# HarnessRouter vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)

> Warp scores 59.8 (C) to HarnessRouter's 53.2 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-warp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-warp.md (~4,350 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-warp.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-warp.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: 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)
- Licence: 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.
- Updated: 2026-10-18

Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against HarnessRouter's 53.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. HarnessRouter leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- HarnessRouter: grade D, 53.2/100, rank #803 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harnessrouter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harnessrouter.json
- Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API): grade C, 59.8/100, rank #592 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/warp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/warp.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### HarnessRouter (D)

Good for: A product team that wants to run Codex, Claude Code, Hermes or 23 other harnesses server-side behind one task, session and file contract, and switch between them by changing an ID.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 66
- Security & auth, 58 against 52
- Payments & pricing, 25 against 20

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: No status page found (status.harnessrouter.ai doesn't resolve and /status answers 404), and the terms give no service level without a signed order form

### Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) (C)

Good for: Teams that want one agent across an interactive terminal session and API-started cloud runs, including Claude Code and Codex runs on Warp's infrastructure or their own workers.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 52 against 35
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 83
- Maintenance & community, 84 against 72

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.3 against 2.5 out of 5

Watch for: The `warp` CLI has no print or headless mode. Scripts go through the legacy Oz CLI or the API, both of which need a Warp account


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | HarnessRouter | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 52 | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +17 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 89 | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 66 | HarnessRouter +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 52 | HarnessRouter +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 20 | HarnessRouter +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 84 | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 72 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | -1 | |
| **Total** | | **53.2 · D** | **59.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | HarnessRouter | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | HarnessRouter (Lumentree Corporation) | Warp |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.harnessrouter.ai` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 for the Community Edition server and the UHP specification, schema and conformance suite. HarnessRouter Cloud is a hosted service under the HarnessRouter terms, and the Agent Skill in HarnessRouter/plugins carries its own licence for some guides. | Mixed. The client, including the `warp` and `oz` binaries, is AGPL-3.0 with the `warpui_core` and `warpui` crates under MIT. The server, the built-in agent harness, Warp Drive backend and Oz orchestration are proprietary, under Warp's Software and Services Licence Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 0 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-15 |
| Terms last updated |  |  |
| Privacy policy last updated |  |  |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 3.1k stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | 3.3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**HarnessRouter.** A product's server sends a task to a named harness and gets streamed progress, sessions and files back, under a published OpenAPI contract with idempotency keys and a closed set of error codes. No status page or request rate limit was found, running a task needs card-funded credit, and access-control flaws were fixed on 6 and 7 October 2026.

**Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API).** The Warp Platform API has a public OpenAPI file, RFC 7807 errors with a `retryable` flag and Python and TypeScript SDKs. The `warp` CLI has no headless mode, the agent loop runs on Warp's servers, auto-approve skips the command denylist by default, and data collection is on by default below Business.

## Before you call either

### HarnessRouter

1. Name the harness yourself. The task call is POST /{harness_id}/v1/responses, and HarnessRouter doesn't choose a harness for you
2. Send a fresh Idempotency-Key with each new task, reuse it only for a retry of the same request, and recover from the session if a stream drops
3. Call cancel to stop work. Closing the SSE connection leaves the agent running and billing
4. Keep the Workspace API key on the server. The docs forbid calling the API from a browser with it
5. Check each tool's enforcement in GET /v1/bases. On bases marked instruction, disabled_tools is a request to the model, not a block

### Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)

1. For unattended work, call `POST https://app.warp.dev/api/v1/agent/runs` with `Authorization: Bearer $WARP_API_KEY`. The `warp` CLI is interactive only
2. Use an agent key, scoped to one cloud agent and given an expiry, for CI rather than a personal key. Keys are created in the Oz web app or the Warp app
3. Set `auto_approve_bypasses_command_denylist = false` under `[agents.warp_agent.other]` before starting `warp --auto-approve`
4. Read `code` and `retryable` in error bodies. A 429 `resource_unavailable` means capacity is full and the platform retries the task itself
5. Pin a version with `WARP_TUI_VERSION` at install, or set `general.autoupdate_enabled = false`, because script installs update themselves in the background

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, HarnessRouter or Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)?

Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) scores 59.8 (C) on agent readiness against HarnessRouter's 53.2 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. HarnessRouter leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth and payments & pricing.

### Are HarnessRouter and Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) open source?

Yes. HarnessRouter is open source (Apache-2.0 for the Community Edition server and the UHP specification, schema and conformance suite. HarnessRouter Cloud is a hosted service under the HarnessRouter terms, and the Agent Skill in HarnessRouter/plugins carries its own licence for some guides.). Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) is open source (Mixed. The client, including the `warp` and `oz` binaries, is AGPL-3.0 with the `warpui_core` and `warpui` crates under MIT. The server, the built-in agent harness, Warp Drive backend and Oz orchestration are proprietary, under Warp's Software and Services Licence Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with HarnessRouter or Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)

- [Agent Zero vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Agent Zero vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-warp.md)
- [Aider vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Aider vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-warp.md)
- [Amp vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Amp vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-warp.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-warp.md)
- [Claude Code vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Claude Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-warp.md)
- [Cline vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Cline vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-warp.md)
- [Crush vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Crush vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-warp.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-warp.md)
- [Devin vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Devin vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-warp.md)
- [Droid CLI vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Droid CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [Pi vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Pi vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-warp.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [goose vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [goose vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-warp.md)
- [Harness² vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Harness² vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-warp.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-jules.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-junie.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-muse-code.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-opencode.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-openhands.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Jules vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-warp.md)
- [Junie CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-warp.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-warp.md)
- [Mistral Vibe CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-vibe-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [Muse Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/muse-code-vs-warp.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-warp.md)
- [OpenCode vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-warp.md)
- [OpenHands vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-warp.md)
- [Prime Agent vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-warp.md)
- [Qoder CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qoder-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [Qwen Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-code-vs-warp.md)
- [Mirror CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reflection-mirror-vs-warp.md)
- [Rovo Dev CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rovo-dev-cli-vs-warp.md)
- [CLI Manager vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-warp.md)
- [Harness vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Harness vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-warp.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-paperclip.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-parallax-agents.md)
- [Paperclip vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-warp.md)
- [Parallax vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallax-agents-vs-warp.md)

---

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