of them critical, have been published since April 2026.", "bestFor": "Someone running several coding or operations agents who wants one place for tasks, budgets, approvals and history across harnesses.", "strengths": [ "One deployment runs agents on Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes, Grok Build, Kimi Code and OpenClaw through adapters, under one org chart", "Board approvals gate agent hires and the CEO agent's strategy, and connection actions can be set to Allowed, Ask first or Off", "Budgets by company, agent and project pause an agent at 100 per cent of recorded spend", "The running server publishes its REST surface as OpenAPI at `/api/openapi.json`, and the docs site answers every page as Markdown at `.md`", "Eleven stable releases between 20 July and 5 October 2026, each with dated notes and an upgrade guide" ], "weaknesses": [ "`claude_local` defaults `dangerouslySkipPermissions` to true and `codex_local` defaults to bypassing approvals and the sandbox, with agents running on the host", "Twelve published security advisories since April 2026, five critical, including CVE-2026-41679 (unauthenticated remote code execution, fixed in 2026.416.0)", "Anonymous usage telemetry is on by default and goes to telemetry.paperclip.ing until an opt-out is set", "2,849 open issues on 8 October 2026, 1,396 of them with no comment, and 78 closed in 30 days against 686 opened", "Calendar versions with no 1.0, and release 2026.916.0 carried five breaking changes" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `PAPERCLIP_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first start. Telemetry is on by default", "Set `dangerouslySkipPermissions` and `dangerouslyBypassApprovalsAndSandbox` to false on agents that read untrusted input, or run them in a sandbox provider", "Install with Node.js 24.11 or newer, and install and sign in to each harness CLI on the host first. Paperclip assumes they are there", "Use `--bind lan` or `--bind tailnet` at onboarding for anything beyond one machine. The default `local_trusted` mode treats every request as the board admin", "Treat 409 on task checkout as owned by another agent and pick different work. The API docs say not to retry" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 59 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 70, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 60, "reliability": 66, "schema": 81, "security": 64, "transparency": 73 }, "provenanceScore": 56 }, "connect": { "install": "npx paperclipai@latest onboard --yes # Node.js 24.11 or newer", "http": "curl http://localhost:3100/api/health", "headless": { "command": "npx paperclipai issue create --title \"$TASK\" --json", "env": { "PAPERCLIP_API_KEY": "\u003cboard or agent key\u003e", "PAPERCLIP_TELEMETRY_DISABLED": "1" } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.multi-agent", "tool": "https://letme.dev/paperclip" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Paperclip Labs, Inc.", "domain": "paperclip.ing", "domainRegistered": "2026-03-02", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://paperclip.ing/terms/", "privacy": "https://paperclip.ing/privacy/", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://paperclip.ing/changelog/", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The terms (effective 1 April 2026, updated 23 July 2026) and the privacy policy (effective 23 July 2026) name Paperclip Labs, Inc. and Delaware law. The licence file in the repository reads Copyright (c) 2025 Paperclip AI.", "RDAP at the .ing registry gives a registration date of 2026-03-02 for paperclip.ing, with Cloudflare as registrar. The GitHub repository was created the same day.", "paperclip.ing/.well-known/security.txt and docs.paperclip.ing/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 8 October 2026. SECURITY.md sends reports to GitHub private advisories.", "The software is self-hosted, so there is no vendor endpoint or status page to check. status.paperclip.ing did not answer.", "The privacy policy says it governs the hosted services, and that a self-hosted deployment processes data on the owner's infrastructure." ], "score": 56 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paperclip.json", "live": { "slug": "paperclip", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "paperclipai/paperclip", "version": "v2026.1012.0", "released": "2026-10-12", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T02:08:44.31745139Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@paperclipai/mcp-server", "version": "2026.1012.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T02:08:42.167653004Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "paperclipai", "version": "2026.1012.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T02:08:42.095685664Z" } ], "githubStars": 103201, "npmWeekly": 48653, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://paperclip.ing/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T15:52:35.65906303Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://paperclip.ing/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T14:22:56.210629559Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "paperclip.ing", "registered": "2026-03-02", "source": "https://pubapi.registry.google/rdap/domain/paperclip.ing", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:14:53.975891006Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://paperclip.ing/changelog/", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:07:06.380040295Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:20:35.777028506Z", "fingerprint": "874daecee6a2" }, { "url": "https://paperclip.ing/privacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:07:08.577453132Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:20:37.971216507Z", "fingerprint": "4b2a8faa9979" }, { "url": "https://paperclip.ing/terms/", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:07:10.54120879Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:20:40.00773926Z", "fingerprint": "2076edf48663" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-17T23:07:10.54120879Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Autonomous, Inc.", "b": "Paperclip Labs, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "stdio", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "7", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-17", "b": "2026-10-05", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "", "b": "2026-07-23", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "2026-07-23", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "yes, with an opt-out", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "1.3k stars", "b": "99k stars, 60k npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (4)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Harness scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Paperclip leads on reliability, security \u0026 auth, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Harness or Paperclip?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Harness is open source (MIT). Paperclip is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are Harness and Paperclip open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 82 against 70" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine", "No incidents deducted, where Paperclip loses 10 points for them" ], "goodFor": "A developer who runs Claude Code and Codex on several machines and wants their agents to hand work to each other where the person can watch.", "slug": "harness-autonomous", "watchFor": "Starting harnesses needs the person signed in with Google or Apple in a browser and an experimental account switch, off by default" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 66 against 35", "Security \u0026 auth, 64 against 57", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 40", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 78 against 60" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Someone running several coding or operations agents who wants one place for tasks, budgets, approvals and history across harnesses.", "slug": "paperclip", "watchFor": "`claude_local` defaults `dangerouslySkipPermissions` to true and `codex_local` defaults to bypassing approvals and the sandbox, with agents running on the host" } ], "job": { "capability": "agent.multi-agent", "name": "Multi-agent orchestration" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Amp vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Amp vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "CLI Manager vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "CLI Manager vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Cline vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Cline vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Devin vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Devin vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Droid CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Droid CLI vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-paperclip" }, { "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/harness-autonomous-vs-harnessrouter.json", "title": "Harness vs HarnessRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-harnessrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kilo-code-cli.json", "title": "Harness vs Kilo Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kilo-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Harness vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-muse-code.json", "title": "Harness vs Muse Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-muse-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Harness vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Harness vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-parallax-agents.json", "title": "Harness vs Parallax", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-parallax-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Harness vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Harness vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "Harness vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-reflection-mirror" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "HarnessRouter vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Kilo Code CLI vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Muse Code vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "OpenCode vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "OpenHands vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-parallax-agents.json", "title": "Paperclip vs Parallax", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-parallax-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Paperclip vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Paperclip vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "Paperclip vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-reflection-mirror" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 31, "edge": "paperclip", "harness-autonomous": 35, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "paperclip": 66, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 4, "edge": "harness-autonomous", "harness-autonomous": 85, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "paperclip": 81, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 12, "edge": "harness-autonomous", "harness-autonomous": 82, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "paperclip": 70, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "paperclip", "harness-autonomous": 57, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "paperclip": 64, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "paperclip", "harness-autonomous": 40, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "paperclip": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 18, "edge": "paperclip", "harness-autonomous": 60, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "paperclip": 78, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 3, "edge": "harness-autonomous", "harness-autonomous": 68, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "paperclip": 65, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Harness scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Paperclip leads on reliability, security \u0026 auth, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do multi-agent orchestration.", "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "harness-autonomous": "An agent can start Claude Code or Codex sessions the person can watch, on this or another of their machines, through documented CLI commands and seven annotated MCP tools with exit codes. Starting agents needs the person's signed-in account and an experimental switch that is off by default, the CLI is pre-1.0, and usage counts are shared by default.", "paperclip": "Board approvals, budgets with a hard stop and an activity log sit above whichever harnesses do the work, and eleven stable versions shipped in 90 days. The Claude Code and Codex adapters skip permission prompts and the sandbox by default, and twelve security advisories, five of them critical, have been published since April 2026." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.min.md" }, "markdown": "Harness scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Paperclip leads on reliability, security \u0026 auth, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do multi-agent orchestration.\n\n- Harness: grade C, 60.3/100, rank #570 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json\n- Paperclip: grade C, 59/100, rank #620 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paperclip.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paperclip.json\n- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md\n- All 331 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Harness (C)\n\nGood for: A developer who runs Claude Code and Codex on several machines and wants their agents to hand work to each other where the person can watch.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 70\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n- No incidents deducted, where Paperclip loses 10 points for them\n\nWatch for: Starting harnesses needs the person signed in with Google or Apple in a browser and an experimental account switch, off by default\n\n### Paperclip (C)\n\nGood for: Someone running several coding or operations agents who wants one place for tasks, budgets, approvals and history across harnesses.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 66 against 35\n- Security \u0026 auth, 64 against 57\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 60 against 40\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 78 against 60\n\nWatch for: `claude_local` defaults `dangerouslySkipPermissions` to true and `codex_local` defaults to bypassing approvals and the sandbox, with agents running on the host\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Harness | Paperclip | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 66 | Paperclip +31 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 81 | Harness +4 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 70 | Harness +12 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 64 | Paperclip +7 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Paperclip +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 78 | Paperclip +18 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 68 | 65 | Harness +3 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -10 | |\n| **Total** | | **60.3 · C** | **59 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Harness | Paperclip |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Autonomous, Inc. | Paperclip Labs, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | stdio | |\n| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Free | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | MIT |\n| Tools exposed | 7 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-17 | 2026-10-05 |\n| Terms last updated | | 2026-07-23 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | | 2026-07-23 |\n| Customer content may train models | | yes, with an opt-out |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | yes |\n| Popularity | 1.3k stars | 99k stars, 60k npm/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Harness.** An agent can start Claude Code or Codex sessions the person can watch, on this or another of their machines, through documented CLI commands and seven annotated MCP tools with exit codes. Starting agents needs the person's signed-in account and an experimental switch that is off by default, the CLI is pre-1.0, and usage counts are shared by default.\n\n**Paperclip.** Board approvals, budgets with a hard stop and an activity log sit above whichever harnesses do the work, and eleven stable versions shipped in 90 days. The Claude Code and Codex adapters skip permission prompts and the sandbox by default, and twelve security advisories, five of them critical, have been published since April 2026.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Harness\n\n1. Run `harness whoami` first. If it says you may not start harnesses, tell the person and do the work yourself\n2. Ask the person before installing Harness, and leave `harness login` and the agents-start-agents switch to them\n3. Treat exit 5 as final and do not retry. Treat exit 3 as needs the person, and never answer a harness's question or permission prompt\n4. Name every harness, put the whole task in `harness new`, then wait, read with `harness show` and close only the ones you started\n5. Run each `harness` command on its own or joined with `\u0026\u0026`, since piped commands no longer match the permission rule\n\n### Paperclip\n\n1. Set `PAPERCLIP_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first start. Telemetry is on by default\n2. Set `dangerouslySkipPermissions` and `dangerouslyBypassApprovalsAndSandbox` to false on agents that read untrusted input, or run them in a sandbox provider\n3. Install with Node.js 24.11 or newer, and install and sign in to each harness CLI on the host first. Paperclip assumes they are there\n4. Use `--bind lan` or `--bind tailnet` at onboarding for anything beyond one machine. The default `local_trusted` mode treats every request as the board admin\n5. Treat 409 on task checkout as owned by another agent and pick different work. The API docs say not to retry\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Harness or Paperclip?\n\nHarness scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Paperclip's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Paperclip leads on reliability, security \u0026 auth, payments \u0026 pricing and maintenance \u0026 community.\n\n### Are Harness and Paperclip open source?\n\nYes. Harness is open source (MIT). Paperclip is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"harness-autonomous\", \"b\": \"paperclip\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare harness-autonomous paperclip`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/paperclip.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Harness or Paperclip\n\n- [Amp vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Amp vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [CLI Manager vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [CLI Manager vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Cline vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Cline vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Devin vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Devin vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Droid CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Droid CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-paperclip.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- [Harness vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-harnessrouter.md)\n- [Harness vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)\n- [Harness vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Harness vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-muse-code.md)\n- [Harness vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-opencode.md)\n- [Harness vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-openhands.md)\n- [Harness vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-parallax-agents.md)\n- [Harness vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Harness vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Harness vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-reflection-mirror.md)\n- [HarnessRouter vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Kilo Code CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Muse Code vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [OpenCode vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [OpenHands vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Paperclip vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-parallax-agents.md)\n- [Paperclip vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Paperclip vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Paperclip vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-reflection-mirror.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": "Harness vs Paperclip", "url": "" } ], "description": "Harness scores 60.3 (C) to Paperclip's 59 (C) for multi-agent orchestration. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Harness C 60.3", "Paperclip C 59", "scores" ], "h1": "Harness vs Paperclip", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.png", "path": "/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Harness vs Paperclip for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-17", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2850, "slim": 630 }, "version": 1 }