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AI Coding Agent

Factory

Factory's agent, Droid, plans, writes, tests, and reviews code from a terminal CLI, a desktop and web app, IDEs, CI jobs, and Slack or Linear delegations. It runs models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, and open-weight providers.

The 30-Second Take

Pick Factory if you want several vendors' models behind one agent and one policy, from laptops to CI.

Its Droid runs in terminals, IDEs and CI on Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and open-weight models, or your own keys. Admins set model policy, autonomy ceilings and sandboxing once for everyone.

Best fit
Teams that want several model vendors behind one agent, with the same policy on laptops, CI and cloud machines.
Main constraint
Individual and Teams usage runs on rolling rate limits at per-model rates, so spend is hard to predict.
First move
Write AGENTS.md for two repositories, run the readiness report, and set an autonomy ceiling before anyone starts.

Why

Watch the public record: few accounts speak for a team, and Factory ran every headline benchmark on its own site. Usage draws down rolling rate limits at per-model rates, so spend is hard to predict.

Practitioner sentiment, all practitioners+22 Positive

50 practitioners, 103 sources reviewed, Updated Nov 1, 2026How this is measured

Read the GILD Review
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Operating stack
Agentic Software Development

Comparisons

How does Factory compare with the alternatives?

  1. Factory vs Devin

    • AI Coding Agents

    Pick Factory when the agent should run where your code already lives, from a laptop to CI to a Factory-managed computer, with models from several vendors under rolling rate limits. Pick Devin when every session can run on Cognition-hosted machines that bill quota and credits. Both return a reviewable change.

  2. Factory vs Codex

    • AI Coding Agents

    Choose Codex if OpenAI's models cover your team, since it comes inside ChatGPT plans. Choose Factory for models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, and open-weight providers under its own plans. Both offer a terminal agent, IDE support, headless runs in CI, and AGENTS.md project instructions.

Operator Insights

What are engineering leaders learning from deploying Factory?

See all 3 operator accounts

Buying and deployment

What engineering leaders should verify before a broader rollout.

Sourced from Factory documentation

How you buy it

US$20

A month for Pro. Teams is US$60 a month plus US$40 a seat, up to 10 seats.

Source 1, Factory, Individual Plans: Individual PlansSource 2, Factory, Organization Plans: Organization Plans

Details

Pro US$20 or Max US$200 per month for one developer, with Plus between them. Teams costs US$60 per month plus US$40 per seat for up to 10 seats, billed month to month. Business and Enterprise are custom contracts through sales.

Cost drivers

0.04× to 12×

The per-model rate against 5-hour, 7-day, and 30-day limits. Claude Opus 5.5 is 1.6×.

Source 1, Factory, Individual Plans: Individual PlansSource 2, Factory, Organization Plans: Organization PlansSource 5, Factory, Available models: Available models

Details

Pro, Plus, Max, and Teams seats draw on rolling 5-hour, 7-day, and 30-day rate limits at a per-model rate. Rates range from 0.04× for GPT-6 Luna to 12× for GPT-5.5 Pro, with Claude Opus 5.5 at 1.6×. GPT-5.6 Sol bills at a promotional 1.6× and its Fast mode at 3.2× through Nov 22, 2026, then 2× and 4×. Past a limit, switch free to Droid Core open-weight models or buy prepaid Extra Usage from US$10. Missions require Extra Usage.

Where it runs

Local, CI, cloud

The Droid CLI, desktop app, and IDEs, headless in CI, and on Factory-managed machines.

Source 6, docs.factory.com, Factory App quickstart: Factory App quickstartSource 7, Factory, Droid Exec: Droid ExecSource 8, docs.factory.com, Droid Computers: Droid ComputersSource 9, Factory, Delegations: DelegationsSource 3, Factory, Deployment Patterns: Deployment Patterns

Details

Locally in the Droid CLI and the Factory App for macOS and Windows. Headless in CI through droid exec, on Factory-managed Droid Computers, and from Slack, Linear, Jira, or Teams. Deployments run Factory Managed, Factory Private with sandboxes in your VPC through OpenCompute, the dedicated EU deployment, or a Custom Deployment when policy rules out a Factory-hosted control plane.

What to verify

Business and up

SSO, SCIM, and zero data retention start at Business. GitLab or GHES needs Enterprise.

Source 2, Factory, Organization Plans: Organization PlansSource 9, Factory, Delegations: DelegationsSource 5, Factory, Available models: Available modelsSource 10, factory.com, Security: SecuritySource 11, factory.com, Factory achieves SOC 2 certification (April 8, 2024): Factory achieves SOC 2 certification (April 8, 2024)

Details

SSO, SCIM, zero data retention, and audit logging start at Business. Delegations needs a Manager or Owner to set it up on any paid plan, and custom models (BYOK) and model policy sit in org-managed settings. Factory's security page lists SOC 2, ISO 42001, and CCPA. The SOC 2 report Factory has announced is Type I, on April 8, 2024, and Factory describes ISO 42001 as a standard it adopted.

Signals

What is the current evidence saying about Factory?

What builders and engineering teams report publicly about Factory's Droid, with every finding linked to its sources.

Whose sources count

Practitioner sentiment, all practitioners

+22 Positive net

of 54 sources that take a side, each author counted once.

How this figure is made

30 more state no overall view and cast no vote.

Leaders and teams have 4 accounts; GILD prints their sentiment from 20.

Current sentiment

Positive, mixed and negative sources

The score counts them as 24 positive, 13 mixed and 13 negative votes, one per author.

Hacker News and YouTube lean positive, while Reddit leans negative, with 12 of 25 posts negative. GILD scores 25 GitHub issues as mixed, since they report bugs or request features, and the other 2 as positive.

Use a task pilot to measure accepted work and review time.

Evidence field. All 103 sources, one mark each.

Arrange by

Each mark is one source: positive, mixed, negative, no opinion stated, or documentation (not counted).

By sentiment, All practitioners. Every source GILD read, grouped as the field draws it.
GroupSourcesPositiveMixedNegativeNo opinion stated and not counted in the scoreDocumentation, checked and not counted
Positive26260000
Mixed14014000
Negative14001400
Not counted31000310
Documentation18000018
Every source GILD read, by the quarter it was published, as the field's time axis counts it. Documentation is dated by the day it was checked.
QuarterSources
Q1 20251
Q2 20254
Q3 20254
Q4 202522
Q1 202611
Q2 202612
Q3 202625
Q4 20266
Documentation, checked18

By sentiment

18 documentation pages check facts and are not counted.

Hover a mark for a quick look, click it or press Enter to open its source.Tap a mark to open its source, then step to its neighbors with Previous and Next.

What practitioners praise

Top praise of 4. Each mark is a source on it; filled marks praise it.

  1. Model choice15 of 22 sources on it praise it

Most common concerns

Top concern of 4. Each mark is a source on it; filled marks raise it.

  1. Reliability & bugsAll 28 sources on it raise it as a concern
All 103 sources behind these findings
  1. 600s host limit cuts off long-thinking Opus responses, causing repeated restarts and wasted usageziyou979, GitHub user filing an issue against Factory-AI/factory (self-described: Factory Desktop 0.202.0 on Windows, official Factory subscription without BYOK), GitHub issue on Factory-AI/factory, published Oct 21, 2026
  2. Reading a file that quotes a blocklisted client phrase 403s the session, false positive, misreported as auth failureRoacherM, GitHub user filing an issue against Factory-AI/factory (self-described: Droid 0.244.0 on macOS, Claude Opus 5.5 at high effort), GitHub issue on Factory-AI/factory, published Oct 19, 2026
  3. Individual PlansFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  4. Organization PlansFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  5. Available ModelsFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  6. Factory RouterFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  7. Custom Models (BYOK)Factory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  8. Droid CLIFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  9. Droid Exec (Headless)Factory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  10. Interaction ModesFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  11. Autonomy LevelFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  12. SandboxFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  13. Droid ShieldFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  14. DelegationsFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  15. Factory MissionsFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  16. Automated Code ReviewFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  17. Agent ReadinessFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  18. AGENTS.mdFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  19. Feature MaturityFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  20. Deployment PatternsFactory (Official), Product documentation, checked Oct 12, 2026
  21. ACP session/set_config_option returns {} instead of required configOptionsLouisDeconinck, GitHub user connecting Droid to T3 Code over ACP (self-described: Linux x64), GitHub issue, published Oct 8, 2026
  22. permission_prompt Notification hook has no tool name or input ("needs permission to execute 1 tool(s)")glmn, GitHub user building a host around interactive Droid sessions (self-described: Runs several Droid sessions at once), GitHub issue, published Oct 7, 2026
  23. Windows: Defender quarantining an active session transcript crashes the turn (EUNKNOWN, unhandled rejection) and silently hides the sessionNDilanka, GitHub user on the Factory desktop app (self-described: Windows 11), GitHub issue, published Oct 6, 2026
  24. ACP mode (droid exec --output-format acp): a new session (session/new) inherits the conversation context of earlier sessions in the same processvizh, GitHub user running Droid in Zed over ACP (self-described: macOS, Zed), GitHub issue, published Oct 1, 2026
  25. Comment on: GPT 6.1 Sol: Near-Astra intelligence for a fifth of the pricermaxdev, Hacker News commenter (self-described: Heavy personal dev work), Hacker News comment, published Sep 29, 2026
  26. Readiness reports can evaluate a stale worktree without warningdrawmeanelephant, GitHub user running Agent Readiness reports, self-described, GitHub issue, published Sep 28, 2026
  27. Desktop 0.184.0: new sessions reset custom-model default to auto (custom models missing from picker)hrmesquita, GitHub user on the Factory desktop app with BYOK models (self-described: macOS), GitHub issue, published Sep 25, 2026
  28. Running droid doesn't see AGENTS.md file in user's .factory folder if it's a symlinkkasajian, GitHub user of Droid CLI on Windows (self-described: Windows), GitHub issue, published Sep 18, 2026
  29. Comment on: Inside ZCode: Silently uploading your Git history to the cloudbbor, Hacker News commenter (self-described: Independent full-stack developer prototyping AI systems), Hacker News comment, published Sep 18, 2026
  30. Fresh usage measurementsunoval2017, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Pro plan, GPT-5.6 Sol), Reddit post, published Sep 17, 2026
  31. Execute SIGKILLs every command when ps is unavailable: factory-execute-supervisor treats a failed liveness probe as owner deathjoshwilhelmi, GitHub user running droid exec under a sandbox (self-described: macOS with sandbox-exec; also Ubuntu with Docker), GitHub issue, published Sep 16, 2026
  32. ToolSearch remains allowed after acknowledged disabledToolIds updatezach-hammad-vs, GitHub user qualifying the Droid SDK for a restricted tool set, self-described, GitHub issue, published Sep 12, 2026
  33. BYOK generic-chat-completion-api: parallel tool calls with image results create an orphan role:"tool" message -> 400 from strict upstreamsmarovole, GitHub user running Droid with a BYOK OpenAI-compatible model (self-described: macOS), GitHub issue, published Sep 10, 2026
  34. Validator submits duplicate reviews when it believes its tool-call bodies were truncated (glm-5.3, two-pass review)thedevtoni, GitHub user running droid-action automated PR review on a private repository (self-described: Private repository, CI code review), GitHub issue, published Sep 5, 2026
  35. Feature Request: mouse text selection that copies logical text, not the rendered layout (Claude Code's option+click native select)brendandebeasi, GitHub user who uses both Claude Code and Droid (self-described: Principal engineer on cloud foundations and LLM gateways), GitHub issue, published Aug 28, 2026
  36. Desktop-created sessions are stamped machineId "local" on a registered Droid Computer, so they never appear on app.factory.ai web/mobilealanxchen85, GitHub user with a registered Droid Computer (self-described: macOS, desktop app plus web and mobile), GitHub issue, published Aug 21, 2026
  37. False positives for SHA-256 hashes and run metadata in Droid-Shieldzyaiire, GitHub user committing evaluation data with Droid (self-described: Research or evaluation repository), GitHub issue, published Aug 17, 2026
  38. Factory Droid vs Cursor Usage QuotaFindingSerendipity_1, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: New subscriber comparing quotas), Reddit post, published Aug 16, 2026
  39. Custom droids receive zero MCP tools despite valid configurationsnguyen-cars, GitHub user delegating to custom droids (self-described: Jenkins MCP server), GitHub issue, published Aug 14, 2026
  40. Custom droid glm-5.2 pin intermittently falls back to GPT-5.6 SolOliverGeorge8, GitHub user running custom droids from Spec Mode (self-described: Software engineer, TypeScript, React and Go), GitHub issue, published Aug 8, 2026
  41. droid exec --mission performs no work and reports success (num_turns 0, zero tokens, exit 0)Roderick-Clemente, GitHub user systematically testing droid exec, self-described, GitHub issue, published Aug 3, 2026
  42. .factory/hooks.json is silently never read at project scope (documented primary location)Roderick-Clemente, GitHub user systematically testing droid exec, self-described, GitHub issue, published Aug 3, 2026
  43. Factory AI being annoying - how to fix?Spiritual_Course4522, Reddit user in r/ClaudeAI (self-described: Droid with Claude, compared with GitHub Copilot), Reddit post, published Jul 28, 2026
  44. Python SDK 0.1.2 is behind the current Droid JSON-RPC surfacemrwogu, GitHub user building on the Droid Python SDK (self-described: AI developer experience at Comarch), GitHub issue, published Jul 27, 2026
  45. Why do GPT coding models have such a fetish for dispatching sub-agents?waxyslave, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: GPT models in Droid, AGENTS.md rules), Reddit post, published Jul 12, 2026
  46. Do Automated Evals Work?Antaripa Saha, machine learning engineer at Parlance Labs (Parlance Labs evaluation using 100 production traces from Nurture Boss), Company research article, Parlance Labs, published Jul 11, 2026
  47. Is there a timeline on the stable release?whoisronak, GitHub user planning a product on the Droid SDK (self-described: Building a new product on Factory's SDK), GitHub issue, published Jul 6, 2026
  48. Droid CLI Review: Hands-On Experience After Free TrialRobin Min, Independent developer and author of Surfing (self-described: Solo; several days on the Droid CLI free trial, compared with Claude Code, opencode, and Gemini CLI), Personal blog post, Surfing (surfing.salty.vip), published Jul 3, 2026
  49. Operation failed - check parametersElectronic-File-4652, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Droid CLI file creation), Reddit post, published Jul 1, 2026
  50. Droid CLI is unbearable slowsunoval2017, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Droid CLI in a terminal and in Zed), Reddit post, published Jun 20, 2026
  51. ProposeMission tool crashes with "undefined is not an object (evaluating 'H.length')" in droid 0.150.1mlcarl, GitHub user running Droid Missions, self-described, GitHub issue, published Jun 18, 2026
  52. Droid no longer better than cc or codexjm3823, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Earlier Droid user, Missions), Reddit post, published Jun 3, 2026
  53. Comment on: Claude Opus 4.8mgambati, Hacker News commenter, self-described, Hacker News comment, published May 29, 2026
  54. Comment on: Cursor Introduces Composer 2.5virgilp, Hacker News commenter, self-described, Hacker News comment, published May 19, 2026
  55. Bug: BYOK session fails with empty response, code-server SIGABRT on new sessionhdot123, GitHub user on a Factory team plan, self-described, GitHub issue, published May 5, 2026
  56. Comment on: DeepClaude - Claude Code agent loop with DeepSeek V4 Proahmadyan, Builder of a multi-agent IDE (Agentastic.dev) (self-described: Maker of Agentastic), Hacker News comment, published May 4, 2026
  57. Subagent FailuresAcademic-Assignment2, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: BYOK only, Linux and Windows), Reddit post, published May 1, 2026
  58. Opening a new thread while another is responding causes Droid to block new threadsaddidotlol, GitHub user of Droid in Zed (self-described: Works at fyra stack), GitHub issue, published Apr 25, 2026
  59. Comment on: Anthropic says OpenClaw-style Claude CLI usage is allowed againhboon, Independent developer (self-described: Building own products), Hacker News comment, published Apr 21, 2026
  60. How to fix "factoryd appears to be unavailable.."jrhabana, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: BYOK models through Z.ai, Ollama Cloud, and Fireworks), Reddit post, published Apr 20, 2026
  61. Configured VibeProxy to use OpenAI subscription and having problems with contextcambryceyt, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Moved from Codex to Droid; OpenAI subscription through a proxy), Reddit post, published Apr 16, 2026
  62. Comment on: OpenCode - Open source AI coding agenthboon, Independent developer (30 years experience, per profile posts) (self-described: Building own products), Hacker News comment, published Mar 21, 2026
  63. My Personal AI Infrastructure - Why I chose Factory AI's Droid0xSero, Developer and YouTube creator (self-described: Personal AI infrastructure with local models), Video, YouTube, published Mar 4, 2026
  64. BEWARE of factory.ai. 10x more expensive than Claude Code and you can't cancel your subscription.rameloxnine, Reddit user in r/ClaudeAI (self-described: Paid Factory subscription), Reddit post, published Mar 3, 2026
  65. Tried Droid for a few simple features. Scratched it off the list.mylifeasacoder, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Free trial, a Node.js feature on GPT-5.3-Codex), Reddit post, published Mar 3, 2026
  66. 20x Claude Code user here. Just tried Factory Droid and it feels like cheating.carchengue626, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Claude Code Max 20x subscriber trying Droid), Reddit post, published Mar 1, 2026
  67. Comment on: I hate AI side projectstheturtletalks, Hacker News commenter (self-described: Side projects), Hacker News comment, published Feb 20, 2026
  68. Comment on: I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?sebazzz, Hacker News commenter, self-described, Hacker News comment, published Feb 16, 2026
  69. Request: Use SHA-pinned action references for security-constrained repositoriesrjmurillo, GitHub user in a security-constrained organization (self-described: Repositories with SHA-pinning security rulesets), GitHub issue, published Jan 18, 2026
  70. Droid Vs. CC with GLM 4.7 comparisonApprehensive_Half_68, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: GLM-4.7 in Droid and in Claude Code), Reddit post, published Jan 10, 2026
  71. Comment on: How Google got its groove back and edged ahead of OpenAItheturtletalks, Hacker News commenter, self-described, Hacker News comment, published Jan 8, 2026
  72. Comment on: Show HN: Agentastic.dev is Ghostty and Git worktrees = multi-agent CC/Codex IDEahmadyan, Builder of a multi-agent IDE (Agentastic.dev) (self-described: Runs 30 to 40 local agents in parallel), Hacker News comment, published Jan 5, 2026
  73. Comment on: Codex vs. Claude Code (today)sixhobbits, Hacker News commenter (self-described: Personal projects), Hacker News comment, published Dec 27, 2025
  74. Comment on: GLM-4.7: Advancing the Coding Capabilityjared0x90, Hacker News commenter, self-described, Hacker News comment, published Dec 23, 2025
  75. Comment on: Show HN: Oh-My-Opencode: US$24,000 Worth Spent. Built Async agents, Curated Agentsmengmota, Developer of an OpenCode plugin (self-described: Solo comparison of coding agents), Hacker News comment, published Dec 15, 2025
  76. Droid: 7M Tokens Without Forgetting | How It WorksRay Fernando, Developer and YouTube creator (self-described: Long single sessions; discloses that Factory sponsored their previous livestream), Video, YouTube, published Nov 26, 2025
  77. Is there a YOLO mode similar to claude code?mediumbrownfox, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Personal side projects with Gemini 3), Reddit post, published Nov 20, 2025
  78. It's the worst onboarding experience evervargalas, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Install attempt), Reddit post, published Nov 13, 2025
  79. Claude Code & Factory AI Droid: Testing Kimi K2 ThinkingJeremy Grove, Developer and author of MediaDataFusion guides (self-described: One coding task, a Cognitive Map Generator, run in Claude Code and Droid with the same model), Video, YouTube, published Nov 11, 2025
  80. Droid is failing to compress every time and I have to start a new chat.Sakrilegi0us, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Claude Code Max subscription through VibeProxy), Reddit post, published Nov 5, 2025
  81. couldn't run on windowsdimbage, GitHub user (self-described: Windows), GitHub issue, published Oct 31, 2025
  82. Vibe Check: I Canceled Two AI Max Plans for Factory's Coding Agent DroidDanny Aziz, General manager of Spiral at Every (self-described: Building Spiral at Every; Every co-hosted a Droid Camp with Factory's head of developer relations the following day), Newsletter, Every, published Oct 30, 2025
  83. First impressionsStrixGGUY, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Rust backend with 230 API endpoints and 80,000 lines, plus 30,000 lines of React), Reddit post, published Oct 29, 2025
  84. New updates are forcing me to quitWarm_Sandwich3769, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Paid member who brought 15 developer friends to Droid), Reddit post, published Oct 25, 2025
  85. Droid is really trying hard to encourage me to cancelheretiqal, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Factory web app in Edge, a long refactoring session), Reddit post, published Oct 22, 2025
  86. Stop using Claude Code, start using Droid (trust me)David Ondrej, Founder of Vectal and YouTube creator (self-described: Founder of Vectal, hiring developers), Video, YouTube, published Oct 20, 2025
  87. Why I Like Factory AI Droid: Flexibility, BYOK, CLI + IDE + CloudJeremy Grove, Developer and author of MediaDataFusion guides (self-described: Setting up Droid with BYOK and GLM-4.6 across the CLI, IDEs, and cloud sync), Video, YouTube, published Oct 20, 2025
  88. How to Enable Deep Reasoning (High) When Using Custom ChatGPT Models?Unlucky_Draft_3468, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Switched from the Codex CLI to Droid with an OpenAI API key), Reddit post, published Oct 17, 2025
  89. Damn impressed with Droid CLIApprehensive_Half_68, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Large personal repository; also uses Codex, Gemini, Crush, Copilot, and Claude), Reddit post, published Oct 13, 2025
  90. Ask Droid CLI to implement some specs and set mode to (Auto) - High and now it destroy the whole OSGTHell, Reddit user in r/ChatGPTCoding (self-described: WSL Arch Linux, Auto (High) autonomy), Reddit post, published Oct 12, 2025
  91. Show HN: I built a SaaS in 8 weeks, solo, using our own AI platformkirkmarple, Founder who built the Zine app on their own company platform (Graphlit) (self-described: Solo build of a production SaaS (Next.js, TypeScript, Graphlit SDK, Vercel)), Hacker News story, published Oct 10, 2025
  92. Feedback for MCPEmbarrassedBird2833, Reddit user in r/FactoryAi (self-described: Droid CLI with Chrome and Supabase MCP servers), Reddit post, published Oct 10, 2025
  93. Comment on: Factory Raises US$50M Series Bmiraserver, Hacker News commenter, self-described, Hacker News comment, published Oct 4, 2025
  94. Droid CLI + GLM-4.6 + FREE 4.5 Sonnet,GPT-5 : Is it really the NEXT CLAUDE CODE?AICodeKing, AI coding tool reviewer (self-described: Free trial; four test projects with Sonnet 4.5, then GLM-4.6 through a custom provider), Video, YouTube (AICodeKing), published Oct 3, 2025
  95. droid + sonnet 4.5travbarb, Reddit user in r/ClaudeCode (self-described: Complex personal projects, free trial tokens), Reddit post, published Sep 30, 2025
  96. ChatGPT Codex vs FactoryOliver, Author of a Substack newsletter on AI tools (aileverage.substack.com) (self-described: Solo; first use of Factory, building the same Windows voice-dictation app in Codex and in Factory), Newsletter, aileverage.substack.com, published Sep 30, 2025
  97. Factory Droid Tutorial: Missions, Skills, and AgentsSid Bharath, Independent writer on AI agents (hands-on Droid tutorial) (self-described: Tutorial rewritten around the current Droid CLI, with Spec Mode, Missions, custom droids, and droid exec), Personal blog post, sidbharath.com, published Sep 30, 2025
  98. Adding a new feature to a project with Factory CLIIan Nuttall, Independent developer (self-described: Adding a heatmap activity tracker to the open-source here/now project), Video, YouTube, published Sep 19, 2025
  99. Transcript: 'How Two Engineers Ship Like a Team of 15 With AI Agents'Kieran Klaassen, general manager of Cora at Every (Two engineers building Cora at Every, with Claude Code as the main agent), Podcast episode transcript, AI & I (Every), published Jun 11, 2025
  100. These Factory AI Droids Built My App in 10 Minutes! (Rust + TypeScript!)AI LABS, AI development tutorial channel (self-described: Building a Rust and TypeScript desktop app on a local machine), Video, YouTube (AI LABS), published Jun 1, 2025
  101. Comment on: Understanding Droidsdata_delaurier, Hacker News commenter (self-described: Solo workflow: Windsurf for scaffolding, Anthropic Workbench for plans, Factory Droids for implementation), Hacker News comment, published May 29, 2025
  102. Exploring Factory Droids: Your Ultimate AI Coding AgentsDan McAteer, Developer and YouTube creator (self-described: Walkthrough after a month of access, on remote and local repositories), Video, YouTube (Attention Heads by Dan McAteer), published May 28, 2025
  103. Embracing AI at Tilt: Beyond Code GenerationJames Garrett, backend developer at Tilt (Tilt engineering team, C# and .NET backend with web, iOS and Android clients), Company engineering blog post, Tilt blog, published Feb 25, 2025

Feb 2025 to Oct 2026.

85 sources from practitioners, by month and sentiment.

The full readExplore all Factory Signals4 praise themes, 4 concerns, 2 points of agreement and 2 disagreements across all three groups, with all 103 sources open to inspect.

Where It Fits

Where does Factory belong in the stack?

Open Where It Fits: the Stack Field and the full map

Factory is Core across Build, supports Plan and Validate, and touches Ship and Operate.

Business area
Product & Engineering
Function
Software Development
Operating stack
Agentic Software Development
Primary role
Model-Independent Coding Agent Platform
Factory beside the rest of its stackThe Stack Field, every product on every layer
FootprintFactory across the Agentic Software Development stack. Bar height is its role on each layer.

  1. Plan

    1. Work planning: Supports

      Work planning, supports. Spec Mode plans a change before any edit, and Missions break large projects into features and milestones. Linear and Jira issues can be delegated to Droid, and the ticket system stays the planning record.

  2. Build

    1. Codebase context: Supports

      Codebase context, supports. Droid reads local files without uploading or indexing a repository copy. AGENTS.md supplies instructions, and AutoWiki generates a wiki for each repository. A dedicated search platform covers cross-repository search.

    2. Coding: Core

      Coding, core. This is Factory's primary role. Droid plans, edits, and tests changes in a developer's repository or on a Droid Computer and returns a diff or pull request for human review.

    3. Agent runtime: Core

      Agent runtime, core. Droid runs as a terminal CLI, a desktop app for macOS and Windows, and a web and mobile app. It also runs inside VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, JetBrains IDEs, and Zed, and on Factory-managed Droid Computers that keep state between sessions.

    4. Tool execution: Core

      Tool execution, core. Droid runs shell commands under autonomy levels and permission rules, calls MCP servers and managed connectors, and runs headless through droid exec in CI. It also takes work delegated from Slack, Linear, Jira, and Microsoft Teams.

  3. Validate

    1. Debugging: Supports

      Debugging, supports. Droid reproduces and fixes bugs in a session, and the Incident Response automation investigates production alerts posted to Slack; error monitoring stays with an observability or AI debugging product.

    2. Testing: Supports

      Testing, supports. Droid writes and runs tests. Missions validate each milestone, and Automated QA exercises web, CLI, and API interfaces as a user. Your team owns the test framework and CI.

    3. Code review: Supports

      Code review, supports. The /review command checks local changes. Droid Action posts automated comments on GitHub pull requests and GitLab merge requests. Merge approval stays with the engineering team or a dedicated review product.

    4. Application security: Supports

      Application security, supports. Security Review runs STRIDE and OWASP-based pull request reviews and codebase audits. Droid Shield blocks commits and pushes containing likely secrets. A dedicated application-security platform remains the system of record.

  4. Ship

    1. Source control: Touches

      Source control, touches. Droid commits, pushes, and opens pull requests on GitHub and GitLab, including self-managed GitHub Enterprise Server and GitLab on Enterprise; Git stays the system of record.

    2. CI/CD: Touches

      CI/CD, touches. droid exec and Droid Action run inside GitHub Actions and GitLab CI jobs you control, and the Release stage tracks deployment gates, but delivery pipelines remain in your CI/CD platform.

  5. Operate

    1. Observability: Touches

      Observability, touches. Droid exports OpenTelemetry metrics about its own activity and can investigate alerts posted to Slack, but monitoring and alerting stay with your observability and paging tools.

Market mapThe layers Factory covers, and who else owns each one.

  1. Coding & implementation

    CoreBuild

  2. Agent interface & developer runtime

    CoreBuild

  3. Tool execution & integrations

    CoreBuild

  4. Work planning & task decomposition

    SupportsPlan

  5. Codebase context & intelligence

    SupportsBuild

7 more layers on the full map. Core, Supports and Touches describe coverage. They say nothing about quality.

More on Factory

  1. GILD ReviewGILD's evaluation, with the buying facts
  2. Research2 pieces
  3. Guides4 guides
  4. Operator Insights3 operator accounts
  5. Where It FitsOn the Agentic Software Development stack
  6. Related Products8 products