Cursor reimagines the IDE around AI. agentty keeps you in the terminal (and your existing editor). Different philosophies — here's the honest comparison.
At a glance
| agentty | Cursor | |
|---|---|---|
| Form factor | Terminal agent (+ Zed via ACP) | AI IDE (VS Code fork) |
| Runtime | Single native binary | Electron app |
| Providers | Claude, OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, Cerebras, Ollama | Multiple (managed) |
| Local models | Yes (Ollama) | Limited |
| Sandbox | On by default | — |
| License | Open source (MIT) | Proprietary |
Where Cursor wins
- Graphical, all-in-one UX — inline multi-file edits, tab completion, and a familiar editor.
- Great for developers who want an IDE rather than a terminal workflow.
Where agentty wins
- No editor lock-in — stay in Neovim/Zed/Emacs; run agentty in the terminal.
- Native + fast — millisecond startup, no Electron.
- Provider freedom & local models via Ollama.
- Open source and sandboxed by default.
Which should you choose?
- Choose Cursor if you want a graphical AI IDE.
- Choose agentty if you live in the terminal and want an open, fast, multi-provider agent.
Install in one line
curl -fsSL https://agentty.org/install.sh | sh