7/10
Strong
Goose has the most explicit sequence after Freebuff, and the slowest first task. Install with the official Goose installer or Homebrew block-goose-cli, then goose configure, then goose session. It is Apache-2.0, runs locally, and adds MCP, recipes, and many providers. Provider cost is not stated, so configure can stop day one. Scored 7: the path is Strong, and it is not the shortest path today.
- Cost
- Apache-2.0 license. Provider cost not stated
- Where it runs
- Local execution
- Standout trait
- Local execution, MCP, recipes, many providers
- Project file
AGENTS.md
- Install
curl -fsSL https://github.com/aaif-goose/goose/releases/download/stable/download_cli.sh | bash - Open a repocd /path/to/your/repo
- Give one taskRun goose session. Ask for one reversible edit in a single file. Do not commit.
- Review the diffgit status then git diff.
Quick winIf Homebrew and a provider are already available, brew install block-goose-cli then goose configure fits one sitting.
Best practices
- Use skills and MCP together. Skills describe how to work. MCP supplies the tools. @goose_oss
- If you restrict which files it may write, also check every other enabled tool that can write those same files. @goose_oss
- When many MCP tools are enabled, use code mode so chaining them costs fewer tokens. @alexjhancock
Further reading
- goose has a new home: the Agentic AI Foundation goose · Official
- Goose: the open-source agent that shaped MCP Arcade.dev · Third-party