The Cursor alternative for your Claude and ChatGPT subscriptions

Cursor is a code editor and agents app built around its own agent, with cloud agents, Projects, and automations on its paid plans, and it bills Claude and GPT models at API rates. bb is a free, open-source app for running coding agents: Claude Code and Codex run directly on your Claude and ChatGPT subscriptions, next to Cursor’s agent and others, on your own machines, and they can start and message each other. Plugins let you change almost anything, including adding a code editor.

Yes, for running coding agents: bb. It’s free for any team size and MIT-licensed, so you can use and change it for anything, including at work, and Claude Code and Codex run directly on the Claude and ChatGPT subscriptions you already have. Download bb.

Yes. Pick Cursor as the agent for any bb thread: bb runs Cursor’s agent CLI with your own sign-in and plan, so your rules and MCP servers come along. You can also open any thread’s worktree in Cursor with one click.

Ask bb to do it. Cursor’s local worktrees are plain Git on your machine, and its cloud agents push their work to branches, so a bb agent can add your repo and open each unfinished worktree or branch as a thread. Your AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, skills, and MCP servers come along, and Cursor keeps working while you try bb.

• Claude and GPT usage comes out of your Claude and ChatGPT subscriptions instead of usage-based billing.
• Each agent task is a thread you can open from your computer, phone, or any browser.
• You pick the agent per thread, and agents start and message each other across providers.
• Setup commands from .cursor/worktrees.json move to .bb-env-setup.sh, and untracked files like .env go in .worktreeinclude.
• Long runs keep going on whichever of your computers you pick.

1. Download bb for macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows, or Linux (both alpha). On an Intel Mac, run npx bb-app@latest, which needs Node.js 22.19 or later.
2. Install and sign in to a coding agent, like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or OpenCode.
3. Open bb, add your project folder, and type your first request.

Yes. bb runs the agents you already use, signed in the way you already pay for them: a Claude Pro or Max plan, a ChatGPT plan for Codex, a Cursor plan, API keys, or any other provider’s plan. Your existing setup comes along too (CLAUDE.md, skills, MCP servers, and agent settings).

bb picks the work back up. When an agent stops on a usage limit that reports when it resets, bb sends the message again a little after the reset, so you don’t have to come back and press send. To keep going on another Claude Code or Codex account you own, turn on Account Pooler, a plugin built into bb.

Yes. Ask Claude Code to “start a bb Codex thread to review this branch, then fix what it finds.” It starts Codex in the same worktree, waits, and applies the fixes. Codex shows up as its own thread, so you can read the exact prompt Claude sent, watch it work, and message it mid-run. Any other pair works the same way, like Cursor and OpenCode.

Yes, and there’s no coordinator to set up. Tell your agents to work together and they coordinate on their own: any agent can message another thread, whatever the provider, agents answer each other’s messages, and an agent hears back automatically when a thread it started finishes or fails. The receiving thread shows each message and who sent it, and you can step in and message any of them yourself.

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode, plus Pi, Grok Build, omp, and Hermes Agent. In Settings, add any other agent that supports the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), an open standard for connecting coding agents to apps, like Gemini CLI or Devin. You can also add one with a plugin. Each thread can use a different agent.

Yes. Pick a permission mode for each thread. Accept Edits applies changes inside the project and asks before anything else. Approve for me reviews requests automatically and sends high-risk ones to you. Full Access skips approvals and can run anything on your machine. Allow or deny approvals from your computer or your phone.

Yes. Every bb thread runs in the background on the machine you pick: your laptop, an always-on desktop, or a server you own. You can also start threads in on-demand cloud sandboxes in your own Modal account with the built-in Modal Sandbox plugin. Either way, you pay nothing extra to bb.

Yes. Give each thread its own Git worktree so agents don’t overwrite each other’s changes. List your .env files and setup commands once, and bb prepares every new worktree. By default, bb runs one thread per processor core and starts the rest as others finish.

Yes. Commit a .bb-env-setup.sh at your repo root and bb runs it in every new worktree. List untracked files like .env in .worktreeinclude and bb copies them in first, and .bb-env-teardown.sh cleans up when a worktree goes away.

Yes, without leaving the thread. Select lines in its diff and choose Add to chat to send feedback. Once the agent opens a pull request, the thread shows its checks and a Merge button. The GitHub plugin adds Review with agent to any PR.

Yes. The built-in File Editor plugin edits files inside bb with Monaco, the editor from VS Code. bb also opens any thread’s worktree in Cursor, VS Code, or another editor you have installed.

Yes, for free. Use the bb mobile app, a public beta on iPhone through TestFlight (Apple’s beta testing app) and in alpha on Android, or open bb in any browser through bb Connect, bb’s free remote access.

Yes, free. Automations start an agent thread or run a script on a repeating schedule, once at a set time, or after a delay. Pick the agent, model, and permission mode, and give each run its own worktree if you like.

Not on that laptop. Agents run on your machine, and closing the lid puts it to sleep. On a Mac, switch on Keep Awake, a built-in bb plugin that stops idle sleep while bb runs. For long runs, add an always-on desktop or server to bb, or run threads in the cloud with a cloud plugin like Modal Sandbox, which is built in and starts each thread in an on-demand sandbox in your own Modal account.

Yes. bb works out of the box, with worktrees, diff review, automations, and the mobile app ready from your first thread. When you want more, install plugins from the marketplace or ask an agent to build one. Plugins can add panels, commands, and new agents, and they work in the mobile app too.

Yes. The bb CLI covers everything the app does: start and message threads, run terminals, schedule automations, and manage machines and plugins, so a script or another agent can drive bb end to end. The SDK and plugin API let you add your own commands, tools, and screens.

Yes, for one person or a whole team. The mobile app, remote machines, automations, and plugins are all included, while Cursor puts cloud agents, Projects, and frontier models on its paid plans. You pay only for the agent plans or API keys you already use, from any provider. The code is on GitHub under the MIT license.

Yes. Download the app for Apple Silicon Macs, Windows, or Linux (both alpha), or run npx bb-app@latest on an Intel Mac.

Yes: bb runs on your machines, so your code goes only where your agents send it, the AI providers you chose. Anonymous usage stats exclude code and prompts and can be turned off. The bb Connect relay doesn’t store traffic, but isn’t end-to-end encrypted.

Yes, free at any team size. Teams can share one bb on an always-on machine, so everyone sees the same projects and threads, or each person can run their own and share work through Git as usual. bb doesn’t offer team plans, SSO, or a support SLA.