What it is and who it's for
Goose is a local open-source AI agent from Block that carries out engineering tasks on your machine and extends through MCP servers (extensions). It's for developers and automation folks who want a hands-on agent running locally with any model and pluggable tools. What sets it apart is being MCP-native (huge extensibility) and shipping both a CLI and a desktop app.
Key features
- A local agent: file edits, command execution, multi-step tasks.
- MCP-native: plug in tools and services as extensions.
- Any model: cloud providers or local ones (Ollama).
- CLI and desktop app.
- Recipes/automations for repetitive tasks.
- Open source and free.
Get started in 5 minutes
- Install the CLI (or download the desktop app):
curl -fsSL https://github.com/block/goose/releases/download/stable/download_cli.sh | bash
- Configure your model provider and key:
goose configure
- Start a session and give it a task:
goose session
When to use it, and when not to
- ✅ Use it if: you want a local hands-on agent with rich MCP extensibility and any model you like.
- ✅ Use it if: you want to automate engineering tasks with recipes.
- ❌ Skip it → go with "Cline"/"Kilo Code" if you work mostly inside VS Code.
- ❌ Skip it → go with "Claude Code" if you want a ready-made pipeline with verification and subagents on the Anthropic stack.
The honest price
Free and open source; you pay for tokens from the model you choose (local models are free). Exact figures are with the provider and change over time.
Gotchas
- MCP power means configuring the right extensions for the job.
- Running commands locally — be careful with permissions and destructive actions.
- Quality equals model quality; with a weak local model the agent flounders.
- The docs are still evolving — sometimes you have to look in the repo.
🤖 Prompt accelerator
"I'm setting up Goose (CLI/desktop) for local task automation on
. Help me pick a model that fits my budget, choose MCP extensions for the task (file work, databases, APIs, for example), and write a recipe for a repeating scenario. Give me the install/config commands and an example first session."