# Kimi Code CLI vs Paseo (slim)

> Paseo scores 62.1 (B) to Kimi Code CLI's 58.1 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-paseo.md (~5,600 tokens) · this version ~1,980 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-paseo.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-paseo
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

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.

- Kimi Code CLI: C 58.1, rank #759 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kimi-code-cli.min.md
- Paseo: B 62.1, rank #575 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/paseo.min.md
- Kimi Code CLI, good 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 Free to start without a card.
- Paseo, good 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 No key needed to call it; No incidents deducted, where Kimi Code CLI loses 8 points for them.

| Category | Kimi Code CLI | Paseo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 68 | 50 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 85 | 65 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 71 | 70 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 45 | 58 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 72 | 75 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 62 | 68 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Kimi Code CLI | Paseo |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Moonshot AI | Mohamed Boudra |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-13 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-13 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Popularity | 37k npm/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- 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.)