Goose vs Warp | agentconfig.ing

Goose vs WarpComparisonUpdated 2026-03-16

SUMMARY

Goose (CLI) uses text configuration while Warp (Terminal) uses markdown. They differ on 4 of 11 compared features. Both tools provide AI-assisted development but take different approaches to project configuration.

FEATURE COMPARISON

Feature	Goose	Warp	Notes
Config format	text	markdown
Hierarchy support	✓	✓	Whether config files can be placed at multiple directory levels
Global config	✓	✗	User-wide configuration outside any project
Project config	✓	✓
Subdirectory scoping	✗	✓	Config files in subdirectories that apply only to that subtree
File inclusion / imports	✗	✗	Ability to include or reference other files from config
Ignore file	✗	✗
IDE integration	CLI	Terminal
Schema / structure	Free-form (Markdown)	Free-form (Markdown)	Whether config uses structured schema or free-form content
Git committed	✓	✓	Whether primary config files are intended to be version-controlled
Encoding	UTF-8	UTF-8

FILE MAPPING

Purpose	Goose	Warp
Project instructions	.goosehints	AGENTS.md
Project instructions	AGENTS.md	WARP.md

SIDE-BY-SIDE CODE SAMPLES

Goose

.goosehints

text

This is a Ruby on Rails 7.2 application with Hotwire/Turbo.

Database: PostgreSQL 16
Ruby version: 3.3.x
Node: 22.x (for asset pipeline)

Key commands:
- bin/rails server — start dev server
- bin/rails test — run test suite
- bin/rails db:migrate — run migrations

Conventions:
- Use ViewComponents for reusable UI
- Stimulus controllers for JS behavior
- System tests with Capybara + Playwright
- RuboCop for linting (run: bundle exec rubocop)

Warp

AGENTS.md

markdown

# Project Rules

## Stack
- Go 1.23 with Chi router
- PostgreSQL 16 with pgx driver
- Redis for caching and rate limiting

## Commands
- make dev — Start with hot reload (air)
- make test — Run go test ./...
- make lint — Run golangci-lint
- make migrate — Run goose migrations

## Conventions
- Use context.Context as first param in all functions
- Structured logging with slog
- Errors wrap with fmt.Errorf("funcName: %w", err)
- Table-driven tests with t.Run subtests

KEY DIFFERENCES

1. Config format

Goose: text. Warp: markdown.

2. Global config

Goose: Supported. Warp: Not supported.

3. Subdirectory scoping

Goose: Not supported. Warp: Supported.

4. IDE integration

Goose: CLI. Warp: Terminal.

WHICH SHOULD I USE?

Recommendation

Choose based on your IDE/CLI preference. If you use Goose, configure config.yaml. If you use Warp, configure AGENTS.md. Many projects include config files for multiple tools so each team member can use their preferred editor.

PORTABILITY TIP

sync-instructions.sh

bash

# Maintain a single source of truth:
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md CLAUDE.md
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md .cursorrules
cp AI-INSTRUCTIONS.md AGENTS.md