back to features

honest comparison. we win where it matters.

every capability, side-by-side. partial means the product has some version of the capability, but not the full built-in hellocode workflow.

only in hellocode

the capabilities cursor and windsurf don't ship.

jump to the full table below for the full side-by-side. these are the rows where competitors have nothing comparable.

project atlas

a live, navigable architecture graph of your repo β€” crates, packages, entry points, import edges. the agent reads it too.

document vault

durable, in-repo memory the agent can read and write with vault_read / vault_write. not a rules file β€” a real knowledge store.

yaml workflow engine

9 step kinds, bundled seeds, long-running spawned agents. compose multi-step engineering pipelines, not just one-shot prompts.

9 built-in agent profiles

write, ask, plan, debug, secure, minimal, architect, refactor, performance β€” each with its own tool allowlist and default model.

local audit.db

every tool call written to a portable sqlite file on your disk. real auditability without a cloud dashboard.

acp + agent marketplace

open agent control protocol with external agent servers and an in-app marketplace for qa, security, and perf agents.

git worktree sessions

first-class isolation β€” every agent run lives in its own worktree, not a shared branch. no stomping on your work.

auto model routing

per-message routing chooses the right model for the task. you stop picking models; we pick the cheapest one that wins.

eval_cli + /doctor

ship agent changes through a real evaluation harness, and diagnose any config in one slash command.

built-in

native, first-class capability.

partial

available, but limited or indirect.

not available

not a native product feature.

01

editor & speed

10 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
native (non-electron) editor
built-in
rust, idles <1% cpu
not available
electron fork
not available
electron fork
instant autocomplete (p99)
built-in
<30ms
partial
~60–100ms
partial
~50–90ms
inline edit prediction
built-in
next-edit, not next-token
built-in
tab model
built-in
supercomplete
built-in multi-terminal
built-in
split, tab, task-integrated
built-in
vs code terminal
built-in
vs code terminal
integrated agent terminal (claude-code style)
built-in
agent runs in your shell, sees output
not available
chat panel only
not available
chat panel only
terminal inline assistant
built-in
select & rewrite in shell
partial
ctrl-k workflow
partial
command palette
dap debugger
built-in
breakpoints, step, inspect
built-in
vs code debugger
built-in
vs code debugger
lightning indexer
built-in
10k files / 2s
partial
cloud index
partial
cloud index
vs code extension compat
built-in
100%
built-in
100%
built-in
100%
repl & notebooks
built-in
built-in
not available
via extension
not available
via extension
02

agent & intelligence

8 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
autonomous agent mode
built-in
multi-file, runs tests
built-in
composer
built-in
cascade
agent profiles
built-in
9 built-in roles
partial
custom modes beta
partial
cascade modes
plan & approve gate
built-in
full plan before edits
partial
per-edit accept
partial
per-edit accept
codebase chat with citations
built-in
cited answers in 2s
built-in
@codebase
built-in
@-mentions
thinking, streaming, tool output
built-in
live reasoning + tools
partial
limited visibility
partial
limited visibility
auto model routing
built-in
per message
not available
manual select
not available
manual select
model picker with cost visibility
built-in
favorite, swap, price
partial
model picker
partial
model picker
shared & archived threads
built-in
searchable, team-shareable
not available
local workflow
not available
local workflow
03

project intel

5 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
project atlas (live arch graph)
built-in
auto-mapped repo graph
not available
not native
not available
not native
document vault (durable memory)
built-in
agent reads & writes
partial
rules files
partial
memories beta
vault & atlas agent tools
built-in
read/write as tools
not available
manual context
not available
manual context
full-repo scan
built-in
rust, ts, python, go
partial
index-based
partial
index-based
import-edge navigation
built-in
click through edges
not available
lsp only
not available
lsp only
04

tools & extensibility

7 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
built-in agent tools
built-in
30, sandboxed
partial
smaller core set
partial
smaller core set
browser tool (playwright)
built-in
on by default
partial
via mcp
partial
via mcp
run tests in loop
built-in
reads failures, iterates
partial
agent can run commands
partial
agent can run commands
mcp catalog (in-app browse)
built-in
ui to install
partial
json config
partial
json config
external acp agents
built-in
acp servers built in
not available
mcp, not acp
not available
mcp, not acp
engineering agent marketplace
built-in
qa, security, perf agents
not available
not native
not available
not native
per-profile tool permissions
built-in
lock by role
partial
global allow-list
partial
global allow-list
05

workflows & automation

5 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
yaml workflow engine
built-in
9 step kinds
not available
not native
not available
not native
bundled workflow seeds
built-in
feature-delivery.yaml
not available
not native
partial
workflows beta
playbook (shareable recipes)
built-in
built-in dock
not available
not native
partial
workflows beta
slash commands
built-in
22 built-in
partial
few built-in
partial
few built-in
spawn workflow agent
built-in
long-running runs
not available
not native
partial
cascade workflow
06

collaboration & git

5 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
native git panel
built-in
stage, commit, branch
built-in
vs code source control
built-in
vs code source control
git worktree sessions
built-in
first-class isolation
not available
manual setup
not available
manual setup
shared live sessions
built-in
pair with ai
not available
local workflow
not available
local workflow
collab panel
built-in
who edits what
not available
not native
not available
not native
diagnostics piped to agent
built-in
self-corrects
built-in
via context
built-in
via context
07

trust, enterprise & ops

8 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
cost dashboard
built-in
per-tool & user
partial
usage page
partial
usage page
agent observe
built-in
live tool + model log
partial
limited logs
partial
limited logs
local audit log (audit.db)
built-in
portable sqlite
not available
not exposed
not available
not exposed
sso / rbac / scim
built-in
saml + roles + scim
partial
business+
partial
teams+
on-device / vpc llms
built-in
your vpc or device
partial
hosted-first
partial
hosted-first
guest access
built-in
scoped seats
not available
not native
not available
not native
secrets manager
built-in
encrypted local store
partial
env / extensions
partial
env / extensions
feature flags
built-in
roll out by team
not available
not native
not available
not native
08

ci & evaluation

3 capabilities
capability
hellocode.ai
cursor
windsurf
eval_cli (agent regression harness)
built-in
ship agent changes safely
not available
not exposed
not available
not exposed
/doctor config health check
built-in
one command, full diagnosis
not available
not native
not available
not native
hosted llm endpoint (byo or ours)
built-in
backend.hellocode.ai/llm
partial
hosted-only
partial
hosted-only

comparison reflects publicly documented behavior as of june 2026. corrections welcome β€” email [email protected].