# Harness² vs Kilo Code CLI

> Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) to Harness²'s 41.6 (E) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent harnesses.

- 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
- Kilo Code CLI: grade BB, 73/100, rank #98 of 1135. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kilo-code-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kilo-code-cli.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 354 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Harness² (E)

Good 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.

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

Watch for: No hosted API, MCP server or tagged release. It installs from a source checkout only, and harness2 isn't on PyPI

### Kilo Code CLI (BB)

Good for: Developers who want an open-source terminal agent with per-tool permission rules, an optional sandbox and a choice of provider, and the same engine in VS Code and JetBrains.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 85 against 20
- Schema & documentation, 90 against 51
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 59
- Security & auth, 64 against 44
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 36
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 44

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Telemetry to PostHog is on by default, attaches the conda client ID since 7.8.10, and the privacy policy doesn't mention it


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Harness² | Kilo Code CLI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 20 | 85 | Kilo Code CLI +65 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 90 | Kilo Code CLI +39 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 59 | 72 | Kilo Code CLI +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 64 | Kilo Code CLI +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 50 | Kilo Code CLI +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 36 | 87 | Kilo Code CLI +51 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 76 | Kilo Code CLI +32 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **41.6 · E** | **73 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Harness² | Kilo Code CLI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Google (Google Research) | Kilo Code Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | 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). | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-15 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-09-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-05-29 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | 4.2k stars | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | 2.3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Kilo Code CLI.** Shell commands ask before running by default, and an optional operating-system sandbox blocks writes outside the workspace and outbound network. Telemetry to PostHog is on by default and the sandbox is off, so an unattended `kilo run --auto` approves everything not denied unless both are configured first.

## Before you call either

### Harness²

1. 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
2. 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`
3. 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
4. Write .env yourself with GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT, HARNESS2_SOLVER_MODEL and HARNESS2_JUDGE_MODEL, since .env.example isn't shipped, and never commit it
5. Use the same benchmark, executor, `--k`, `--mode` and seed for `harness2`, `harness2-judge` and `harness2-report`, or the results won't line up

### Kilo Code CLI

1. Set `sandbox.enabled` to true in the global `kilo.jsonc` before `kilo run --auto`. `--auto` approves every permission request not explicitly denied
2. Set `experimental.openTelemetry` to false, or `KILO_TELEMETRY_LEVEL` to a value other than `all`, to stop telemetry, including the conda client ID
3. Add needed hosts to `sandbox.allowed_hosts` in global config. MCP tool calls are unavailable while network restriction is on
4. Without `--auto` a non-interactive run rejects every permission prompt and exits 1
5. Confine subagent writes with a session-level edit rule. From 7.8.13 a custom agent's own `edit` denies no longer bind the subagents it starts

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Harness² or Kilo Code CLI?

Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Harness²'s 41.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Harness² and Kilo Code CLI open source?

Yes. 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).). Kilo Code CLI is open source (MIT).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kilo-code-cli.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-kilo-code-cli.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "harness2", "b": "kilo-code-cli"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare harness2 kilo-code-cli`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness2.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kilo-code-cli.json

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- [Agent Zero vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
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