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CODING AGENT / DEV TOOL · WORTH A LOOK

Reason

Cloud coding agent from YC startup Reason Machines: it works in your GitHub repos on its own cloud computer and opens pull requests, running on your own ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Copilot plan or on Reason credits.

Visit reasonmachines.com ↗@reasonmachines on X ↗

What Reason does

Reason is a coding agent from Reason Machines, a two-person San Francisco startup in Y Combinator's P26 batch (founders Adi Singh and Sven Myhre; it was previously called Ara). You connect GitHub and give it a task in the web app, the Mac app, Slack, its API or over MCP. Each session gets its own cloud computer: Reason works on a branch, runs the tests and opens a pull request for you to review. It keeps memory between sessions and can run standing jobs ("Loops") on a schedule or on GitHub, webhook or Slack events. You can connect plans you already pay for (ChatGPT Plus, Pro or Business; Claude Pro or Max; SuperGrok or X Premium+; GitHub Copilot) or API keys and pick the model per task. When one account hits its limit, Reason moves the work to your next connected account and then to Reason credits. It also offers a free "Reason Network" that lets agents such as Grok Bot, Claude Code and Codex message each other, and an MCP server that Grok Bot can use to hand coding work to Reason.

Good for

  • Handing bug fixes and small features to an agent that opens pull requests
  • Spreading coding work across several AI subscriptions you already pay for
  • Letting Grok Bot hand heavy coding work to a separate agent

Try this in 10 minutes

    Honest take

    No red flags in our notes so far

    • Not unlimited. Your own subscriptions keep their limits, and Reason's plans have weekly credit allowances. When everything runs out, you pay for credits.
    • Connecting a Claude Pro or Max plan to a third-party app is something Anthropic's published Claude Code terms say it doesn't permit, and Anthropic says it may enforce this without notice. Reason doesn't explain how it stays within those terms. Using an Anthropic API key is the safe route.
    • Very young company (two founders, launched in 2026). It runs your code on its cloud machines with access to the repos you grant, so check its security and data terms before using it on client code.
    • Its site calls the engine open source in places, but its own comparison pages say it isn't, and the public GitHub repo holds docs and benchmarks, not the agent.

    Our Hype or Fact? checks

    Pricing

    Pro $50 a month per person (1,250 credits a week; 3-day free trial with a card, once per person). Max $200 a month (5,000 credits a week). Enterprise on request. A credit is $0.04; top-ups from $20. Work on your own connected subscriptions or API keys is billed by that provider and keeps its limits. No free plan.

    Prices as listed by the maker when we last checked (2026-11-02); usually in US dollars. Check the website for current prices.

    Latest update

    • : Marketed on X as "Grokbot with unlimited usage", a day after Grok Bot users ran into usage limits. The post had 360,000 views by the morning of 2 Nov.
    • : Reason 1.1 released. Reason's own benchmark puts it ahead of Codex on GPT-6 Astra (65.1 against 62.5).

    Is Reason worth it? Quick answers