Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run
Kilo Code CLI vs OpenMausBot
Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenMausBot's 65.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. OpenMausBot leads on agent ergonomics. Both do agent harnesses.
Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 875 harnesses comparisons
Which one, for what
Best 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 60
- Security & auth, 64 against 59
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 74
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 59
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
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
Best for A person or an outside agent who wants several CLI agents (Claude Code, Codex, Grok, ACP CLIs) organised as named bots with their own computers, routines and approvals, driven by MCP or a CLI.
Ahead on
- Agent ergonomics, 77 against 72
Also in its favour
- Runs on your own machine
Watch for
New bots start at Full access, which approves provider permission requests without a card
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Kilo Code CLI | OpenMausBot | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 85 | 60 | Kilo Code CLI +25 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 90 | 90 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 72 | 77 | OpenMausBot +5 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 64 | 59 | Kilo Code CLI +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 50 | 50 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 87 | 74 | Kilo Code CLI +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 76 | 59 | Kilo Code CLI +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | -2 | |
| Total | BB 73/100 | B 65.4/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Kilo Code CLI | OpenMausBot |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Kilo Code Inc. | Supamaus Software Private Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio | |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 20 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-10 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-29 | 2026-10-18 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 28k stars, 33k npm/wk | 8.2k stars, 3.5k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.3/5 (4) | none |
Verdicts
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.
OpenMausBot
A bounded 20-tool MCP server with typed schemas, annotations and idempotent sends, and a headless CLI with JSON output and exit codes, let another agent hand work to a bot team and wait on it. New bots start at Full access, so provider permission requests pass without a card, and usage analytics stay on until switched off.
Before you call either
Kilo Code CLI
- Set
sandbox.enabledto true in the globalkilo.jsoncbeforekilo run --auto.--autoapproves every permission request not explicitly denied - Set
experimental.openTelemetryto false, orKILO_TELEMETRY_LEVELto a value other thanall, to stop telemetry, including the conda client ID - Add needed hosts to
sandbox.allowed_hostsin global config. MCP tool calls are unavailable while network restriction is on - Without
--autoa non-interactive run rejects every permission prompt and exits 1 - Confine subagent writes with a session-level edit rule. From 7.8.13 a custom agent's own
editdenies no longer bind the subagents it starts
OpenMausBot
- Ask the owner for a pairing code from Settings > Phone, exchange it at
POST /api/auth/pair, and setOPENMAUSBOT_TOKENwith an explicitOMB_PORT - Pass a
send_idwith everysend_bot_messageandsend_channel_message, so a retry returns the first receipt - Use
wait_for_conversationinstead of polling, and onneeds-userstop and tell the owner a card is waiting - Check a bot's access level with the owner before sending work. New bots run at Full access unless defaults were changed
- Ask the owner to switch off Settings > General > Usage analytics if nothing beyond model calls should leave the machine
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Kilo Code CLI or OpenMausBot?
Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against OpenMausBot's 65.4 (B), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. OpenMausBot leads on agent ergonomics.
Are Kilo Code CLI and OpenMausBot open source?
Yes. Kilo Code CLI is open source (MIT). OpenMausBot is open source (Apache-2.0).
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- CLI Manager vs Kilo Code CLI
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- Kilo Code CLI vs Paperclip
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-openmausbot.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/kilo-code-cli.json·/api/v1/tools/openmausbot.json - From a terminal
anchor compare kilo-code-cli openmausbot(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "kilo-code-cli", "b": "openmausbot"}at/mcp, no key