Maka

Why it's ranked here

The design makes claims a reader can check. The project says it benchmarks itself against other harnesses on the same model with the official verifier and ships per-task results with each report. It is Apache 2.0 licensed and sits in the Apache incubator. The security policy is unusually candid: it names the operating system as the only real boundary against a hostile model and lists which safety checks are mere heuristics. Shell commands and file operations can run inside OS sandboxes on macOS and Linux, failing closed when enforcement is unavailable.

What's good

Because the log is the record, pruning old tool output shrinks the next prompt without deleting history, and an interrupted turn can be resumed from the desktop app or the terminal. Benchmark results keep the earliest valid attempt as authoritative, so an operator cannot pick a preferred outcome. Secrets never cross into the renderer process, and the policy names tests that enforce this for two credential types. The model connector separates configured, ready and experimental connections, and hides account flows that are not actually wired up. A graph mode splits work across isolated Git worktrees.

Tradeoffs

There is no Apache release yet, and development builds are explicitly not approved releases. The incubation disclaimer says an authorization review for the initial code is still open and that adopters need their own licensing review. Windows and Linux are marked as previews, and on Windows the sandbox covers only the file worker, so arbitrary shell commands are unavailable when sandboxing is required. API keys sit in a plaintext file protected only by account file permissions. Upgrading drops older transcripts and safeStorage credentials, so threads can appear empty. The README and security policy name the credential file differently.

How to use it well

Fit it to a single developer who wants an auditable record of what an agent did and wants to bring their own model. Building from source needs Node 22.19 or newer, npm, Git and ripgrep; peer features also need Rust. Add and test a model connection in settings before the first task. Keep the default ask permission mode so the restricted sandbox profile applies, and run as a non-admin account. Use graph mode only from a clean Git worktree. Resuming a turn calls the model and spends tokens. It is not a multi-user or cloud-synced service.

Observed

License

Apache-2.0 (LICENSE, package.json)

Governance

Apache Incubator project; DISCLAIMER-WIP notes an open initial-code authorization review

Language and packaging

TypeScript npm workspaces monorepo with Rust native components

Interfaces

Electron desktop app, terminal TUI, non-interactive CLI run command, evaluation harness

Platform support

macOS; Windows and Linux marked preview in README

Model support

Bring your own: cloud API, local model or compatible gateway; no bundled model account

MCP

MCP client with stdio, streamable HTTP and SSE transports and OAuth (packages/mcp/src/index.ts)

Sandboxing

Seatbelt on macOS, bubblewrap on Linux, AppContainer for the Windows filesystem worker only (SECURITY.md)

Credential storage

Plaintext JSON under the workspace, protected by 0o700/0o600 file modes (SECURITY.md)

Release status

No Apache release made; development builds are not approved releases (README.md)

Build requirements

Node.js, npm, Git and ripgrep; Rust for peer features