Four comparisons
Compare the architecture, not the company.
Product names change; the questions stay. Where does the code sit while the agent works? What can it reach? What comes back? Each page answers them for one approach, and says plainly what that approach does better.
For developers and teams
Cloud coding agents
Whose computer is your code on while the agent works?
A cloud runner works on a copy of the repository, on infrastructure it manages. PRCHD drives the agent in your real checkout, on your computer, with the tools already set up there.
Where it is betterIt starts with nothing prepared, works on a repository you have never checked out, and runs more at once than one computer can hold.
For the team
A Slack bot wired to an LLM
Where does the answer in the thread come from?
A bot wired to an LLM answers from documents. PRCHD answers from the working tree at a commit it names — it can run the tests first, and leave a branch behind.
Where it is betterIt answers about the whole company rather than one project, it replies in seconds, and it needs no computer kept awake.
For the team
CI automation
What runs when the question isn’t a script?
CI runs deterministic scripts on a commit. PRCHD runs judgement work on a question. The two compose, and the pipeline stays exactly where it is.
Where it is betterDeterminism, and the authority that comes with it: the same commit gives the same result on every branch, and that result can block a merge.
For the team
A codebase index
What happens after the search finds the file?
An index is a copy of the code as of its last crawl, built to find things fast. PRCHD’s agent works in the checkout itself, with a shell, a browser, and the team’s other systems.
Where it is betterSpeed and breadth — an answer in milliseconds, across every repository at once, from hardware nobody has to keep awake.
One computer you own. Two ways to reach it.
A phone over your tailnet for the developer, or a Slack channel bound to a project for the team. Either way, the agent works in the real checkout on that computer.