{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "openai-codex", "name": "OpenAI Codex", "vendor": "OpenAI", "vendorUrl": "https://openai.com", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "OpenAI's coding agent for software development tasks.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-codex.json", "repo": "https://github.com/openai/codex", "license": "Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@openai/codex" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Sign in with a ChatGPT account (Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Edu or Enterprise) or use an OpenAI API key. Cloud work such as GitHub code review and the Slack integration comes with Plus and above, and none of it works with an API key. `--oss` talks to a local Ollama or LM Studio server and needs no account.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Included in every ChatGPT plan. Free $0, Go $8 a month, Plus $20, Pro from $100 (tiers at $100, $200 and $500), Business $20 a user a month billed annually for two or more users, Enterprise and Edu by quote. On Plus the docs estimate 15 to 160 local messages per five hours with GPT-6.1 Sol, and Pro has no five-hour limit. Cloud tasks use more of the allowance. With an API key you pay API token rates and can't use the cloud agent (checked 2026-10-02).", "priceSummary": "$20 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the pricing page or the source (checked 2026-10-02).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 126000, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-02" }, "docsUrl": "https://developers.openai.com/codex", "llmsTxt": "https://learn.chatgpt.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client" ], "tags": [ "official", "harness", "coding-agent", "cli", "open-source", "rust", "typescript", "python", "mcp", "llms-txt", "telemetry-default-on", "pre-1.0", "free-tier", "no-card", "hosted", "status-page" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 73, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 78, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 629, "categoryRank": 2, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 87, "payments": 60, "reliability": 55, "schema": 90, "security": 82, "transparency": 79 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-04-14. CVE-2025-61260 (GHSA-xrxf-jgv3-qmrm), critical (CVSS 9.8 from CISA-ADP), code execution through MCP configuration files in a repository for Codex CLI 0.23.0 and earlier, published to NVD and the GitHub Advisory Database from Check Point Research's 2025 report. Fixed in 2025 and documented by the researcher, with no advisory in OpenAI's own repository, so a small deduction (https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-61260; https://research.checkpoint.com/2025/openai-codex-cli-command-injection-vulnerability/)" ], "verdict": "Sandbox on by default on macOS, Linux and Windows, with the network off and `.git` and `.codex` read-only. Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes.", "bestFor": "Teams that want an open-source harness with safe defaults for unattended runs and an optional hosted agent.", "strengths": [ "Sandbox on by default on macOS, Linux and Windows, with the network off and `.git` and `.codex` read-only", "Apache-2.0, with public CI and a JSON Schema for config.toml", "`codex exec --json`, `--output-schema` and `exec resume` for pipelines, plus TypeScript and Python SDKs", "Codex cloud keeps the agent phase offline by default and can limit requests to GET, HEAD and OPTIONS", "Included in ChatGPT Free, and `--oss` runs local models through Ollama or LM Studio with no account" ], "weaknesses": [ "Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes", "Anonymous usage metrics and feedback collection on by default", "Over 5,000 open issues", "CVE-2025-61260 (critical) has no advisory in OpenAI's own repository", "Cloud tasks and code review need a ChatGPT plan, not an API key" ], "agentNotes": [ "Run `codex exec --json` in pipelines, with `--output-schema` when the final message has to parse", "Keep the default sandbox. `--yolo` removes both the sandbox and approvals", "Set `network_access = true` under `[sandbox_workspace_write]` only for tasks that need it. Network is off by default", "Set `[analytics] enabled = false` and `[feedback] enabled = false` in config.toml to keep usage data local", "Pin the npm version. A 0.x minor lands every few days" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 73 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 87, "payments": 60, "reliability": 55, "schema": 90, "security": 82, "transparency": 65 }, "provenanceScore": 93 }, "connect": { "install": "npm i -g @openai/codex # or: brew install --cask codex", "headless": { "run": "codex exec --json \"fix the failing test\"" } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/openai-codex" }, "sameCompany": [ "openai-api", "openai-embeddings", "openai-moderation", "openai-image-api", "openai-sora", "openai-agents-sdk", "openai-decisions-api" ], "area": "frameworks", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "ChatGPT Plus", "unit": "month", "usd": 20, "note": "includes Codex local and cloud" }, { "item": "ChatGPT Pro", "unit": "month", "usd": 100, "note": "lowest Pro tier, no five-hour limit" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "OpenAI OpCo, LLC", "domain": "openai.com", "domainRegistered": "2007-01-19", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://openai.com/policies/services-agreement/", "privacy": "https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/", "statusPage": "https://status.openai.com", "changelog": "https://github.com/openai/codex/releases", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "The Codex docs moved from developers.openai.com/codex to learn.chatgpt.com (302 redirects on 2 October 2026), and the installer is served from chatgpt.com.", "Legal entity, domain date and security.txt are from the openai-api listing's check of 26 September 2026." ], "score": 93 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.json", "live": { "slug": "openai-codex", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.openai.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:08.58796238Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "openai/codex", "version": "rust-v0.161.0", "released": "2026-10-07", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:23:35.402162465Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@openai/codex", "version": "0.161.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:23:35.110125025Z" } ], "githubStars": 128364, "npmWeekly": 25613321, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://openai.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:50.073851341Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://learn.chatgpt.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:42.986852051Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "openai.com", "registered": "2007-01-19", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/openai.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:05:02.32020521Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T18:22:08.58796238Z" } }, "answer": "OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability.", "b": { "slug": "prime-agent", "name": "Prime Agent", "vendor": "Prime Intellect", "vendorUrl": "https://www.primeintellect.ai", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Prime Agent is an open-source coding and research agent from Prime Intellect, run from a terminal. The model works through a persistent Python REPL, spawns subagents as function calls and keeps sessions running in a background daemon.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json", "repo": "https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent", "license": "MIT", "transports": [], "packages": [], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "No account of its own is required. `/login` on first launch picks a subscription or an API-key provider, and provider keys can also come from environment variables such as `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_API_KEY`, `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` or `PRIME_API_KEY`.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "Free and MIT-licensed, with nothing to buy for the agent itself. The model provider is paid separately, and Prime Intellect's own inference service is one of the providers.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the README or the source (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 21614, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent#readme", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "free", "no-card", "rust", "mcp", "telemetry-default-on", "pre-1.0", "beta" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-07", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 60.5, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 352, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 629, "categoryRank": 9, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 73, "maintenance": 79, "payments": 60, "reliability": 65, "schema": 42, "security": 50, "transparency": 64 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine.", "strengths": [ "MIT licence, with CI on main passing on 8 October 2026 (fmt, clippy with warnings as errors, sharded tests, cargo-deny)", "Three model tools (bash, edit, ipython). MCP tools are found and called from Python, so their definitions stay out of the prompt", "Autonomous mode takes limits on turns, tokens, time and continuations, plus user-defined quality gates with retries", "A daemon supervises one worker per session, restarts it with backoff and restores from append-only JSONL session files", "Telemetry is disclosed on first run, carries primitive values only and has four documented ways to turn it off" ], "weaknesses": [ "No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox", "The stable channel (v0.9.8, 29 September 2026) is the TypeScript build. The Rust code on main ships only as nightly betas", "No documentation site for Prime Agent. Headless, JSON, RPC and ACP modes are described only in source and crate READMEs", "Usage telemetry is on by default, and the vendor privacy policy (updated 23 February 2024) does not describe it", "No SECURITY.md in the repository, and public issues and unsolicited pull requests are closed automatically" ], "agentNotes": [ "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", "Set `PRIME_AGENT_TELEMETRY=0` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first run if usage metrics must not leave the machine", "For unattended runs pass `--autonomous-max-turns`, `--autonomous-max-tokens` and `--autonomous-timeout-ms`. Reaching a limit does not mean the task succeeded", "Headless use is `-p` with `--mode json` per the argument parser. A provider key must already be configured, because `/login` is interactive", "The `-t/--tools`, `-nt/--no-tools` and `-nbt/--no-builtin-tools` flags were removed and now fail as unknown options" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 60.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 73, "maintenance": 79, "payments": 60, "reliability": 65, "schema": 42, "security": 50, "transparency": 67 }, "provenanceScore": 61 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://app.primeintellect.ai/prime-agent/install.sh | sh" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/prime-agent" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Prime Intellect, Inc.", "domain": "primeintellect.ai", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://www.primeintellect.ai/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://www.primeintellect.ai/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.primeintellect.ai", "changelog": "https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The site footer, terms and privacy policy name Prime Intellect, Inc. of Dover, Delaware. The repository LICENSE names Prime Intellect Ltd. as copyright holder.", "www.primeintellect.ai/.well-known/security.txt returned 404 on 8 October 2026. A security policy with a reporting address is at https://www.primeintellect.ai/security.", "The status page covers Prime Intellect's hosted platform (API, inference, sandboxes), not the locally run agent.", "The LICENSE adds that the software is a port of the Prime Agent TypeScript product, originally copyright 2025 Mario Zechner, used under the MIT licence. GitHub's licence detector reports the file as unrecognised." ], "score": 61 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.json", "live": { "slug": "prime-agent", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.primeintellect.ai", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T17:51:07.636221896Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent", "version": "v0.9.8", "released": "2026-09-29", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:26:16.585379993Z" } ], "githubStars": 21619, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://primeintellect.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:39:02.360151245Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T17:51:07.636221896Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "OpenAI", "b": "Prime Intellect", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "None", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "no", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-01", "b": "2026-10-07", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "126k stars", "b": "22k stars", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, OpenAI Codex or Prime Agent?" }, { "answer": "Yes. OpenAI Codex is open source (Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms). Prime Agent is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are OpenAI Codex and Prime Agent open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 42", "Agent ergonomics, 80 against 73", "Security \u0026 auth, 82 against 50", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 87 against 79", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 79 against 64" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better" ], "goodFor": "Teams that want an open-source harness with safe defaults for unattended runs and an optional hosted agent.", "slug": "openai-codex", "watchFor": "Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 65 against 55" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it" ], "goodFor": "Long-running research and coding work where one model drives subagents, schedules and goals from code, and where the owner can isolate the machine.", "slug": "prime-agent", "watchFor": "No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox" } ], "job": { "capability": "agent.harness", "name": "Agent harness" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Aider vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Aider vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Amp vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Amp vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Claude Code vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Cline vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Cline vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Devin vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Devin vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Pi vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Pi vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "goose vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "goose vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-opencode.json", "title": "OpenAI Codex vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-openhands.json", "title": "OpenAI Codex vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "OpenAI Codex vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "OpenCode vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "OpenHands vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Prime Agent vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Paperclip vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 10, "edge": "prime-agent", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "openai-codex": 55, "prime-agent": 65, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 48, "edge": "openai-codex", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "openai-codex": 90, "prime-agent": 42, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "openai-codex", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "openai-codex": 80, "prime-agent": 73, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 32, "edge": "openai-codex", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "openai-codex": 82, "prime-agent": 50, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "openai-codex": 60, "prime-agent": 60, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 8, "edge": "openai-codex", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "openai-codex": 87, "prime-agent": 79, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 15, "edge": "openai-codex", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "openai-codex": 79, "prime-agent": 64, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability. Both do agent harness.", "verdicts": { "openai-codex": "Sandbox on by default on macOS, Linux and Windows, with the network off and `.git` and `.codex` read-only. Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.min.md" }, "markdown": "OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability. Both do agent harness.\n\n- OpenAI Codex: grade BB, 73/100, rank #78 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-codex.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-codex.json\n- Prime Agent: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #352 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### OpenAI Codex (BB)\n\nGood for: Teams that want an open-source harness with safe defaults for unattended runs and an optional hosted agent.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 90 against 42\n- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 73\n- Security \u0026 auth, 82 against 50\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 87 against 79\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 79 against 64\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes\n\n### Prime Agent (C)\n\nGood 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.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 65 against 55\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n\nWatch for: No approval prompts and no sandbox. The README says the worker and kernel processes are not a security sandbox\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | OpenAI Codex | Prime Agent | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 65 | Prime Agent +10 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 42 | OpenAI Codex +48 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 73 | OpenAI Codex +7 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 82 | 50 | OpenAI Codex +32 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 79 | OpenAI Codex +8 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 64 | OpenAI Codex +15 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **73 · BB** | **60.5 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | OpenAI Codex | Prime Agent |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | OpenAI | Prime Intellect |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | None |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms | MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | no |\n| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-07 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Popularity | 126k stars | 22k stars |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**OpenAI Codex.** Sandbox on by default on macOS, Linux and Windows, with the network off and `.git` and `.codex` read-only. Pre-1.0 at 0.160.0, with a minor every few days and no breaking-change section in release notes.\n\n**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.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### OpenAI Codex\n\n1. Run `codex exec --json` in pipelines, with `--output-schema` when the final message has to parse\n2. Keep the default sandbox. `--yolo` removes both the sandbox and approvals\n3. Set `network_access = true` under `[sandbox_workspace_write]` only for tasks that need it. Network is off by default\n4. Set `[analytics] enabled = false` and `[feedback] enabled = false` in config.toml to keep usage data local\n5. Pin the npm version. A 0.x minor lands every few days\n\n### Prime Agent\n\n1. 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\n2. Set `PRIME_AGENT_TELEMETRY=0` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before the first run if usage metrics must not leave the machine\n3. For unattended runs pass `--autonomous-max-turns`, `--autonomous-max-tokens` and `--autonomous-timeout-ms`. Reaching a limit does not mean the task succeeded\n4. Headless use is `-p` with `--mode json` per the argument parser. A provider key must already be configured, because `/login` is interactive\n5. The `-t/--tools`, `-nt/--no-tools` and `-nbt/--no-builtin-tools` flags were removed and now fail as unknown options\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, OpenAI Codex or Prime Agent?\n\nOpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability.\n\n### Are OpenAI Codex and Prime Agent open source?\n\nYes. OpenAI Codex is open source (Apache-2.0 (Codex CLI, its Rust crates and the TypeScript and Python SDKs). Codex cloud is a hosted service under OpenAI's terms). Prime Agent is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"openai-codex\", \"b\": \"prime-agent\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare openai-codex prime-agent`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-codex.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json\n\n## Other comparisons with OpenAI Codex or Prime Agent\n\n- [Aider vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Aider vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Amp vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Amp vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Claude Code vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Cline vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Cline vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Devin vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Devin vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Pi vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Pi vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [goose vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [goose vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [OpenAI Codex vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-opencode.md)\n- [OpenAI Codex vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-openhands.md)\n- [OpenAI Codex vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [OpenCode vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [OpenHands vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Prime Agent vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Paperclip vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "OpenAI Codex vs Prime Agent", "url": "" } ], "description": "OpenAI Codex scores 73 (BB) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Prime Agent leads on reliability. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "OpenAI Codex BB 73", "Prime Agent C 60.5", "scores" ], "h1": "OpenAI Codex vs Prime Agent", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.png", "path": "/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "OpenAI Codex vs Prime Agent for AI agents, BB 73 vs C 60.5", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2450, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }