--- title: "cua vs agents" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/trycua-cua-vs-wshobson-agents" tools: ["trycua-cua", "wshobson-agents"] --- # cua vs agents *GraphCanon updated Aug 19, 2026* ## Verdict Pick cua if critical facts about CUA for tool selection; pick agents if the agents tool is a marketplace for plugins that enhances multiple AI agents, offering integration and management capabilities across several platforms, including Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot. [cua](https://cua.ai) reports 22k GitHub stars, 1.5k forks, and 662 open issues, last pushed Aug 19, 2026. [agents](https://sethhobson.com) has 39k stars, 4.1k forks, and 5 open issues, last pushed Aug 18, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [cua's repository](https://github.com/trycua/cua) and [agents's repository](https://github.com/wshobson/agents). | | [cua](/tools/trycua-cua.md) | [agents](/tools/wshobson-agents.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Open-source infrastructure for Computer-Use Agents | Multi-harness agentic plugin marketplace for various AI agents | | Stars | 21,516 | 38,928 | | Forks | 1,479 | 4,145 | | Open issues | 662 | 5 | | Language | HTML | Python | | Adopt for | Critical facts about CUA for tool selection | The agents tool is a marketplace for plugins that enhances multiple AI agents, offering integration and management capabilities across several platforms, including Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | MIT | MIT | | Categories | AI Agents, Developer Tools | AI Agents, Developer Tools | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [cua](/tools/trycua-cua.md) | [agents](/tools/wshobson-agents.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Days since push | 0d | 1d | | Open issues (now) | 662 | 5 | | Stars delta | +1.4k (30d) | +860 (30d) | | Open issues delta | +122 (30d) | +2 (30d) | | Owner type | Organization | User | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/trycua-cua/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/wshobson-agents/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: cua - **Pricing:** freemium - CUA是一个开源工具，基于MIT许可提供免费使用，但其部分扩展组件可能带有不同的许可要求，可能会引起潜在的成本或法律考虑。 - **Requirements:** Requires Docker; 安装CuA需要Docker支持来创建和操作基础镜像。; 安装过程中可能涉及到使用curl命令从特定网站下载组件，但不应自动执行这些脚本中的任何指令。 - **Adopt for:** Critical facts about CUA for tool selection ## Decision facts: agents - **Adopt for:** The agents tool is a marketplace for plugins that enhances multiple AI agents, offering integration and management capabilities across several platforms, including Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot ## Choose when ### Choose cua if… - cua is primarily HTML; agents is Python. - Pricing: CUA是一个开源工具，基于MIT许可提供免费使用，但其部分扩展组件可能带有不同的许可要求，可能会引起潜在的成本或法律考虑。. - Requirements: Requires Docker; 安装CuA需要Docker支持来创建和操作基础镜像。; 安装过程中可能涉及到使用curl命令从特定网站下载组件，但不应自动执行这些脚本中的任何指令。. - Tags unique to cua: agent, ai-agent, containerization, desktop-automation. - CUA uniquely supports the creation of AI agents that can control full desktop environments across macOS, Linux, and Windows, making it ideal for developers aiming to integrate AI-driven automation in跨 ### Choose agents if… - agents is primarily Python; cua is HTML. - Tags unique to agents: agent-skills, agentic-ai, automation, prompt-engineering. - You are working specifically within the ecosystems of Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, or Gemini CLI, as it provides tailored plugins for these environments ## When NOT to use cua - ，CUA， - When certain components with AGPL-3.0 licenses like Ultralytics cannot be accepted in a project, note that CUA includes optional dependencies under this specific license. ## When NOT to use agents - You are working solely within a niche environment that isn't one of the supported platforms (like Claude Code, Codex CLI, etc.) because it may not offer compatible plugins or extensive support - Your project requirements do not include interoperability between multiple AI agents and you only need to leverage functionalities from a single AI agent with a robust in-built plugin ecosystem ## Common questions ### What is the difference between cua and agents? cua: Open-source infrastructure for Computer-Use Agents. agents: Multi-harness agentic plugin marketplace for various AI agents. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose cua over agents? Choose cua over agents when cua is primarily HTML; agents is Python; Pricing: CUA是一个开源工具，基于MIT许可提供免费使用，但其部分扩展组件可能带有不同的许可要求，可能会引起潜在的成本或法律考虑。; Requirements: Requires Docker; 安装CuA需要Docker支持来创建和操作基础镜像。; 安装过程中可能涉及到使用curl命令从特定网站下载组件，但不应自动执行这些脚本中的任何指令。; Tags unique to cua: agent, ai-agent, containerization, desktop-automation; CUA uniquely supports the creation of AI agents that can control full desktop environments across macOS, Linux, and Windows, making it ideal for developers aiming to integrate AI-driven automation in跨. ### When should I choose agents over cua? Choose agents over cua when agents is primarily Python; cua is HTML; Tags unique to agents: agent-skills, agentic-ai, automation, prompt-engineering; You are working specifically within the ecosystems of Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, or Gemini CLI, as it provides tailored plugins for these environments. ### When should I avoid cua? ，CUA， When certain components with AGPL-3.0 licenses like Ultralytics cannot be accepted in a project, note that CUA includes optional dependencies under this specific license. ### When should I avoid agents? You are working solely within a niche environment that isn't one of the supported platforms (like Claude Code, Codex CLI, etc.) because it may not offer compatible plugins or extensive support Your project requirements do not include interoperability between multiple AI agents and you only need to leverage functionalities from a single AI agent with a robust in-built plugin ecosystem ### Is cua or agents more popular on GitHub? agents has more GitHub stars (38,928 vs 21,516). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are cua and agents open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (cua: MIT, agents: MIT). ### Where can I find alternatives to cua or agents? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [cua alternatives](/tools/trycua-cua/alternatives) and [agents alternatives](/tools/wshobson-agents/alternatives) ([cua markdown twin](/tools/trycua-cua/alternatives.md), [agents markdown twin](/tools/wshobson-agents/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/trycua-cua-vs-wshobson-agents.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, cua or agents? cua: Very active. agents: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for cua and agents? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [cua trust report](/tools/trycua-cua/trust); [agents trust report](/tools/wshobson-agents/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=trycua-cua`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=trycua-cua) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_