# Kimi Code CLI vs Prime Agent

> Kimi Code CLI scores 62.1 (B) to Prime Agent's 60.5 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- 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

Kimi Code CLI scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on security & auth and maintenance & community. Both do agent harnesses.

- Kimi Code CLI: grade B, 62.1/100, rank #492 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kimi-code-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kimi-code-cli.json
- Prime Agent: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #562 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.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

### Kimi Code CLI (B)

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:
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 42

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

### Prime Agent (C)

Good for: Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 50 against 45
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 72

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- No incidents deducted, where Kimi Code CLI loses 4 points for them

Watch for: No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kimi Code CLI | Prime Agent | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 65 | Kimi Code CLI +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 42 | Kimi Code CLI +43 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 73 | Prime Agent +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 45 | 50 | Prime Agent +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 79 | Prime Agent +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 64 | Prime Agent +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.1 · B** | **60.5 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kimi Code CLI | Prime Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Moonshot AI | Prime Intellect |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated |  | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | no date given |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | 37k npm/wk | 22k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | 2.8/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Kimi Code CLI.** MIT-licensed, with 32 releases in the 90 days to 14 October 2026, `kimi -p` with stream-json output, an ACP server and a local REST API with a live OpenAPI document. Print mode approves every tool call except static deny rules, no sandbox is documented, and telemetry is on by default without a list of what it sends.

**Prime Agent.** Budgets for turns, tokens and time bound an autonomous run, and sessions survive a closed terminal through a supervising daemon. Model-written Python and shell commands run with the user's rights, with no approval step and no sandbox, and the Rust build on the main branch ships only as nightly betas.

## 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 is documented
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. Set `KIMI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1` and use 0.41.0 or later, since earlier print-mode runs ignored it
5. Install `@moonshot-ai/kimi-code` or the `kimi-code` formula. The `kimi-cli` and `kimi-code` packages on PyPI are the archived Python CLI

### Prime Agent

1. Run it in a disposable clone, container or VM. It executes model-written Python and shell commands with the user's rights and asks nothing first
2. Set `PRIME_AGENT_TELEMETRY=0` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first run if usage metrics must not leave the machine
3. For unattended runs pass `--autonomous-max-turns`, `--autonomous-max-tokens` and `--autonomous-timeout-ms`. Reaching a limit does not mean the task succeeded
4. Headless use is `-p` with `--mode json` per the argument parser. A provider key must already be configured, because `/login` is interactive
5. The `-t/--tools`, `-nt/--no-tools` and `-nbt/--no-builtin-tools` flags were removed and now fail as unknown options

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Kimi Code CLI or Prime Agent?

Kimi Code CLI scores 62.1 (B) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on security & auth and maintenance & community.

### Are Kimi Code CLI and Prime Agent open source?

Yes. Kimi Code CLI is open source (MIT). Prime Agent is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

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