opcodevsSinew
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
opcode
Asterisk · Agent harness
OSSMCP
Panel
5.32 spec wins
- Reliability
- 4.8
- Usefulness
- 5.8
- Cost
- 7.0
- Longevity
- 3.5
“Twenty-two thousand people starred a desktop application that you still have to compile yourself.”
Sinew
Paseru · Agent harness
OSSMCP
Panel
5.32 spec wins
- Reliability
- 4.7
- Usefulness
- 5.3
- Cost
- 7.2
- Longevity
- 3.8
“It is built on Tauri, React, Rust, Monaco and xterm, which is five technologies stacked up to avoid opening a terminal.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | opcode | Sinew |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | Yes |
| Git operations | NoCheckpoints and the branching timeline are opcode's own session versioning, not git operations. | Yes |
| Browser control | No | No |
| Sandboxed execution | No | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | YesCustom agents and background agents are defined and run from the GUI, each with its own file and network permission settings; they are separate Claude Code runs, not a container sandbox. | No |
| Headless / CI mode | No | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude | Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Kimi, OpenRouter |
| Bring your own model | No | Yes |
| Local models | No | No |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | free | byok |
| Starts at | $0/mo | $0/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 22,420 | 66 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | opcode | Sinew | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 5.5 | 5.8 | Sinew — Pick this if you want to choose between planning and acting explicitly; pick a terminal agent if a desktop application around your editor is not something you wanted. |
| El Crítico | 5.0 | 5.3 | Sinew — One sign-in route uses provider OAuth flows reserved for first-party clients, and the project's own documentation records the risk of doing that. |
| El Profesor | 5.8 | 6.0 | Sinew — The agent's visible surface is whatever the operator leaves enabled, and system prompts are injected from two named repository files rather than assembled invisibly. |
| La Inversora | 4.8 | 4.3 | opcode — Rebranded once and moved to a different organisation, with no revenue attached: the asset here is attention that has already been spent. |
| La Jefa | 4.5 | 4.3 | opcode — The only documented install is building it yourself with bun and a Tauri toolchain, which rules it out for a managed fleet before I reach the security questions. |
| El Hacker | 6.3 | 6.0 | opcode — AGPL-3.0, a Rust and React desktop app I build with bun, and a real MCP server manager, but the model is Claude and only Claude. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.