# Junie CLI vs Muse Code

> Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) to Junie CLI's 53.2 (D) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-muse-code
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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Junie CLI's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Junie CLI leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.

- Junie CLI: grade D, 53.2/100, rank #804 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/junie.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/junie.json
- Muse Code: grade C, 61.3/100, rank #521 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/muse-code.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/muse-code.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

### Junie CLI (D)

Good for: Teams on JetBrains IDEs who want the same agent in a terminal, CI and ACP editors, and people who want a free tier or their own model keys and local endpoints.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 42 against 20
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 57

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: One-shot, piped, ACP and Gateway runs trust the project by design and load its MCP servers, hooks, agents and skills without a prompt

### Muse Code (C)

Good for: Developers who want Meta's Muse models, Muse Wonder Full included, in a terminal or CI agent with the sandbox and approvals on from the first run.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 84 against 62
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 55
- Security & auth, 67 against 56

Also in its favour:
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.3 against 2.8 out of 5
- No incidents deducted, where Junie CLI loses 3 points for them

Watch for: Closed source, with no public CI or issue tracker for the CLI found and release notes that carry no dates


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Junie CLI | Muse Code | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 45 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 84 | Muse Code +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 79 | Muse Code +24 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 67 | Muse Code +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 42 | 20 | Junie CLI +22 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 75 | Muse Code +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 57 | Junie CLI +21 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **53.2 · D** | **61.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Junie CLI | Muse Code |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | JetBrains | Meta |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary, JetBrains s.r.o., all rights reserved, under the JetBrains AI Terms of Service. The GitHub repository holds the README, release binaries and the issue tracker, not source | Proprietary binary, used under the Meta Model API Terms of Service, which cover Meta's coding harness. Subscriptions are also under the Meta Subscription Terms of Service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs in the linked repository are MIT. |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-11 |
| Terms last updated |  |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-12 | couldn't be read |
| 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 | 487 stars, 3.2k npm/wk | 63k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | 3.3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Junie CLI.** Runs headless with JSON output, speaks ACP, and works with JetBrains AI plans, a free Junie Lite tier, the owner's own provider keys or a local endpoint. Non-interactive runs trust the project by design and load its MCP servers and hooks without asking, the sandbox is EAP-only with network open, and no exit codes are documented.

**Muse Code.** Muse Code runs with approvals and an OS sandbox on by default, per-host network approval, an append-only event log and a headless mode with documented exit codes. It is the only route to Muse Wonder Full. It is closed source with undated release notes and no free route, and subscriptions allow training on code unless Contributor mode is turned off.

## Before you call either

### Junie CLI

1. Run headless only in repositories you trust. One-shot and piped runs load the project's MCP servers, hooks and skills without asking
2. Set `JUNIE_API_KEY` (from junie.jetbrains.com/cli) or a provider key such as `JUNIE_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` in CI. The default sign-in opens a browser
3. Add `--output-format json` or `--json-output-file` to parse results. Check the output, since exit codes aren't documented
4. Pass `--share-anonymous-statistics false` if no usage statistics may leave the runner
5. Pin a build with `--use-version` and `--skip-update-check`. The CLI updates itself on start by default

### Muse Code

1. Set `META_API_KEY` for headless runs. Browser sign-in isn't available in CI or for Meta Managed Accounts
2. Gate on your own test command, not the exit code. `muse exec` returns 0 when the turn completes even if tests still fail
3. Pass `--max-model-steps` on unattended runs so a stuck task can't loop
4. Prefer `--disable-approval` to `--yolo` in CI so the sandbox stays on. On Linux the runner needs a working bubblewrap and a non-musl build
5. Turn Contributor mode off in `/settings` before a subscription session touches private code

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Junie CLI or Muse Code?

Muse Code scores 61.3 (C) on agent readiness against Junie CLI's 53.2 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Junie CLI leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Junie CLI or Muse Code

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- [Agent Zero vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Aider vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-junie.md)
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- [Auggie CLI vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-junie.md)
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