# Harness vs Sculptor

> Harness scores 60.9 (C) to Sculptor's 53.1 (D) for multi-agent orchestration. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-sculptor
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-sculptor.md (~5,300 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Harness scores 60.9 (C) on agent readiness against Sculptor's 53.1 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Sculptor leads on payments & pricing. Both do multi-agent orchestration.

- Harness: grade C, 60.9/100, rank #632 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json
- Sculptor: grade D, 53.1/100, rank #966 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sculptor.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sculptor.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 1500 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Harness (C)

Good 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.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 45
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 50
- Transparency & trust, 64 against 57

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Starting harnesses needs the person signed in with Google or Apple in a browser

### Sculptor (D)

Good for: Developers who want parallel coding agents in isolated workspaces and are fine with a research preview.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: Labelled an experimental research preview that may change drastically


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: Harness +40

- Harness (85): Read as an MCP server and CLI. Eleven tools in source at v0.5.33, each with a typed JSON Schema input built by one helper, required fields marked, plus `--json` on every command. No OpenAPI, which a stdio server does not need (23). llms.txt and a Markdown-like agents page written for agents, per the 17 October check, not re-read on 4 November, since Autonomous's terms forbid access to its sites by automated means, including scripts or web crawlers, and its hosts are paused pending the founder (10). The tool descriptions and server instructions say when to call whoami first, to prefer a new project over an existing folder, to read before telling a harness more, and that turning a setting on is the person's yes to give (20). An enum on `agent` and on the setting `name`, `minItems` on wait names, minimum and maximum on `timeout_seconds`, a minimum on `chars` and `limit`. `machine`, `folder`, `project` and `model` are free strings (12). Worked examples, the exit code table and the `Next:` line per the 17 October reading of the agents page and llms.txt, with exit codes still in the source (13). Per-component semver tags, but the only CHANGELOG.md covers the provider protocol (0.3.0, 6 August 2026), and GitHub's release pages could not be read (7). 23 + 10 + 20 + 12 + 13 + 7 = 85.
- Sculptor (45): Harness reading. A README, specs and agent docs in the repository; no API reference (45).

### Agent ergonomics: Harness +27

- Harness (77): Eleven tools at v0.5.33 (seven on 17 October). Added since then are harness_search, harness_machines, harness_tell and harness_settings; harness_send and harness_tell are listed only inside a harness, so an agent outside one sees nine. Descriptions total about 4,000 characters. Judgement call. By the total, 11 tools fall in the 11 to 30 band (15), with 5 back for listing two tools only inside a harness (20). Counting only the nine an outside agent sees gives 25. We took the stricter reading, as the 17 October check counted the total (20). `chars` sizes a read (4,000 characters by default), `limit` sizes a search (10 by default), `all` widens the list, and `any` returns on the first finished harness. No pagination (14). Exit codes, refusals returned as answers rather than errors so a model does not retry them, and a timed-out wait reported as still working, in the source (19). readOnlyHint on whoami, list, search, machines, wait and read, destructiveHint false on start, tell and send, idempotentHint on close, and no hint on settings so an engine that asks before an unmarked tool asks the person (16). Two required fields on start, defaults of Claude Code and a 45-second wait. No SDK, but a CLI, an MCP server and a plugin with a skill (8). 20 + 14 + 19 + 16 + 8 = 77.
- Sculptor (50): Harness reading. Workspaces as isolated copies, review and merge back, and built-in skills (50).

### Payments & pricing: Sculptor +20

- Harness (40): No payment protocol (0). Read with the self-hosted rule. The software is free and the optional hardware prices are public, per the 17 October check, not re-read on 4 November, since Autonomous's terms forbid access to its sites by automated means, including scripts or web crawlers, and its hosts are paused pending the founder (20). Free with no card (20). An agent cannot start harnesses until the person signs in with Google or Apple in a browser; the agent can now turn the experimental setting on with the person's yes, but the browser sign-in still needs the person, so 0 for autonomous onboarding, as the other harnesses that need an account were read (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.
- Sculptor (60): Free self-hosted software with nothing to buy, so 0 for a protocol and 20 each for public pricing, a free tier and onboarding with no sign-up, 60.

### Transparency & trust: Harness +7

- Harness (64): MIT licence for the whole repository under Autonomous, Inc., with third-party Store covers under their own licences (30). The repository documents what usage counts contain, a 10-day pseudonymous activity mark and the encrypted relay in detail. Autonomous's privacy policy of 7 July 2026 is general to its stores and sites and does not mention Harness, per the 17 October reading and the site's policy reading of 30 October (14). The provider protocol promises both revisions side by side for a deprecation window after a breaking change. Nothing similar for the app or CLI (6). Telemetry is disclosed with an opt-out in the app and CLI, but it is on by default and described in the repository rather than in the privacy policy (14). 30 + 14 + 6 + 14 = 64.
- Sculptor (57): MIT (30). Consent-based telemetry documented in the repository (18 of 30). The README warns of drastic changes during the research preview, with no deprecation policy (5). Opt-in telemetry (20). 30 + 18 + 5 + 20 = 73.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Harness | Sculptor | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 43 | Sculptor +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 45 | Harness +40 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 50 | Harness +27 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 57 | Sculptor +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Sculptor +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 75 | even |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 57 | Harness +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **60.9 · C** | **53.1 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Harness | Sculptor |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Autonomous, Inc. | Imbue, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio |  |
| Auth | OAuth | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 11 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `ai.autonomous.harness/harness` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-07 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Popularity | 1.3k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Harness

- +0.9 on 4 November 2026: product, correction
- -0.3 on 30 October 2026: checklist

### Sculptor

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Harness.** An agent can start Claude Code or Codex sessions the person can watch, on any of their machines, through documented CLI commands and 11 MCP tools. Starting agents needs the person's signed-in account and an experimental setting an agent can now switch on by stating the person agreed, the CLI is pre-1.0, and usage counts are shared by default.

**Sculptor.** Imbue's open-source app for parallel coding agents in isolated workspaces, with telemetry off until you choose otherwise. It's an experimental research preview that warns of bugs and drastic changes, Mac and Linux only, with no changelog.

## Before you call either

### Harness

1. Run `harness whoami` first. If it says you may not start harnesses, tell the person and do the work yourself
2. Ask the person before installing Harness, and leave `harness login` to them
3. Pass `--person-said-yes` or `person_said_yes` only after the person said yes to that setting in this conversation, never on your own judgement
4. 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
5. Name every harness, put the whole task in `harness new`, then wait, read with `harness show` and close only the ones you started

### Sculptor

1. Download from the README's links, connect a repository and create a workspace before prompting
2. Review the diff before merging a workspace back to main

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Harness or Sculptor?

Harness scores 60.9 (C) on agent readiness against Sculptor's 53.1 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Sculptor leads on payments & pricing.

### Are Harness and Sculptor open source?

Yes. Harness is open source (MIT). Sculptor is open source (MIT).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-sculptor.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-sculptor.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "harness-autonomous", "b": "sculptor"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare harness-autonomous sculptor`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sculptor.json

## Other comparisons with Harness or Sculptor

- [Agent Zero vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Aider vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Amp vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-sculptor.md)
- [AXLR vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Claude Code vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Cline vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Conductor vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/conductor-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Crush vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-sculptor.md)
- [dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Devin vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Pi vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Emdash vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [goose vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Harness² vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-sculptor.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Jules vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Junie CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Letta vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/letta-vs-sculptor.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-sculptor.md)
- [MiniMax Code vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-code-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Mistral Vibe CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-vibe-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Muse Code vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-sculptor.md)
- [OpenAI Agents API vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-api-vs-sculptor.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-sculptor.md)
- [OpenCode vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-sculptor.md)
- [OpenHands vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Orca vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/orca-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Paseo vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paseo-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Prime Agent vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-sculptor.md)
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- [Mirror CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-mirror-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Rovo Dev CLI vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rovo-dev-cli-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Sculptor vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sculptor-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Sculptor vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sculptor-vs-traycer.md)
- [Sculptor vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sculptor-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Sculptor vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sculptor-vs-verdent.md)
- [Sculptor vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sculptor-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Sculptor vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sculptor-vs-warp.md)
- [Amp vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
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- [Auggie CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [AXLR vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axlr-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Claude Code vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Clawboo vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/clawboo-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
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- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [dsh-superagent (DeepSeek) vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-superagent-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Devin vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Emdash vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emdash-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
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- [Harness vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
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- [Harness vs T3 Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-t3-code.md)
- [Harness vs Traycer](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-traycer.md)
- [Harness vs Unstoppable](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-unstoppable.md)
- [Harness vs Verdent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-verdent.md)
- [Harness vs Vibe-Trading](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-vibe-trading.md)
- [Harness vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-warp.md)
- [OpenMausBot vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openmausbot-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Paperclip vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-sculptor.md)
- [Parallax vs Sculptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallax-agents-vs-sculptor.md)

---

Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp