Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run
MiniMax Code vs Muse Code
MiniMax Code scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Muse Code's 61.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Muse Code leads on security & auth. Both do agent harnesses.
Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 752 harnesses comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for Scripted coding runs on MiniMax's models or any compatible model, driven by JSON output and exit codes.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 63 against 45
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 20
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
- Open source
Watch for
Pre-1.0 and labelled a source preview, with npm at 0.6.12 and the public source at 0.6.5
Best for Developers who want Meta's Muse models, Muse Wonder Full included, in a terminal or CI agent with the sandbox and approvals on from the first run.
Ahead on
- Security & auth, 67 against 57
Watch for
Closed source, with no public CI or issue tracker for the CLI found and release notes that carry no dates
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | MiniMax Code | Muse Code | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 63 | 45 | MiniMax Code +18 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 81 | 84 | Muse Code +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 75 | 79 | Muse Code +4 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 57 | 67 | Muse Code +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 60 | 20 | MiniMax Code +40 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 77 | 75 | MiniMax Code +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 61 | 57 | MiniMax Code +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | B 67.5/100 | C 61.3/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | MiniMax Code | Muse Code |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | MiniMax | Meta |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT for first-party code, with the bundled sandbox runtime under Apache-2.0. The desktop app's source isn't published | Proprietary binary, used under the Meta Model API Terms of Service, which cover Meta's coding harness. Subscriptions are also under the Meta Subscription Terms of Service. The TypeScript and Python SDKs in the linked repository are MIT. |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-11 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-19 | |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-01-19 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | |
| Popularity | 2k stars, 6.8k npm/wk | 63k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 3.3/5 (4) |
Verdicts
MiniMax Code
An MIT-licensed terminal coding agent with a headless mode that returns versioned JSON, documented exit codes and an ACP server, and telemetry off by default. It's pre-1.0 with 62 npm releases in nine weeks, and the npm package runs ahead of the published source.
Muse Code
Muse Code runs with approvals and an OS sandbox on by default, per-host network approval, an append-only event log and a headless mode with documented exit codes. It is the only route to Muse Wonder Full. It is closed source with undated release notes and no free route, and subscriptions allow training on code unless Contributor mode is turned off.
Before you call either
MiniMax Code
- Run
mcode exec --cwd <repo> --output-format json --timeout 10m --max-steps 50and check both the exit code and the JSONstatus - Keep
--permission fullandofffor a container or throwaway workspace. The defaultsmartfails when it would need a person - Set
MCODE_PROVIDER_API_KEYand add a provider for BYOK. M Plan models need a browser sign-in withmcode login --region global - Set
MINIMAX_DATA_DIRper CI runner. Keys and sessions live in~/.minimaxby default - Pin a version. npm published 62 releases in nine weeks and the public source trails it
Muse Code
- Set
META_API_KEYfor headless runs. Browser sign-in isn't available in CI or for Meta Managed Accounts - Gate on your own test command, not the exit code.
muse execreturns 0 when the turn completes even if tests still fail - Pass
--max-model-stepson unattended runs so a stuck task can't loop - Prefer
--disable-approvalto--yoloin CI so the sandbox stays on. On Linux the runner needs a working bubblewrap and a non-musl build - Turn Contributor mode off in
/settingsbefore a subscription session touches private code
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, MiniMax Code or Muse Code?
MiniMax Code scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Muse Code's 61.3 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Muse Code leads on security & auth.
Are MiniMax Code and Muse Code open source?
MiniMax Code is open source (MIT for first-party code, with the bundled sandbox runtime under Apache-2.0. The desktop app's source isn't published). No open-source release is listed for Muse Code.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/minimax-code-vs-muse-code.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/minimax-code.json·/api/v1/tools/muse-code.json - From a terminal
anchor compare minimax-code muse-code(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "minimax-code", "b": "muse-code"}at/mcp, no key