Goose is an on-machine, open agent originally built at Block. Apache 2.0. Extension-based architecture: capabilities are added as MCP servers the agent connects to at runtime. BYOK on the model side: it works with any Anthropic / OpenAI / OpenRouter provider, plus local models via Ollama. Donated to the Linux Foundation's Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) in December 2025 as part of the founding cohort alongside MCP itself. Goose matters because the agent layer is where most user-visible AI lives in 2026, and where most users meet AI through closed products (Claude Code, Cursor, Devin). An open, extension-based, BYOK, on-machine agent is the structural counter-bet. Compared to siblings: OpenHands is the strongest open coding agent with a sandboxed execution environment; Aider is the minimal terminal- native coding agent that many people love for being simple; Cline and Continue are VS Code-native open agents. Goose's distinctive angle is its origins at Block (cypherpunk-adjacent) and its explicit positioning as the "agent you run, not the agent that runs you." Production-ready as of 2025. Used by Block internally and by thousands of external developers; Databricks bundles it. Block runs a grant program (up to $100K) for external builders extending Goose with new integrations or tooling.
The Stack · Agents · Open source
Goose (Block)
Block's open agent; under the Linux Foundation's AAIF since Dec 2025; MCP-native; BYOK; extension-based.
Sources
- Goose Documentation https://block.github.io/goose/
- Goose on GitHub https://github.com/block/goose
- Linux Foundation Agentic AI Foundation Announcement https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-the-formation-of-the-agentic-ai-foundation
- Goose Grant Program (Block) https://block.xyz/inside/introducing-the-goose-grant-program
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Other projects at the Agents layer
19 siblings · ordered open first
- OpenHands Open source
Formerly OpenDevin; sandboxed open coding agent; strong SWE-bench Verified performance.
- Aider Open source
Paul Gauthier's terminal-native open coding agent; BYOK; git-aware diffs; widely loved for its directness.
- Cline Open source
VS Code-native open coding agent; large community of users; began as Claude Dev.
- Continue Open source
Open IDE coding agent for VS Code and JetBrains; broader IDE integration than most.
- LangChain Open source
Most-used open agent framework; LLM tools, chains, RAG primitives, and LangGraph for low-level agent orchestration. MCP via the langchain-mcp-adapters package.
- LlamaIndex Open source
Open framework for data-aware LLM applications; strong on RAG, now also an agent framework via AgentWorkflow. MCP via the llama-index-tools-mcp package.
- AutoGen Open source
Microsoft's multi-agent conversation framework, now maintenance-mode; consolidated with Semantic Kernel into the Microsoft Agent Framework (1.0 GA April 2026).
- OpenAI Agents SDK Open source
OpenAI's lightweight agent SDK and the production successor to Swarm; MIT, Python and TypeScript, provider-agnostic via LiteLLM, handoffs, native MCP.
- Claude Agent SDK Open source
Anthropic's agent SDK extracted from Claude Code; the package is MIT but its use is governed by Anthropic's Commercial Terms, and it is Claude-only. Native plus in-process MCP, subagents. Renamed from the Claude Code SDK September 2025.
- Google ADK (Agent Development Kit) Open source
Google's open agent framework; Apache-2.0, multi-language (Python, Java, Go, TypeScript, Kotlin), Gemini-optimized but model-agnostic, native bidirectional MCP. 2.0 GA May 2026.
- Vercel AI SDK Open source
Vercel's TypeScript AI toolkit; Apache-2.0, model-agnostic via a unified provider API, subagents, native MCP. AI SDK 6 GA December 2025.
- Strands Agents Open source
AWS's open agent SDK; Apache-2.0, Python (TypeScript in preview), Bedrock-default but model-agnostic, native MCP, workflow/graph/swarm multi-agent. 1.0 GA July 2025.
- Microsoft Agent Framework Open source
Microsoft's open agent framework consolidating AutoGen and Semantic Kernel; MIT, Python and .NET, model-agnostic via connectors, native MCP and A2A, graph-based orchestration. 1.0 GA April 2026.
- Pydantic AI Open source
Pydantic's MIT agent framework; Python, model-agnostic, type-safe through Pydantic models, native MCP, A2A plus graph multi-agent. 1.0 released September 2025.
- CrewAI Open source
Independent MIT agent framework; Python, model-agnostic via LiteLLM, role-based "crews" for multi-agent work, MCP via the crewai-tools adapter. 1.0 GA October 2025.
- Mastra Open source
Independent TypeScript agent framework from the Gatsby team; Apache-2.0 core (separate enterprise license for ee/ directories), built on the Vercel AI SDK, native MCP, supervisor/sub-agents. 1.0 released January 2026.
- Claude Code (Anthropic) Proprietary
Anthropic's first-party CLI coding agent; closed-source; subscription model; the dominant closed coding agent in 2026.
- Cursor Proprietary
Closed VS-Code-fork IDE with integrated agentic features; strong developer adoption.
- Devin (Cognition Labs) Proprietary
Cognition's closed autonomous-software-engineer agent; was first to publicize SWE-bench scores.
Grants attributed
1 match from /grants
- Goose grant program launch 2025-06-01 · Up to $100K per grant
Multiple external builders · funded by block-goose
Launch of grants for external developers building integrations, tooling, and infrastructure on Block's open-source goose agent platform. Goose runs locally, supports any model, and has shipped to thousands of developers via partners like Databricks.