deepseek-harness vs composio
Two of the top projects in Agent and MCP starters, side by side: who leads on each score part and who each one suits, then setup, license, activity and what each review found.
deepseek-harness
Plugin-based agent harness from DeepSeek with a local Web UI
composio
TypeScript and Python SDKs that give agents authenticated tools across 1000+ apps
Verdict
deepseek-harness ranks higher, 98 to 92. Of the 4 score parts we measure for both, deepseek-harness leads on 2, composio on none and 2 are even.
- Adoptiondeepseek-harness leads by 8 points, 100 to 92.
- FreshnessEven at 100.
- Maintenancedeepseek-harness leads by 13 points, 100 to 87.
- Agent-readyEven at 85.
Pick deepseek-harness if you are
Developers building agents through plugins, tolerant of breaking changes
- Starts with one npx command; no Docker or database mentioned
- Everything-is-a-plugin design on Cordis, with a dsh-plugin topic for discovery
Pick composio if you are
Developers wiring agents to third-party apps with managed per-user auth
- Adapters for about 16 frameworks, including OpenAI Agents, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain and Mastra
- Per-user sessions handle authentication, so the agent does not manage OAuth flows
| What we compare | deepseek-harness | composio |
|---|---|---|
| Score parts, out of 100 | ||
| Adoption | 100, widely used | 92, widely used |
| Freshness | 100, active | 100, active |
| Maintenance | 100, healthy | 87, healthy |
| Agent-ready | 85, ready | 85, ready |
| Facts from GitHub and the README | ||
| Stars | 268k | 30.9k |
| License | MIT (permissive) | MIT (permissive) |
| Last commit | Oct 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Last release | None published | Oct 2026 |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Docker | No | No |
| GPU | Not stated | Not needed |
| arm64 or Apple Silicon | Not stated | Not stated |
deepseek-harness
DeepSeek Harness (`dsh`) is a TypeScript agent harness built on the Cordis plugin framework, where every component is a plugin. It runs via `npx @deepseek-ai/dsh web` or from a source checkout with pnpm, and serves a Web UI at 127.0.0.1:3080 by default. It is a developer preview, and the README warns of compatibility-breaking changes.
Who it is for: Developers building agents through plugins, tolerant of breaking changes
Strengths
- Starts with one npx command; no Docker or database mentioned
- Everything-is-a-plugin design on Cordis, with a dsh-plugin topic for discovery
- MIT license, documentation site and third-party license notices
- Web UI binds to 127.0.0.1 by default; --no-open skips the browser
Weaknesses
- Developer preview; README warns of compatibility-breaking changes
- No tagged release published
- Safety notice must be read before running; its contents are not in the README
- TypeScript
- Needs Node.js, pnpm (source build)
composio
Composio is an SDK monorepo (TypeScript, Python, and a CLI) that creates per-user sessions exposing pre-authenticated toolkits to an agent. Sessions default to meta tools that discover, authenticate and execute app tools at runtime, and can also be served through a hosted MCP endpoint. Provider adapters convert the tools to the formats of OpenAI, Anthropic, LangChain, Vercel AI SDK, Google ADK, CrewAI and others.
Who it is for: Developers wiring agents to third-party apps with managed per-user auth
Strengths
- Adapters for about 16 frameworks, including OpenAI Agents, Claude Agent SDK, LangChain and Mastra
- Per-user sessions handle authentication, so the agent does not manage OAuth flows
- Meta tools load tools at runtime instead of putting hundreds of definitions in context
- Each session can also be exposed as a hosted MCP URL for Claude, Cursor or other clients
Weaknesses
- Requires a COMPOSIO_API_KEY from the hosted dashboard; the README documents no self-hosted option
- The SDK is open source, but toolkits and auth run through Composio's service
- Provider coverage is uneven: Vercel and Mastra are TypeScript only, CrewAI and AutoGen Python only
- Pi provider is experimental and ships from a separate package
- TypeScript, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google GenAI, LangChain
- Needs Composio API key (hosted service), Node 22+ for TypeScript SDK, Python 3.10+ for Python SDK
More in Agent and MCP starters
Building with these?
We help teams pick an open-source AI stack and run it in production. Client work never changes a rank.