# OpenCode vs Prime Agent

> OpenCode scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harness. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent.md (~2,300 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-prime-agent.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 Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent harness.

- OpenCode: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #200 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencode.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencode.json
- Prime Agent: grade C, 60.5/100, rank #399 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/prime-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/prime-agent.json

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 42
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 73
- Security & auth, 60 against 50

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

### 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.

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where OpenCode 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 | OpenCode | Prime Agent | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 65 | OpenCode +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 42 | OpenCode +46 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 73 | OpenCode +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 50 | OpenCode +10 |
| 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) | 81 | 79 | OpenCode +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 64 | OpenCode +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **67.7 · B** | **60.5 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenCode | Prime Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Anomaly | Prime Intellect |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-15 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-03-06 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 211k stars | 22k stars |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**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

### 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

### 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, OpenCode or Prime Agent?

OpenCode scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against Prime Agent's 60.5 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Are OpenCode and Prime Agent open source?

Yes. OpenCode is open source (MIT). Prime Agent is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with OpenCode or Prime Agent

- [Aider vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-opencode.md)
- [Aider vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Amp vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-opencode.md)
- [Amp vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Claude Code vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-opencode.md)
- [Claude Code vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Cline vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cline vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Devin vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-opencode.md)
- [Devin vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Pi vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-opencode.md)
- [Pi vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [goose vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-opencode.md)
- [goose vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-opencode.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-opencode.md)
- [OpenAI Codex vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-codex-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [OpenCode vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-openhands.md)
- [OpenCode vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [OpenHands vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openhands-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Prime Agent vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prime-agent-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [OpenCode vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencode-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Paperclip vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paperclip-vs-prime-agent.md)