goose

goose is an open-source local agent for development and general workflows. It offers desktop, CLI, server/API, and Agent Client Protocol surfaces. MCP extensions provide most capabilities, while recipes package repeatable prompts, settings, extensions, parameters, structured responses, retries, and subrecipes.

Evidence status: source-reviewed on 2026-09-23 at e678c3b (v1.52.0). Agentic Arena has not run it locally.

• Official site
• Official repository
• Architecture
• Recipe reference

Distinguishing design

goose makes standard protocols central: MCP composes tools and resources, while ACP connects editors and other agents. Recipes provide a portable workflow artifact with declared inputs and optional structured output. Its current surface also includes skills and independent subagents; the reviewed self-test expects nested delegation to be rejected.

Tool permissions and sandbox mode can reduce authority, while upstream security guidance still recommends a dedicated container or virtual machine for risky or untrusted work. Extensions and recipe-declared commands remain executable supply-chain inputs.

What Agentic Arena should test

Run a pinned recipe through the CLI/API with a fixed extension set. Record every spawned extension command, resolved permission, MCP identity, retry check, and subagent. Compare an unrestricted local run with an outer-isolated run. A recipe should be reviewed like code before it can enter a benchmark fixture.

goose teaches us that a portable workflow needs provenance for every capability it activates. It also provides a useful model for protocol-first composition and declarative, parameterized tasks.