Rating certificate · AW/26-09/04726 Sept 2026
68of 100
Grok Build
SpaceXAI (formerly xAI) · Coding agents
No. 6 of 16 in categoryhigh confidenceTrust BOpen source
The Register / Coding agents / Grok Build
Register entry · Coding agents · updated 26 Sept 2026
Grok Build
Grok Build is SpaceXAI's coding agent: a Rust fullscreen TUI that reads and edits code, runs shell commands, searches the web and runs subagents, background tasks and multi-agent workflows, usable headlessly or through the Agent Client Protocol. It defaults to Grok models via a Grok subscription or API key but accepts any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible model, including local inference. The source was published under Apache-2.0 in July 2026, days after a researcher showed the CLI uploading whole repositories to xAI storage; external pull requests are not accepted.
What reviewers and users praise
- Polished, fast TUI frequently praised by users (HN Aug 2026 comments; Cobus Greyling)
- Accepts custom and local models, and picks up existing Claude Code skills and MCP configs (DataCamp tutorial; Kompozy)
- Plan-ask-verify loop that goes beyond file creation (Future Stack Reviews)
What they criticise
- July 2026 incident: CLI uploaded whole repositories including .env secrets to an xAI bucket regardless of the privacy toggle (Cereblab analysis; DevOps.com)
- Subscription usage drains quickly and limits changed; token-inefficient long tool-call chains (HN Sep 2026; r/grok)
- Early beta was unstable and crashed during self-verification (Future Stack Reviews; HN May 2026)
- Source-transparency release only: no external pull requests accepted (CONTRIBUTING.md)
Experts vs the crowdcrowd cooler by 29
Experts71
Crowd43
| Price | Free, paid from $30 |
|---|---|
| Use it via | CLI, Web app, Mobile app, API |
| Runs on | macos, linux, windows, web |
| 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% | 82 | GitHub stars 27k → 74 · 86 releases in 90 days → 100reach × 0.7 + momentum × 0.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 40% | 71 | 4 independent reviews (3 positive · 1 mixed · 0 negative), averaged toward 50 for small samples. |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 25% | 43 | 14 dated posts from hackernews, reddit: 4 positive · 3 mixed · 7 negative (positive + ½ mixed) ÷ n, averaged toward 50 for small samples |
| Rating | 68 | high confidence (3 of 3 pillars, 14 community posts). |
Evidence checks. 1 item could not be checked at the source (the page could not be fetched, or the quote is from a comment under the linked post); kept and marked “unverified”. How evidence is checked.
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: B.
B
Permission model
Default permission mode is Ask (prompt for anything not allowed); Auto (classifier) and Always-approve are opt-in; allow/deny rules, deny always wins. Sandbox (Landlock/Seatbelt) is 'Off by default'. source
B
Data access scope
Broad filesystem access by default; opt-in sandbox profiles (workspace, read-only, strict) and custom deny lists; docs state built-ins do not permanently protect paths such as ~/.ssh. Documented now; before July 2026 the whole-repo upload channel was undocumented. source
B
Data storage
Local session history in ~/.grok; without ZDR, code/trace data may be retained by SpaceXAI but can be disabled via /privacy or settings; team-level ZDR retains no trace or code data; can be self-built and pointed at local inference. The July 2026 incident showed the earlier privacy toggle had no effect. source
C
Data retention & training
Grok Build shows a first-run screen asking to 'retain data to improve the product and model' with a setting to change it; consumer privacy policy uses content 'to develop and improve our Service'; API data is not trained on by default and kept 30 days; ZDR available for teams. Not a documented no-training default for subscription use. source
C
Incident history (24 months)
Serious incident: v0.2.93 uploaded entire repositories (full git history, unread files, .env secrets) to GCS bucket grok-code-session-traces regardless of the 'Improve the model' toggle (Cereblab, 2026-07-12/13). xAI disabled the upload server-side on 2026-07-13 without a security advisory; deletion of collected data asserted but not verifiable. Graded C (serious, resolved); arguably D given no formal disclosure. A separate r/grok claim (2026-09-13) of cross-tenant session access in June is unverified. source
A
Compliance
SpaceXAI states it is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant with reports in its Trust Center under NDA; pricing page lists 'SOC 2 compliance (Type I & II)' on all plans. Attestation is company-level, not specific to the CLI. source
A
Transparency
Apache-2.0 source (Rust, synced from internal monorepo with SOURCE_REV) plus a detailed dated public changelog. External pull requests are not accepted; security reports via HackerOne. source
The experts
4 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- mixed
Buy time with Grok Build. Don’t bet workflows on it yet.
Takashi Fujino, Future Stack Reviews · 20 May 2026 · future-stack-reviews.com - positive
Grok Build might be the first one that feels like it was built by someone who understands the terminal is not a constraint
Cobus Greyling (Substack) · 27 May 2026 · cobusgreyling.substack.com - positive
Judged as what it is, a coding CLI, it is a strong, controllable option.
Moe Ameen, Kompozy · 16 Jul 2026 · kompozy.io - positive
Overall, I think Grok Build is a very good and surprisingly refined coding agent.
Abid Ali Awan, DataCamp · 23 Jul 2026 · unverified · datacamp.com
The crowd
14 coded posts from hackernews, reddit.
4 positive3 mixed7 negative
- negative
I haven't seen anything as bad as Grok Build! I am sincere; they forced me to upgrade to Grok Heavy to try it
Grok Build (item 48287379) · 27 May 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
Bro its so bad what the hell, tried to use it for my personal app through the CLI.
Grok Build (item 48287379) · 1 Jun 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
This is precisely the reason, even though their pricing is competitive and grok-4.5 is actually good enough, I chose not to go with them.
What xAI's Grok build CLI sends to xAI (item 48877371) · 12 Jul 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - mixed
It's a shame that they exfiled private data. The model is actually good (better than opus 4.8 imo) and the harness itself is butter smooth
Grok Build is open source (item 48926590) · 15 Jul 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
Yeah I've been sorting of amazed how polished Grok build is. It's also super fast (written in Rust).
comment thread · 12 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
The grok build TUI harness is excellent and I really enjoyed using it.
comment thread · 12 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
You can use config to point it any LLM API so don't need to use Grok, and I like the UI better too.
comment thread · 14 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
Grok Build uses your library and it has the best TUI of any app I've ever used.
comment thread · 22 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com
Pricing
As published, checked 26 Sept 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | x.ai news (2026-08-19) says Grok Build is available on every plan; free-tier limits not stated. |
| SuperGrok | $30 / monthly | Higher rate limits; Grok Build included. |
| SuperGrok Plus | $100 / monthly | Significantly higher usage across Chat, Imagine, Voice and Build. |
| SuperGrok Lite / SuperGrok Heavy / Business | Custom | Listed on the pricing page; prices not shown in the fetched page text. |
| API key | Custom | Pay per token via the xAI API (XAI_API_KEY); any custom model can be configured instead. |
Recent changes
- 13 Jul 2026
Whole-repository upload channel disabled server-side after the Cereblab wire-level analysis. source
- 15 Jul 2026
Source published on GitHub under Apache-2.0; local-first builds with local inference supported. source
- 24 Jul 2026
Workflows: orchestration scripts that fan tasks out across many parallel agents. source
- 7 Aug 2026
Grok Build 1.0.0 released. source
- 19 Aug 2026
Grok Build available on every plan, on the web and on mobile. source
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.
- Introducing Grok Build (2026-05-25)
- Grok Build is Now Open Source (2026-07-15)
- Grok Build Changelog
- HN: Grok Build (2026-05-14, SuperGrok Heavy-only early access)
- HN: What xAI's Grok build CLI sends to xAI (539 points)
- Developers Digest: wire-level analysis summary
- CONTRIBUTING: no external pull requests
- SpaceXAI news index (xAI joins SpaceX 2026-02-02; Grok Build web/mobile 2026-08-19)