OpenAI Codex CLI
Terminal & CLI Agents
- #1 on Terminal-Bench with GPT-5-series
- Runs in terminal, IDE or the cloud
- Sandboxed autonomous edits
- Included with ChatGPT plans
Code & Development (16)
16 free terminal and CLI coding agents and 1 more — pricing tier and real capabilities on every entry. No ads, no sponsored placement.
AllAI IDEs & EditorsTerminal & CLI AgentsCode Autocomplete & AssistantsApp Builders & Vibe CodingAutonomous Coding AgentsAI Code ReviewAI Docs & Codebase Q&AAI Testing & QAAI DevOps & SREAI Database & SQL CopilotsVector Databases & RAG InfraAI Game Development
freemium
Gemini CLI
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Open-source terminal agent from Google
- Huge free daily model quota
- Built-in tools and MCP support
- Great value for everyday coding
Aider
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Open-source AI pair programmer in your terminal
- Git-aware commits and edits
- Works with any model (bring your key)
- Free to use
Cline
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Open-source autonomous coding agent for VS Code
- Plan/Act modes with approvals
- Bring your own API key or model
- MCP tool support
OpenCode
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Fully open-source terminal/IDE/desktop coding agent, MIT licensed
- Bring-your-own model across 75+ providers, free models included
- Parallel agent sessions with shareable session links
Crush
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Terminal coding agent from Charm with LSP-aware context
- Cross-platform incl. Android/BSD, MCP server support over HTTP/stdio/SSE
- Agent Skills standard support for extensibility
Goose
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Open-source agent (now under Agentic AI Foundation/Linux Foundation) usable as CLI, desktop app or API
- 70+ MCP extensions, 15+ LLM providers supported
- Apache-2.0 licensed, built in Rust
Qwen Code
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Open-source terminal CLI adapted from Gemini CLI, tuned for Qwen3-Coder models
- OpenAI-SDK compatible for flexible model backends
- Free npm install, agentic coding workflows
Amp
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Multi-model routing across frontier models with no artificial usage caps
- Four agent reasoning modes (low/medium/high/ultra) plus parallel subagents
- Remote 'Orbs' execution machines and an Oracle deep-reasoning tool
Warp
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Terminal rebuilt as an agentic development environment for any coding agent
- Multi-agent orchestration with model routing and codebase indexing
- Oz cloud agent platform for moving from local to cloud execution
GitHub Copilot CLI
Terminal & CLI Agents
- GitHub-native terminal agent that works directly with issues and PRs
- /fleet command runs parallel subagents; /remote syncs sessions to VS Code and mobile
- Included in all Copilot tiers incl. the free plan
Kilo Code
Terminal & CLI Agents
- Same open-source agent usable in VS Code, JetBrains, CLI and cloud from one account
- Models billed at cost with no markup, bring-your-own-key supported
- MIT-licensed with fully visible prompts and context windows
- Open-source CLI agent for general software-engineering tasks
- Works with multiple LLM providers
- Trajectory recording and tool ecosystem
- Powers the agent behind ByteDance Trae
- Terminal coding agent that needs no API key, subscription or card; funded by small text ads shown in the CLI
- Daily allowance of 'Freebucks' spendable across several open models (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3 Flash, MiMo 2.6 and others)
- Built-in sub-agents for file picking, code review and browser use on the open Codebuff framework
- Freebuff Web builds and hosts full-stack apps at no charge
- MIT-licensed terminal coding agent from Moonshot AI that edits files, runs shell commands and uses MCP
- Log in with Kimi OAuth or plug in a Moonshot Open Platform API key or other compatible provider
- Successor to the archived Python kimi-cli
- Apache-2.0 minimal terminal coding agent built around Devstral models
- Devstral 2 was offered free on Mistral's API during launch; Experiment plan in Mistral Studio has free API usage
- Reads, edits and runs commands across a project with conversational instructions
Terminal & CLI Agents — straight answers
What are the best free terminal and CLI coding agents?
Flocci AI Tools lists 17 terminal and CLI coding agents, ordered free tiers first: Aider, Cline, Crush, Gemini CLI and Goose. 16 of the 17 are free or have a free tier. Every entry states what it uniquely does, not a score.
Are there completely free terminal and CLI coding agents?
Yes — 10 of these are marked fully free with no paid plan attached: Aider, Cline, Crush, Gemini CLI and Goose. The rest are freemium, trial or paid, and each row states which.
What should I look for in terminal and CLI coding agents?
Start with what you need to do: let an agent run commands and edit files from your shell. Then check the pricing tier, because "free" here means no paid plan at all while "freemium" means a free tier under paid plans. Every tool on this page lists both.
See the full list →Head-to-head comparisons
Aider vs ClineAider vs CrushAider vs Gemini CLIAider vs GooseAider vs Kimi Code CLICline vs CrushCline vs Gemini CLICline vs Goose
Free alternatives
OpenAI Codex CLI alternativesGemini CLI alternativesAider alternativesCline alternativesOpenCode alternativesCrush alternativesGoose alternativesQwen Code alternatives
Looking for a ranked shortlist instead? See the best free terminal and CLI coding agents.