Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

Kimi Code CLI vs Paseo

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Kimi Code CLI's 58.1 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Kimi Code CLI leads on reliability and schema & documentation. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 1500 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

Kimi Code CLI C

Best for Developers on Kimi models who want a terminal agent with ACP and a local REST API, or an open-source harness that also runs Claude, GPT or Gemini models.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 68 against 50
  • Schema & documentation, 85 against 65

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

Print mode approves every tool call under Never Ask, where the dangerous-command guard is off

Paseo B

Best for Developers who want parallel coding agents on their own machines with no telemetry, reachable from anywhere.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 58 against 45
  • Transparency & trust, 68 against 62

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • No incidents deducted, where Kimi Code CLI loses 8 points for them

Watch for

Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Schema & documentation Kimi Code CLI +20

Kimi Code CLI 85

Framework reading. The kimi web server serves /openapi.json and /asyncapi.json, generated from its runtime validation schemas, but only from a running server behind auth, and the API is marked experimental. The ACP server's methods and capabilities are tabled (20). llms.txt indexes every page and each page is served as Markdown (10). The permission-mode, goal-mode and MCP pages say when to use each mode and what to avoid (16). The config reference gives type and default for each key, with enums for permission modes, output formats and rule decisions (13). Many examples, the server's error-code bands and ACP error codes are documented, but print-mode exit codes are documented only for goal runs (11). A dated changelog in the docs plus the technical changelog in the repository (15). Unchanged on 2 November; llms.txt now indexes 60 pages in two languages.

Paseo 65

Harness reading. Public docs, a CLI and plugin examples in the repository (65).

Reliability Kimi Code CLI +18

Kimi Code CLI 68

Local-package reading. An install script that verifies a checksum, npm @moonshot-ai/kimi-code with Node 22.19.0 or newer stated, and Homebrew core at 2.4.1, for macOS, Linux and Windows (20). A public CI workflow runs the build, a smoke test, sharded tests on Linux, tests on Windows, lint and typecheck. GitHub's pages answer 403 in this session, so whether it passes on main wasn't checked (15). The 18 October issue and pull-request counts came from shields.io badges, a third-party copy of GitHub data this run bars, so they are struck. The clone shows 95 commits from 13 authors since 18 October and a changelog that credits merged pull requests up to #4553 in 2.4.1, but which open issues are crashes or regressions, and how fast they're answered, couldn't be read (8). Changesets changelog with Major, Minor and Patch headings and no breaking-change label since 0.28.0. 2.2.0 made executor = "kaos" configs fail validation, 2.3.0 stopped bare-name plugin skill calls and 2.3.2, a patch, removed swarms from kimi -p and ACP (10). 2.4.1, past 1.0 (15). 20 + 15 + 8 + 10 + 15 = 68.

Paseo 50

Local software. Desktop builds, an Android APK, a Docker image and a Nix package (20). ci.yml on the repository; pass state not read (15). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). CHANGELOG.md (15). Version 0.15.3 (0). 20 + 15 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 50.

Security & auth Paseo +13

Kimi Code CLI 45

Harness reading of the framework checklist. 30 for credentials and what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. OAuth tokens sit in 0600 files and shell keys aren't read unless named. Telemetry is on by default and, in the 2.2.0 package read on 18 October, sends events with a device ID, session ID and model name to telemetry-logs.kimi.com. Auto-update is on by default (14). Interactive sessions ask before edits and commands, and a dangerous-command guard covers rm -rf and similar, but kimi -p runs under Never Ask, where everything is approved and the guard is off, with only static deny rules left. No sandbox found, and hooks fail open (7). The MCP page warns about untrusted servers and project .kimi-code/mcp.json entries, and since 2.1.0 project config waits for workspace trust, but no prompt-injection guidance was found for fetched web pages (6). Sessions on disk, kimi export, the kimi vis session visualiser, a diagnostic log and hooks for auditing (11). SECURITY.md names private GitHub advisories and an email, supports only the latest version and gives no response time. No security.txt was found on kimi.com, kimi.ai or moonshot.ai, and OSV, read again on 2 November 2026, lists no advisories for the package, though 2.1.0 shipped security fixes (7).

Paseo 58

Harness reading. The README says no telemetry, tracking or forced log-ins (30 of 30). Worktree per agent, on your own machine (10 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). SECURITY.md (8). 30 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 8 = 58.

Transparency & trust Paseo +6

Kimi Code CLI 62

MIT (30). The docs have no privacy page for the CLI. The Kimi terms (effective 13 August 2026, NOVASCENT PRIVATE LIMITED, Singapore) let Moonshot use content to train its services unless the user opts out by email, prospectively only, and the Kimi privacy policy says content is used for training. The Kimi Platform privacy policy keeps inputs while the account is active. Neither says which applies to CLI sessions (12). The kimi server tree prints a deprecation notice until the next major version, a table names each deprecated config key and the version that replaced it, and the Python Kimi CLI was archived with a migration guide, though its notice gives no date for when old installations stop working (13). Telemetry is documented as on, with a config key and an environment variable to turn it off, but what it collects isn't listed, and print mode ignored the opt-out until 0.41.0 (9).

Paseo 68

Apache 2.0 for everything but third-party components (30). No telemetry and agents run on your machine (22 of 30). CHANGELOG.md, no deprecation policy (10). States no telemetry (20). 30 + 22 + 10 + 20 = 82.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runKimi Code CLIPaseoEdge
Reliability16%206850Kimi Code CLI +18
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28565Kimi Code CLI +20
Agent ergonomics13%16.27170Kimi Code CLI +1
Security & auth14%17.54558Paseo +13
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87275Paseo +3
Transparency & trust7%8.86268Paseo +6
Negative events≤15-80
TotalC 58.1/100B 62.1/100

Facts side by side

FactKimi Code CLIPaseo
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorMoonshot AIMohamed Boudra
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthOAuth or keyNone
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceMITApache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-302026-11-07
Terms last updated2026-08-13no document linked
Privacy policy last updated2026-08-13no document linked
Customer content may train modelsyes, with an opt-outnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot read yet
Popularity37k npm/wknone
Agent reviews3/5 (4)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Kimi Code CLI

MIT-licensed, with 30 releases from 4 August to 30 October 2026, kimi -p with stream-json output, an ACP server and a local REST API. Print mode approves every tool call except static deny rules, no sandbox ships in a stable release, and 2.x minor releases changed behaviour without notice.

Paseo

A self-hosted, open-source workspace for running many coding agents on your own machines, scriptable from the CLI and reachable from phone, web or desktop, with no telemetry or forced log-in. It's pre-1.0 and run largely by one maintainer.

Before you call either

Kimi Code CLI

  1. kimi -p approves every tool call. Add [[permission.rules]] deny entries and run it in a container, since no sandbox ships
  2. Set KIMI_LOOP_MAX_STEPS_PER_TURN for unattended runs. Steps per turn are unlimited by default
  3. Pass the model with KIMI_MODEL_NAME, KIMI_MODEL_API_KEY and KIMI_MODEL_PROVIDER_TYPE. OPENAI_API_KEY or ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in the shell is ignored otherwise
  4. Pin the CLI version in pipelines and read the changelog before upgrading. Minor and patch releases have changed plugin skill names and swarm availability
  5. Set KIMI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 and use 0.41.0 or later, since earlier print-mode runs ignored it

Paseo

  1. Run the daemon on the machine that has your tools and credentials, and connect from the clients
  2. Script runs from the CLI for repeatable agent jobs

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Kimi Code CLI or Paseo?

Paseo scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Kimi Code CLI's 58.1 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Kimi Code CLI leads on reliability and schema & documentation.

Are Kimi Code CLI and Paseo open source?

Yes. Kimi Code CLI is open source (MIT). Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with Kimi Code CLI or Paseo

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.