Autohand Code

Autohand Code is a terminal-native coding agent from Autohand AI. Rechecked 2026-08-25: github.com/autohandai/code-cli had 178 stars, license Apache-2.0. COMMERCIAL.md limits the free grant to individuals, non-profits, education, open-source projects, and companies with ARR under $5M. The CLI itself is $0. Models are BYOK (OpenRouter, OpenAI, Bedrock, DeepSeek, Ollama, and others) or Autohand's own cloud. The marketing site sells Enterprise with private routing, SSO, and audit logs. We did not open a public individual dollar table. Do not invent Indie $20.

Compare Claude Code if you wanted Anthropic's CLI, Cline if you wanted another $0 individual agent, and Goose if you wanted Block's local agent.

Key Features

• Terminal agent: plan, edit, test, and run tools from autohand. Aliases include autohand-code and agent.
• Permission modes: default prompts, --unrestricted (the yolo-class flag), --restricted, plus --yolo [pattern] for allow/deny globs.
• Skills and ACP: project/user skills, community registry, VS Code extension, and Zed ACP.
• Auto-mode: bounded loops with --max-iterations, --max-runtime, and --max-cost.
• Installer note: every installer scans PATH and replaces any existing agent command. If another tool's agent breaks after install, that is why.

Limitation: 178 stars is a small public repo. Enterprise pricing is sales-only. The Apache grant is not "free for every company."

Use Cases

• People who will stay on BYOK and accept the $5M ARR license line.
• People who want --unrestricted in CI and will cap --max-cost.
• People comparing self-evolving CLIs against Prime Agent.

Pricing

CLI is free under the published grant. Model access on 2026-08-25.

If a leftover blog prints $20 / $50 / $100, treat this table as the source.

Getting Started

1. Install with curl -fsSL https://autohand.ai/install.sh | bash, or brew install autohandai/code/autohand-code.
2. Run autohand. Configure a provider in ~/.autohand/config.json.
3. For one shot: autohand -p "fix the TypeScript errors".
4. Do not pass --unrestricted outside a disposable sandbox.

First-party start: autohand.ai/code and the GitHub README.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the CLI still free?

For the groups listed in COMMERCIAL.md, yes. Companies over $5M ARR need to read that file.

Same as Claude Code?

No. This is Autohand's agent. Claude Code is Anthropic's.

What does --unrestricted do?

It turns off approval prompts. The README says use with caution.

Alternatives

• Claude Code: Anthropic first-party CLI.
• Cline: $0 individual VS Code/CLI agent plus BYOK.
• Prime Agent: MIT self-improving Python agent.

Tips

1. Quote 178 stars and the $5M ARR line. Do not call it unlimited MIT.
2. Check whether agent on your PATH still points at the tool you expect.
3. Set --max-cost before you leave auto-mode running.

Conclusion

Autohand Code is a small Apache-2.0 terminal agent with an ARR-capped grant, not a public $20 seat. Start at github.com/autohandai/code-cli, attach a live provider, then decide whether Claude Code already covers the workflow you need.