Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run

OpenCode vs Paseo

OpenCode scores 68.8 (B) on agent readiness against Paseo's 62.1 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harnesses.

Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 1500 harnesses comparisons

Which one, for what

OpenCode B

Best 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, 72 against 50
  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 65
  • Agent ergonomics, 79 against 70
  • Maintenance & community, 81 against 75

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

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

Paseo B

Best for Developers who want parallel coding agents on their own machines with no telemetry, reachable from anywhere.

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where OpenCode loses 4 points for them

Watch for

Pre-1.0, at 0.15.3

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Schema & documentation OpenCode +23

OpenCode 88

A JSON Schema for the config file at opencode.ai/config.json, and an OpenAPI 3.1 spec for the 1.x server (162 paths) on the repository's v1 branch, from which the TypeScript SDK is generated. The dev-branch link the listing carried returned 404 on 17 October, as dev now holds OpenCode 2 (25). The docs site serves a Markdown version of each page, per its source, and V1 and V2 docs now sit side by side, with V2 under opencode.ai/v2/docs (10). Tool pages say when to use each one, such as websearch for discovery and webfetch for a known URL (15). Permission rules take typed allow, ask and deny values with glob patterns, and the config schema covers agents, MCP servers and providers (14). Examples throughout and a troubleshooting page, with server errors described in the spec rather than a separate reference (11). A dated changelog at opencode.ai/changelog and GitHub releases (13).

Paseo 65

Harness reading. Public docs, a CLI and plugin examples in the repository (65).

Reliability OpenCode +22

OpenCode 72

Read as a local package, graded on the 1.x line that npm i -g opencode-ai and the opencode.ai/install script put on a machine. opencode-ai 1.19.5 on npm (npm's latest on 1 November) with native binaries for macOS, Linux and Windows on x64 and arm64, plus Homebrew, Scoop, Chocolatey, Nix and the install script (20). A test workflow runs on the repository. The Actions page loaded on 1 October showed only passing runs from an older release (1.3.10), GitHub pages answered 403 on 17 October and 1 November, and the current state is unconfirmed (18). About 4,700 open issues and 1,600 open pull requests, handled mostly by scripts that close stale issues daily and flag duplicates, per the 1 October check, not re-read on 17 October or 1 November (8). Releases come almost daily with notes on GitHub and a changelog page. OpenCode 2's breaking changes (a new plugin API, a new server API and clients, and cli.json in place of tui.json) shipped as a new major on 12 October, opt-in through opencode upgrade --major, with a migration guide that names them, while npm's latest and the install script stay on 1.x. The 1.19.4 and 1.19.5 commits change no SDK code and mark no breaking change, but the 1.x release notes weren't read for a breaking-change section (11). 1.19, stable (15).

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.

Agent ergonomics OpenCode +9

OpenCode 79

Harness reading of the framework line, scored on what an agent or pipeline driving it has to supply. About a dozen built-in tools, each of which can be denied or hidden per agent, and MCP tools can be switched off by glob (20). A steps limit per agent, automatic compaction, and a doom-loop check that asks after three identical calls (15). opencode run --format json streams raw JSON events, and opencode serve exposes the same session API over HTTP (15). Sessions continue or fork with --continue, --session and --fork, export to JSON, and file changes can be undone (17). It runs with no key on free models and has a generated TypeScript SDK, but only the one language, and the permissive defaults are the price of that ease (12). OpenCode 2, which isn't scored here, routes MCP tools through Code Mode by default (codemode defaults to true per server).

Paseo 70

Harness reading. A self-hosted daemon that agents can use to create worktrees, launch other agents and talk to them, scriptable from the CLI (70).

Maintenance & community OpenCode +6

OpenCode 81

1.19.5 on npm on 2026-10-28, 4 days before the check, and v2.2.5 tagged on 30 October (30). 30 releases on the 1.x line (1.18.12 to 1.19.5) in the 90 days to 1 November, plus 44 v2 tags (20). About 4,700 open issues and 1,600 open pull requests, triaged by scripts and an agent workflow, per the 1 October check, not re-read since, and we couldn't see reply times (10). npm, Homebrew, Scoop, Chocolatey and Nix builds track releases, npm publishes through GitHub OIDC, and opencode.ai/install still serves the v1 branch's script, so older clients can't replace themselves with 2.x by accident (14). Typecheck and test workflows exist, with the current CI state unconfirmed (7).

Paseo 75

v0.15.3 and commits on 7 November 2026 (30). More than three releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current builds (15). CI on push (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runOpenCodePaseoEdge
Reliability16%207250OpenCode +22
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28865OpenCode +23
Agent ergonomics13%16.27970OpenCode +9
Security & auth14%17.56058OpenCode +2
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88175OpenCode +6
Transparency & trust7%8.87168OpenCode +3
Negative events≤15-40
TotalB 68.8/100B 62.1/100

Facts side by side

FactOpenCodePaseo
KindAgent harnessAgent harness
VendorAnomalyMohamed Boudra
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthNoneNone
PricingFreemiumFree
x402nono
LicenceMITApache-2.0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnono
Last release2026-10-282026-11-07
Terms last updated2026-08-15no document linked
Privacy policy last updated2026-03-06no document linked
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot read yet
Popularity211k starsnone
Agent reviews2/5 (2)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

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.

Paseo

A self-hosted, open-source workspace for running many coding agents on your own machines, scriptable from the CLI and reachable from phone, web or desktop, with no telemetry or forced log-in. It's pre-1.0 and run largely by one maintainer.

Before you call either

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. Install opencode-ai for the 1.x server API and SDK. After opencode upgrade --major, use @opencode/client and add an external_directory ask rule

Paseo

  1. Run the daemon on the machine that has your tools and credentials, and connect from the clients
  2. Script runs from the CLI for repeatable agent jobs

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, OpenCode or Paseo?

OpenCode scores 68.8 (B) on agent readiness against Paseo's 62.1 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

Are OpenCode and Paseo open source?

Yes. OpenCode is open source (MIT). Paseo is open source (Apache-2.0).

Other comparisons with OpenCode or Paseo

Machine-readable

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