---
title: "AI Pentesting Agents: Setup Guides for Seven Tools"
canonical: https://pentestllm.ai/agents
generated: 2026-11-11T18:03:02.895Z
source: https://pentestllm.ai/agents
base_url: https://api.pentestllm.ai/v1
---

![Patch cables in a network switch](https://pentestllm.ai/img/cables.webp)

## The three values every guide uses

- Base URL: `https://api.pentestllm.ai/v1` for OpenAI-format clients. Anthropic-format clients such as Claude Code take `https://api.pentestllm.ai` and add the path themselves.
- Key: Created in the console, shown once, prefixed `sk-ptl-`. Sent as a bearer token, or in `x-api-key` by Anthropic-format clients.
- Model id: `auto/security` for the router, or the id of one build from the [models page](https://pentestllm.ai/models), such as `gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-cybersecurity`.

Before opening any agent, list the models your key can call. If this works, every guide below is a matter of typing the same values into a different place.

shell

```
curl https://api.pentestllm.ai/v1/models -H "Authorization: Bearer sk-ptl-live-…"
```

## Seven guides

- OpenCode: A terminal agent. One provider block in `opencode.jsonc`; takes the endpoint directly.
- Claude Code: Anthropic’s terminal agent. Two environment variables point it at the Messages endpoint.
- Cursor: An editor. An OpenAI key and a base URL override in its Models settings, with limits worth knowing.
- Cline: An editor extension. The OpenAI Compatible provider with three fields.
- Aider: A terminal pair programmer. Two environment variables or a YAML file.
- Kali MCP: The Kali project’s MCP package, which lets an agent run tools on a Kali machine you control.
- PentestGPT: The open-source pentest assistant. Its interactive mode takes an OpenAI base URL.

## Which agent to pick

If you have no preference, start with OpenCode. It takes a custom OpenAI-compatible provider in one file, it lets you alias the router id, and its permission rules decide which actions need your approval. Claude Code is the choice if you already know it and want the same agent on a different model; read the caveat in its guide first.

Editor users choose between Cline, which treats a custom endpoint as a first-class provider, and Cursor, where the base URL override is global and has side effects. Aider suits people who want a small tool that edits files and commits. The Kali MCP guide is not an agent but an addition to one: it gives whichever agent you chose a way to run commands on Kali.

## What the router does for an agent

An agent sends many requests of very different sizes: a one-line plan, then a turn carrying forty thousand tokens of files and tool output. The id `auto/security` places each one. Tools together with code, or a reasoning request, go to the frontier tier; tools, code blocks or a long prompt go to the balanced tier; the rest go to the fast tier. Each request is billed at the price of the build that answered, and the response names it.

Agents that send an `x-session-id` header keep one build for the session for 30 minutes after the last request. If your client pins a model name you cannot edit, a key with its auto router option set to `auto/security` routes every chat request that way whatever name the client sends. The [router page](https://pentestllm.ai/auto-router) has the detail.

## Approval, scope and logs

An agent on a security model will propose real commands. Keep the approval prompt on for shell and network actions, give the agent the engagement scope in its instructions, and keep its transcript with your engagement notes. The models answer security questions other models decline; they do not know what you are authorized to touch unless you tell them.

PentestLLM is for systems you own or have written permission to test. The [acceptable use policy](https://pentestllm.ai/acceptable-use) applies to requests your agents send as much as to ones you type.

## 9 security builds, priced per token

Read from the live catalog on 2026-11-11. Prices are US dollars per million tokens, paid from a prepaid balance that starts at $10. The id `auto/security` has no price of its own: each request is billed at the build that answered.

| Build | Input | Output | Context |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Qwen3.8 27B Cybersecurity](https://pentestllm.ai/models/qwen3.8-27b-cybersecurity) | $0.40 | $2.40 | 262,144 |
| [Gemma 4 26B A4B Cybersecurity](https://pentestllm.ai/models/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-cybersecurity) | $0.4224 | $1.3376 | 262,144 |
| [GLM-5.3 Flash Cybersecurity](https://pentestllm.ai/models/glm-5.3-flash-cybersecurity) | $0.5093 | $1.6975 | 1,048,576 |
| [Red Team (Flash)](https://pentestllm.ai/models/uplink-red-team-flash) | $0.90 | $3.00 | not published |
| [Red Team (Pro)](https://pentestllm.ai/models/uplink-red-team-pro) | $1.50 | $6.00 | not published |
| [OrcaCyber MiniMax M3.1 Flash](https://pentestllm.ai/models/minimax-m3.1-flash-cybersecurity) | $2.00 | $4.00 | 261,632 |
| [OrcaCyber Qwen3.8 Flash Next](https://pentestllm.ai/models/orcacyber-qwen3.8-flash-next) | $2.00 | $4.00 | 261,632 |
| [Cyber Frontier](https://pentestllm.ai/models/cyber-frontier) | $5.25 | $15.75 | 1,048,576 |
| [OrcaCyber Zero 1.5](https://pentestllm.ai/models/orca-zero-1.5-cybersecurity) | $7.50 | $18.75 | 999,488 |

[Full price list and tool fees](https://pentestllm.ai/pricing) · [Every model](https://pentestllm.ai/models) · [API docs](https://pentestllm.ai/docs)

## Questions

- Any client that takes an OpenAI-compatible base URL or speaks the Anthropic Messages format. There are step-by-step guides for OpenCode, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, aider, the Kali MCP server and PentestGPT.
- OpenAI-format clients use https://api.pentestllm.ai/v1. Anthropic-format clients such as Claude Code use https://api.pentestllm.ai and add /v1/messages themselves.
- Send auto/security to let the router pick a security build per request, or the id of a single build from the models page if you want every turn on the same model.
- Agents need a build that takes tool calls. Each model page lists the request parameters the build supports, and the router only picks builds that can take what the request carries.
- Agents re-send long context, so input tokens are most of the bill. On 2026-11-11 input prices for security builds start at $0.40 per million tokens, and the balance is prepaid from $10.
- Only with approval on and a clear scope. Review each proposed command before it runs against a target, and test only systems you own or have written permission to test.

## Read next

- [OpenCode The opencode.json provider block for the security builds.](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/opencode)
- [Claude Code Two environment variables point Claude Code at the Messages endpoint.](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/claude-code)
- [Kali MCP mcp-kali-server on Kali, driven by a security build through an MCP client.](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/kali-mcp)
- [Cybersecurity LLM API The API itself: endpoints, the auto/security router, server tools and per-token prices.](https://pentestllm.ai/cybersecurity-llm-api)

## One key, from $10

PentestLLM is for systems you own or have written permission to test. The [acceptable use policy](https://pentestllm.ai/acceptable-use) says what is not allowed.

[Get a key](https://app.pentestllm.ai/console)

usage, 1,000 agent turns on Qwen3.8 27B Cybersecurity

- Input, 8,000 tokens at $0.40 per million: $0.0032
- Output, 1,000 tokens at $2.40 per million: $0.0024
- One turn: $0.0056
- 1,000 turns: $5.60

output price per million tokens, 9 builds

$1.3376 Gemma 4 26B A4B Cybersecurity OrcaCyber Zero 1.5 $18.75