We ran the identical code-audit task 10× each through Claude Code and Manna Code. Same model (Opus 4.8), same effort, same prompt, fresh session per run. Claude Code: $0.88/run Manna Code: $0.43/run Both scored 11/11. Same answers — half the bill.

Turning prompts down doesn't make a session safe. It makes it uninterruptible. Saw another permission-mode list today - plan, auto, dontAsk, bypassPermissions. Confirmation is a dialog. A brake is a constraint the agent can't rewrite. I want the gate outside the model. Read calendar is not rm -rf. Same agent, different seats. I still watch the run.

A rented browser tab is not a coding agent. I want the thread and the tool trail on my disk — not a cloud chat that evaporates when the session dies (or when I close the wrong window). Desktop surface on my machine. Bring OpenAI or Grok I already pay for, or BYOK. mannacode.ai

Stop stacking another credit meter on top of the subscription I already pay for. Bring OpenAI or Grok into the desk (SuperGrok / eligible X Premium+). No extra credits. Or BYOK if that fits. Keys stay in the OS credential manager. Manna never sees them. I still watch the run. Local DB. Finite windows. The sub I already have is enough.

I stopped trusting the marketing and ran n=10 myself. Same coding task. Opus 4.8 xhigh on our desk averaged $0.43. Claude Code averaged $0.88. Half the bill when I steer it instead of fire-and-forget for 8 hours. I still watch the run (pause when it drifts). Local desk. Bring your OpenAI or Grok sub, or BYOK. Keys stay in the OS credential manager.

The agent auto-summarized the thread and deleted the exact error string I was about to paste. Came back to a polite bullet list. The one stack frame that mattered was gone. Summary history. I keep the full thread on disk (verbatim). Window is still finite — I inspect, pin, trim when it fills. Compaction off by default.

Closed the laptop. Came back. Cloud chat had already forgotten half the plan. That's not persistence. That's a lease. Evidence lives in a local DB on the machine — not rented chat history that can vanish. Threads never compact (verbatim). Context browser when I need to inspect. Desktop agent. BYOK keys we never see.

Almost pasted an API key into the agent chat again. Stopped. That's what the OS credential manager is for. BYOK — Anthropic, OpenRouter, Fireworks, local, whatever endpoint. Keys stay on the machine. We never see them. Local DB. Threads never compact.

Shell dump ate half the window before I noticed. I don't need a bigger context window. I need to see what's in it. Context browser — inspect what's loaded, pin what still matters, trim the junk tool output. Local DB. Threads never compact. BYOK keys stay in the OS credential manager (we never see them).

Left it unsupervised overnight. Woke up to a PR I wouldn't merge. Fire-and-forget coding agents still scare me. I want Analyst + Code — pause mid-response when it starts guessing, steer the plan, then let it go again. (Not an 8hr hope-and-pray.) Desktop agent. Local DB. Threads never compact. BYOK or bring my OpenAI/Grok sub.

Tokens burned out before the work was done. I'd rather see the spend meter while the agent is still typing — so I can pause mid-response when the burn looks wrong — than cancel a plan after the invoice. Desktop agent. BYOK or bring my OpenAI/Grok sub. Session spend on screen. Keys in the OS vault.

Compaction just dropped the one detail that mattered. I’d rather keep the full thread on a local desktop agent — never compact — and browse/pin/trim context myself. Bring my OpenAI/Grok sub or BYOK. Session spend visible. Pause mid-response when it loops.

Woke up to another usage wall. I'd rather bring my own OpenAI / Grok sub (or BYOK) on a desktop agent than babysit opaque five-hour and weekly bars first thing.

I don't want to find out what the agent cost after the run. I want the meter on while I work — session spend I can see mid-prompt, not a surprise invoice when the quota is already gone.

I don't want my coding agent living in a rented sandbox. Run it on my machine — local DB, keys in the OS credential manager (Manna never sees them), threads that never compact. Finite window, but the box is mine.

I don't want the agent deciding what to forget for me. Context browser: inspect what's in the window, pin the schema, trim the noise. History stays — we never compact it away. Finite window, but I steer what stays in it (desktop agent, local DB).

Context windows are still finite. Pretend otherwise and you lose the schema mid-refactor and invent a DROP TABLE. We keep the thread inspectable — pin/trim what matters, never compact the history away. Desktop coding agent on your machine; local DB; you stay on the budget.

Permission boundary mid-run is the real test. Opaque tool error = black box. Explain what's missing, keep the progress, pause before the irreversible write. Desktop coding agent on your machine — inspect the path, keys stay in the OS credential manager (Manna never sees them).

Plan mode isn't dead — black-box plans are. Still want the outline before it burns tokens. Pin it. Inspect it. Pause mid-response when it starts freelancing. Desktop coding agent on your machine — thread never compact, you stay on the plan.

Don't ship an overnight fire-and-forget and call it done. Steer mid-run. Read the diffs. Pause when the path goes weird. Desktop coding agent on your machine — you stay in the loop.

Bring the SuperGrok or OpenAI sub you already have. No second credits tab. (Eligible X Premium+ / Grok works too.) Or BYOK — keys in the OS credential manager, Manna never sees them. Desktop coding agent. Your sub. Your machine.