We built a coding harness that beats frontier models using open ones. It's in open beta.

Here is the bet we made: build software memory-first, not model-first , and it will outperform. Everyone else is racing to wrap the next model. We did the opposite. We built the memory layer first, the routing first, tool-calling, now the recursive engine, then let the model be a swappable part. Today that bet has a name: Backboard Development Studio . It starts with the R-CLI , a coding harness now in open beta. The headline result? It beats frontier models using open ones. Keep reading, the numbers are below and there is a promo code at the bottom. Test it. The beta is open. Two lines and you are running. # macOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://app.backboard.io/api/cli | bash # Windows (PowerShell) irm https://app.backboard.io/api/cli/windows | iex Get your API key: https://app.backboard.io Promo code: DEVTOCLI for credit toward inference while you put it through its paces. Find the Promo submit in the top right corner of the billing page. The hypothesis, stated plainly Model-first thinking says: pick the smartest model, prompt it well, hope it remembers. Memory-first thinking says: give the system real persistence, real routing, real recall, and a "smaller" model will outwork a "smarter" one that forgets everything between turns. We believed the second one. So we built it. The R-CLI is powered by our memory algorithms (the same ones that rank #1 on LoCoMo and LongMemEval ) and runs on Backboard's unified API: memory, routing across 17,000+ models , RAG, and stateful threads behind one key. Then we tested it in public. That part did not go quietly. The numbers we're getting on internal test runs this week 92% on Terminal Bench 2.1 running Codex 5.5 70% on Terminal Bench 2.1 running GLM 5.1 , an open-source model Up to 30% fewer tokens and up to 90% lower cost than the closed harnesses 0% of your code used to train anyone's model <-- Please read the T's & C's of your fav harnesses... Read that second line again. An open model, inside our harness, posting numbers that go