# Kiro CLI vs OpenCode

> OpenCode scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kiro CLI leads on security & auth. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- 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
- Updated: 2026-10-08

OpenCode scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kiro CLI leads on security & auth. Both do agent harness.

- Kiro CLI: grade C, 59.9/100, rank #370 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/kiro-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/kiro-cli.json
- OpenCode: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #186 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencode.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencode.json

## Which one, for what

### Kiro CLI (C)

Good for: Teams on AWS that want one agent configuration across terminal, IDE and web, with central permission policy, prompt logging to their own S3 bucket and IAM Identity Centre sign-in.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 66 against 60

Watch for: Free and individual paid accounts have content used for service improvement, including model training, unless they opt out

### OpenCode (B)

Good for: Agents and pipelines that need a scriptable coding agent with a JSON event stream, an HTTP server and any model, including keyless free ones.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 68 against 57
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 79
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 67
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 73

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source

Watch for: Most permissions default to allow, and SECURITY.md says the permission system is not a sandbox


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Kiro CLI | OpenCode | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 57 | 68 | OpenCode +11 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 88 | OpenCode +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 79 | OpenCode +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 60 | Kiro CLI +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | OpenCode +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 81 | OpenCode +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 67 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **59.9 · C** | **67.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Kiro CLI | OpenCode |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | Anomaly |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary. Licensed as AWS Content under the AWS Customer Agreement and the AWS Intellectual Property Licence (https://kiro.dev/license/). The GitHub repository is the public issue tracker and doesn't hold the source | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-14 | 2026-08-15 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | 2026-03-06 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 4.4k stars | 211k stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 2/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Kiro CLI.** Permission rules follow deny over ask over allow, cloned repositories can't add rules, and a headless session treats every ask as a deny. Content from Free and individual paid accounts is used for service improvement, including model training, unless the user opts out, and API keys for pipelines need a paid plan.

**OpenCode.** Runs with no key or account on free OpenCode Zen models. Most permissions default to allow, and SECURITY.md says the permission system is not a sandbox.

## Before you call either

### Kiro CLI

1. Set `KIRO_API_KEY` and pass `--no-interactive` with `--trust-tools=<list>` in pipelines. Keep `--trust-all-tools` for disposable environments
2. Pass `--require-mcp-startup` when a run depends on MCP tools. Without it a failed server is logged and the run continues
3. Pass `--no-interactive` whenever input is piped from a source you don't control, and run 2.10.0 or later on Windows
4. Run `kiro-cli settings telemetry.enabled false` and turn off content collection on Free and individual plans. Both are on by default
5. Export variables in the shell before starting. Since 2.24.0 a project `.env` file is no longer loaded into sessions, MCP servers or tools

### OpenCode

1. Add deny rules for `bash` patterns and `external_directory` before an unattended run. Most tools default to allow
2. Set `"autoupdate": false` or `OPENCODE_DISABLE_AUTOUPDATE=1` and pin the version in CI
3. Configure a provider key. With none, prompts go to free Zen models that may train on them
4. Set `OPENCODE_SERVER_PASSWORD` before `opencode serve`. Without it the server runs unauthenticated
5. Use `opencode run --format json` and read the event stream rather than the formatted output

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Kiro CLI or OpenCode?

OpenCode scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against Kiro CLI's 59.9 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Kiro CLI leads on security & auth.

### Are Kiro CLI and OpenCode open source?

No open-source release is listed for Kiro CLI. OpenCode is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

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