Rating certificate · AW/26-09/62426 Sept 2026
72of 100
goose
Agentic AI Foundation (Linux Foundation); originally Block · Coding agents
ProvisionalTrust BOpen source
The Register / Coding agents / goose
Register entry · Coding agents · updated 26 Sept 2026
goose
goose is an Apache-2.0 agent that runs on the user's machine through a CLI, a desktop app or an API, editing files, running shell commands and calling tools through MCP extensions. It works with many model providers and local models, and supports reusable 'recipes'. Block originally built it and donated it to the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation. Its default permission mode is fully autonomous.
What reviewers and users praise
- Vendor neutrality and neutral foundation governance (Pickuma, OpenAIToolsHub)
- MCP extension model and recipes (Pickuma, Koenig AI Academy)
- Free and fully local-capable (Effloow, HN)
What they criticise
- Raw coding quality trails Claude Code and Cursor (OpenAIToolsHub)
- Not suited to fast interactive development (Koenig AI Academy)
- Autonomous by default; conservative permissions require changing defaults
- Community uncertainty about direction after the donation (HN)
Experts vs the crowdneeds both scores
Experts58
Crowd—
| Price | Free |
|---|---|
| Use it via | CLI, Desktop app, API |
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
| Updated | Evidence collected 26 Sept 2026 |
How the rating was worked out
Weights for Coding agents: adoption 35%, experts 40%, crowd 25%. Pillars without enough evidence are left out and the others re-weighted. The method.
| Adoption & momentumweight 35% | 88 | GitHub stars 55k → 83 · 14 releases in 90 days → 100reach × 0.7 + momentum × 0.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 40% | 58 | 3 independent reviews (1 positive · 2 mixed · 0 negative), averaged toward 50 for small samples. Benchmarks, shown not scored: Terminal-Bench 2.0 No. 33 of 43 (Goose + Claude Opus 4.5) |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 25% | — | Community sample from a single platform |
| Rating | 72 | Provisional: low confidence (2 of 3 pillars, 10 community posts). |
Evidence checks. 1 review from tool directories, AI-written pages or unnamed authors not counted. 2 GitHub issues not counted as sentiment. How evidence is checked.
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: B.
C
Permission model
Docs: "Autonomous Mode is applied by default." Manual Approval, Smart Approval and Chat Only modes are opt-in. No sandbox documented on the permissions page. source
B
Data access scope
Runs with the user's filesystem and shell access; capabilities come from enabled extensions; documented. source
A
Data storage
Runs locally (CLI/desktop); no required cloud storage. source
n/e
Data retention & training
Model retention depends on chosen provider. goose asks on first use before collecting anonymous usage data; can be disabled (GOOSE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED). source
C
Incident history (24 months)
CVE-2026-72718 (high): arbitrary command execution via `goose review` and git core.fsmonitor; patched in 1.44.0. source
D
Compliance
Foundation-hosted open-source project; no attestation applies. source
A
Transparency
Apache-2.0 with public GitHub releases and foundation governance. source
The experts
3 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- positive
I came out thinking it is the most interesting thing about the tool, with caveats.
Pickuma · 12 May 2026 · dev.to - mixed
Skip it if: You want a zero-config, plug-and-play experience or tight, out-of-the-box IDE integration.
Effloow · 15 Apr 2026 · effloow.com - mixed
Don't use it for fast interactive development.
Koenig AI Academy · 30 Jul 2026 · academy.kspl.tech
The crowd
10 coded posts from hackernews.
4 positive3 mixed3 negative
- mixed
What's going on with Goose? Seems like Block donated it to some consortium; I can't tell if that's a good signal or a bad one.
Hacker News comment · 21 Sept 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
Block donating Goose is a bit more worrisome - it feels like they are throwing it away into the graveyard.
Hacker News comment · 9 Dec 2025 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
I tried it a few months back and it was pretty crappy.
Hacker News comment · 9 Dec 2025 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
Under active development and the implementation seems to have a good leg up on the other popular agents.
Hacker News comment · 24 May 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
For anyone looking for truly open alternatives to desktop agent apps (like claude cowork), I suggest taking a peak at Goose
Hacker News comment · 21 Jul 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - mixed
For scheduled things I am using Goose and subagents per task.
Hacker News comment · 11 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
I settled on opencode after trying goose and aider as well.
Hacker News comment · 23 Jun 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
I found Goose (by Block) - https://block.github.io/goose - much better in this regard.
Hacker News comment · 1 Dec 2025 · news.ycombinator.com
Pricing
As published, checked 26 Sept 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open source | Free | Apache-2.0; pay your own model provider. |
Recent changes
Ranked alongside
Other ranked entries in Coding agents.
OpenCodeAnomaly75
Claude CodeAnthropic73
Zed (Agent Panel)Zed Industries73
GitHub CopilotGitHub (Microsoft)72
Codex (CLI and app)OpenAI71
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these, observed up to 26 Sept 2026.