# Roo Code

26 Hacker News commenters recommended Roo Code and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source VS Code extension for AI coding agents, liked for agent modes, customisation and task delegation; critics say results depend heavily on the model and default prompts.

## Why people recommend it

- Works well in VS Code (5 comments): "Roo Code in VSCode was working fine a year ago, even back in November 2024 with Sonnet 3.5 or 3.7" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46905128)) "all the other plugins like Cline or Roo are working perfectly fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46985227)) "Cline + RooCode and VSCode already works really well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46349004))
- Agent modes and customisation (3 comments): "RooCode was genuinely great (those various agent modes, vs just plan/act)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47931859)) "Roo was a bit better because it offered more customisation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47935529)) "RooCode also allows you to have multiple roles" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45822155))
- Good task delegation and harness (3 comments): "roo code has a good harness for that (but terrible default prompts for the agents)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47493416)) "I find it generally "chews" the tasks I give it to then spoon feed into sub-tasks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46529815)) "as long as it has task delegation I'm happy with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47373485))
- Free, open source, bring your own key (2 comments): "allows you to use your own API key, so you pay per-token, not a fixed monthly fee" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46493386)) "Roo Code is awesome and free and open source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46029098))

## What people warn about

- Weak default prompts and instructions (2 comments): "roo code has a good harness for that (but terrible default prompts for the agents)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47493416)) "KiloCode/RooCode/Cline are unable to give a model enough helpful instructions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46206206))
- Lock-in and shift to cloud (2 comments): "RooCode essentially dumped their VSC plugins and went all in on the cloud" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49945423)) "they want to lock you in to their product" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46279113))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Hax coding agent](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hax.md): 28 recommend
- [Qwen Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qwen-code.md): 25 recommend
- [MiMo Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mimo-code.md): 24 recommend
- [GitHub Copilot Chat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-copilot-chat.md): 10 recommend
- [Mysti](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mysti.md): 10 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Roo Code", https://hackerapproved.com/p/roo-code/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).