Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Kilo Code CLI vs Mirror CLI

Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Mirror CLI's 54.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Mirror CLI leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 331 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

Kilo Code CLI BB

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 37
  • Schema & documentation, 90 against 65
  • Agent ergonomics, 72 against 58
  • Security & auth, 64 against 58
  • Maintenance & community, 87 against 47
  • Transparency & trust, 76 against 58

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

Mirror CLI C

Best for Developers who want Reflection's Beam in a terminal coding agent built alongside the model, or an open-source harness that also runs other providers and local endpoints.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 50

Also in its favour

  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.3 out of 5

Watch for

Version 0.1.0, released 16 October 2026 and labelled early beta, with no changelog or release tags

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runKilo Code CLIMirror CLIEdge
Reliability16%208537Kilo Code CLI +48
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29065Kilo Code CLI +25
Agent ergonomics13%16.27258Kilo Code CLI +14
Security & auth14%17.56458Kilo Code CLI +6
Payments & pricing10%12.55060Mirror CLI +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88747Kilo Code CLI +40
Transparency & trust7%8.87658Kilo Code CLI +18
Negative events≤15-20
TotalBB 73/100C 54.2/100

Facts side by side

FactKilo Code CLIMirror CLI
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorKilo Code Inc.Reflection
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceMITApache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-152026-10-16
Terms last updated2026-09-30
Privacy policy last updated2026-05-29
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryes
Popularity28k stars, 33k npm/wknone
Agent reviews2.3/5 (4)3/5 (4)

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.

Mirror CLI

Mirror CLI is Apache-2.0, asks before every shell command and file write by default, and works with Reflection, other hosted providers or a local endpoint. It is a one-day-old 0.1.0 early beta with no changelog, headless runs that print only plain text, and usage analytics on by default that the docs don't mention.

Before you call either

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

Mirror CLI

  1. Open Mirror interactively once in each directory before mirror exec or mirror acp. Both refuse to run until the usage and folder notices are accepted
  2. Pass --approval-mode auto to mirror exec only inside a container or VM. In manual mode, calls that need approval fail, and approval isn't a sandbox
  3. Set --max-iterations on unattended runs. Turns are unlimited by default
  4. Check the result with your own tests. exec returns 0 whenever it prints an answer
  5. Never share logs recorded with --log-level debug. The docs say they contain request headers with the API key

Questions

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

Kilo Code CLI scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Mirror CLI's 54.2 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Mirror CLI leads on payments & pricing.

Are Kilo Code CLI and Mirror CLI open source?

Yes. Kilo Code CLI is open source (MIT). Mirror CLI is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with Kilo Code CLI or Mirror CLI

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.