Pick a free coding agent

A coding agent is a program that reads your request, runs commands and reads what they print. Some recipes on RunCards give you a prompt to paste into one.

The agent does not need to run on your computer, and it does not need to use a model on your computer. Many free agents use a model online. The commands in our prompts run on the computer where you start the agent.

The agent sends the commands it runs and what they print to that tool's model provider. This can include your user name and folder names. Some free models keep this data or learn from it, so read the model's terms first. If the tool has a privacy setting, such as Privacy Mode in Nous Portal, turn it on before you start. Never paste passwords or keys.

What to look for

A free plan, and its limits.
The license: open source or not.
A privacy setting. Turn it on.
Whether the tool or its model provider keeps your data or learns from it. Read the terms.

Free coding agents that work with local models

25 agents from our survey, in the survey's order: whether it is easy to start, local-model support, license and adoption. We do not name free models or offers, because they change often.

OpenCode · CLI/TUI + desktop app · MIT
```
npm i -g @opencode/cli@latest      # or bun/pnpm/yarn
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Hermes Agent (Nous Research) · CLI + desktop app · MIT
Install steps: its official install page.
Pi (pi coding agent) · CLI/TUI · MIT
```
npm install -g --ignore-scripts @earendil-works/pi-coding-agent
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Codex CLI (OpenAI) · CLI/TUI · Apache-2.0
```
npm install -g @openai/codex
```
Copied word for word from its source.
DeepSeek Harness (dsh) · Web UI agent harness (npx) · MIT
```
npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Cline · VS Code/JetBrains extension + CLI + desktop + SDK · Apache-2.0
```
npm i -g cline
```
Copied word for word from its source.
goose · Desktop app + CLI · Apache-2.0
Install steps: its official install page.
Kilo Code · VS Code/JetBrains extension + CLI + desktop · MIT
```
npm install -g @kilocode/cli
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Zed (Agent Panel) · Code editor with built-in agent · GPL-3.0-or-later (with Apache-2.0 components)
Install steps: its official install page.
Qwen Code · CLI + desktop · Apache-2.0
```
npm install -g @qwen-code/qwen-code@latest
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Mistral Vibe (Vibe Code CLI) · CLI · Apache-2.0
```
uv tool install mistral-vibe
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Oh My Pi (omp) · CLI/TUI (Pi-based) · MIT
```
brew install can1357/tap/omp
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Open Interpreter · CLI coding agent · Apache-2.0
Pipe step: This is the only official install path we found. It downloads a script from the internet and runs it right away in your shell, so you are trusting that site. Read the script first if you can. We do not show it as a command to copy. Read the install line at its source.
OpenHands (Agent Canvas) · Self-hosted web app + agent server · MIT
```
npm install -g @openhands/agent-canvas
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Aider · CLI · Apache-2.0
```
python -m pip install aider-install
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Letta Code · CLI (stateful agents) · Apache-2.0
```
npm install -g @letta-ai/letta-code
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Crush (Charm) · CLI/TUI · FSL-1.1-MIT (source-available; converts to MIT later)
```
npm install -g @charmland/crush
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Grok Build (xAI) · CLI/TUI · Apache-2.0
Pipe step: This is the only official install path we found. It downloads a script from the internet and runs it right away in your shell, so you are trusting that site. Read the script first if you can. We do not show it as a command to copy. Read the install line at its source.
Codewhale · CLI/TUI (Rust) · MIT
```
npm install -g codewhale            # wraps the same release binaries
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Reasonix (DeepSeek-Reasonix) · CLI + desktop · MIT
Install steps: its official install page.
gptme · CLI · MIT
```
pipx install gptme  # MCP support included by default
```
Copied word for word from its source.
little-coder · CLI (Pi-based) · Apache-2.0
```
npm install -g little-coder
```
Copied word for word from its source.
Nanocoder · CLI · MIT
```
npm install -g @nanocollective/nanocoder
```
Copied word for word from its source.
twinny · VS Code extension · MIT
Install steps: its official install page.
mini-SWE-agent · CLI / research agent · MIT
```
pip install mini-swe-agent
```
Copied word for word from its source.

Each tool has its own install steps. Read them before you run them.

Back to the start

Checked Oct 20, 2026. Some staleness is always possible: versions and links change. RunCards is not affiliated with any recipe author or repo. Troubleshooting belongs to each repo or author. Read more

Did you find a mistake? Suggest a fix. See what we changed.