Why choose Symbiotic?
Symbiotic Code is the first coding agent built to secure the code it generates, all within a safe and observable ecosystem.
How it compares with others:
| Symbiotic |  GitHub Copilot |  Claude Code |  ChatGPT Codex |  Google Gemini | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agentic coding workflow | Terminal, IDE, PR, CI | IDE, CLI, cloud | Terminal, IDE, cloud | Terminal, IDE, cloud | Terminal, IDE |
| Extensibility: skills, MCP servers, plugins | Plus the OpenCode plugin ecosystem | ||||
| Model choice | Any provider, BYO keys, SLMs and local models | Several providers, via GitHub | Anthropic models only | OpenAI models only | Google models only |
| Open-source lineage | Built on OpenCode (MIT) | Extension only | CLI is open source | CLI is open source | |
| Security policy applied before generation | Verified guardrails | Instruction files only | Instruction files only | Instruction files only | Instruction files only |
| Deterministic scanning inside the loop (OWASP, AST, dependencies, secrets) | GitHub code scanning, after the fact | ||||
| Independent verification by a separate reasoning system | |||||
| Fixes re-scanned and run against tests | Before the agent can finish | Only if prompted | Only if prompted | Only if prompted | Only if prompted |
| Auth and authorization gap detection | |||||
| Benchmark: vulnerabilities on 50 identical tasks, same model | 0 vulnerabilities | Not benchmarked | 45 vulnerabilities | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Sandboxed runtime | Centrally-defined, locally-enforced | Cloud agent only | |||
| Network and command policies | Centrally-defined, locally-enforced | Org settings | Local settings | Local config | Local config |
| Destructive commands blocked by default | Centrally-defined, locally-enforced | Permission prompt | Permission prompt | Permission prompt | Permission prompt |
| Intent-based blocking (adversarial prompting) | Centrally-defined, locally-enforced | ||||
| PII and credential removal from prompts | Centrally-defined, locally-enforced | ||||
| Allow/deny lists for plugins, skills, MCP servers | Central, with pre-use scanning | Managed settings, enterprise | Local settings | ||
| Full action trace | Audit logs | Usage metrics | Session logs | Local logs | |
| AI asset inventory | |||||
| Export to Datadog, Splunk, AWS Security Lake | Audit log streaming | OTel metrics | |||
| Audit trail for AI-assisted changes | |||||
| Mapping to NIST IR 8596 and compliance frameworks | |||||
| Zero data retention, no training on your code | All modes | Business and Enterprise | Enterprise or Bedrock/Vertex | Enterprise | Paid tiers |
| Privacy modes | |||||
| Self-hosted and on-prem | |||||
| EU hosting | Via Bedrock/Vertex regions | Enterprise data residency | Via Vertex | ||
| Turn-by-turn model routing | Auto model selection | Plan/execute model split | |||
| Token optimization and compaction | Auto-compact | Compaction | Compression | ||
| Budgets per organization, team, and developer | Seat-based | Org spend limits | Org limits | ||
| Consumption policies with fallback models | |||||
Switch from Claude Code, Copilot or Codex in minutes
Switching to Symbiotic takes minutes. Bring your skills, MCP servers, and model preferences over. Nothing's lost, and everything will feel natural.
Questions & answers
Will this slow my developers down?
The opposite. In practice, security runs at generation time, so code arrives clean on the first pass: fewer review loops, no scan-fix-regenerate cycle, no rework tickets.
What's the difference between a coding harness and a coding agent?
An agent writes code. A harness runs the agent inside a loop you define: policies applied before generation, verification after, and a sandbox around every action. Symbiotic Code is the harness; the models are whichever you pick.
Does it work on code my team writes by hand?
Yes. The IDE plugin, PR apps, and CI integration scan and fix any code in the repo, not just what the agent produced.
What happens to my CLAUDE.md, skills, and MCP servers?
They carry over as-is. Most developers are productive within a few minutes.
GENERAL
Will this slow my developers down?
The opposite. In practice, security runs at generation time, so code arrives clean on the first pass: fewer review loops, no scan-fix-regenerate cycle, no rework tickets.
What's the difference between a coding harness and a coding agent?
An agent writes code. A harness runs the agent inside a loop you define: policies applied before generation, verification after, and a sandbox around every action. Symbiotic Code is the harness; the models are whichever you pick.
Does it work on code my team writes by hand?
Yes. The IDE plugin, PR apps, and CI integration scan and fix any code in the repo, not just what the agent produced.
What happens to my CLAUDE.md, skills, and MCP servers?
They carry over as-is. Most developers are productive within a few minutes.