Auravs OpenCode
Comparison · OpenCode · open-source terminal agent

OpenCode is a fine agent. Aura is the record it leaves behind.

OpenCode is an open-source terminal coding agent with its own TUI, provider-agnostic model support and a healthy plugin surface. Aura drives it. The comparison worth making is not OpenCode against Aura but OpenCode alone against OpenCode with a semantic layer under it.

An agent, versus the layer that reads, proves and records what the agent did.
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The short version

What each one is for

What OpenCode is great at

  • Provider freedom

    Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, local — pick a model and go. No account required with anyone in particular.

  • A good TUI

    The terminal interface is genuinely well made, which matters when the terminal is where you work.

  • Open source and moving

    Real community, real release cadence, and the code is there to read.

What Aura adds on top

  • A semantic read of the diff

    Functions and call edges rather than hunks, with a plain-language summary of what each changed function now does.

  • A verdict

    The goal travels with the task; the commit is checked against it and sealed into a portable record.

  • Parallel without collisions

    Crew gives every agent its own worktree and warns before two of them touch the same symbol.

  • One history across engines

    Run OpenCode next to Claude Code and Gemini CLI and read one intent log, not three transcripts.

Head to head

Dimension by dimension

What it is
AuraThe layer that drives agents and judges their output.
OpenCodeA terminal coding agent.
Where they meet
AuraOpenCode is one of the engines in Aura’s composer.
OpenCodeRuns standalone, or under Aura.
Review
AuraAST diff, plain-language summaries, intent per commit.
OpenCodeThe agent’s own output and git diff.
Proof
AuraGoal ↔ commit verdict.
OpenCodeNone.
Capabilities

Side by side

Capability
Aura
OpenCode
Writes and edits code
Provider-agnostic models
Open source
Terminal-first
Drives several agents at once
AST-level semantic diff
Goal ↔ commit proof verdict
Intent recorded per commit
Team collision radar
Compared on public capabilities, mid-2026. full · partial · none.
Honest advice

When to pick which

Pick OpenCode if…

  • You want an open-source agent and nothing else.

Pick Aura if…

  • You want that agent plus a review you can trust and a record you can hand over.
  • You are running more than one agent on the same repository.
Not either/or

Keep OpenCode. Add the control layer.

OpenCode is one of the engines Aura ships with. Keep using it exactly as you do; Aura adds the diff, the proof and the history around it.

Questions

Aura & OpenCode

Can Aura run OpenCode?

Yes. It is one of the engines in the composer, alongside Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, Cursor Agents and Kimi.

Do I need the Aura app to get the commit gate?

No. The CLI is enough — install it, run aura init, and the hook covers every commit in that repository.

Ship with proof, not hope

Free public beta for macOS and Linux. Point it at a repo and keep driving OpenCode, now with a semantic diff, a verdict and a record on every change.

Try the CLI