alternatives
ADE alternatives
TL;DR
ADE (Agentic Development Environment), by Arul Sharma (ade-app.dev), is a free AGPL-3.0 app that drives Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and other agents on the plans you already pay for. Every task gets a "lane", which is a git worktree on its own branch, with an editor, pull requests and history around it. Link your machines through an ADE account and you can reach them from the desktop app, the CLI, the web or an iPhone. This page covers arul28/ADE. Frame also calls itself an ADE, but it's a separate tool.
The gaps people hit: no desktop app on Linux, a phone app that's still in iOS TestFlight, and a Windows build with fewer features than the Mac one.
Pane is the most direct alternative on Linux and Windows: each agent in its real terminal and its own worktree, the same app on Windows, WSL, macOS and Linux. Orca has iOS and Android apps, Paseo reaches your agents from any device, and Kandev is a self-hosted server you can run on remote machines.
the alternatives
Each of these runs more than one coding agent at a time. The chips show where each one runs: green is native, amber has a catch, red is no.
1.Pane
Best for a desktop app on Linux too, and the same app on Windows and WSL.
ADE's lanes map straight onto Pane's panes, each a worktree on its own branch. Every agent runs in its own terminal UI, and Remote Pane lets you reach your machines without signing in to a Pane account.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
2.Orca
Best for phone apps on both iOS and Android.
An MIT desktop app for all three systems with about 40 agents, a built-in browser and SSH hosts. Its iOS and Android apps fill the gap ADE's TestFlight build leaves. It's big, at about 1 GB installed.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
3.Paseo
Best for one set of agents from desktop, web, phone or CLI, with no account.
An Apache-2.0 background service that runs on Linux as well as Mac and Windows, linked to its clients by an end-to-end encrypted relay. You don't sign up for anything to reach it remotely.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
4.Kandev
Best for a self-hosted server you reach from a browser.
An AGPL-3.0 task board with a web UI where each card moves through plan, build, review and PR with its own agent. It runs on Docker, SSH or Kubernetes, and needs no account. For WSL it's a separate install inside WSL.
WindowsWSLmacOSLinux
which one should you pick?
stay with ADE if
- → you want lanes, PR review with auto-merge, an editor and a browser together in one free app
- → you split work between a Mac and a Windows PC and want one chat that reaches both
- → you mix providers, including your own OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible endpoints
- → you're mainly on a Mac, where ADE has every feature
pick pane if
- → your desktop runs Linux
- → you want the same panes, worktrees and git shortcuts on Windows and WSL as on your Mac
- → you want to add any agent CLI as a custom command, each in its own terminal
- → you want to reach your agents remotely with no Pane account, over Tailscale, SSH or your own HTTPS
pane vs ADE at a glance
yespartly, or with a catchno
| pane10 yes · 1 partly · 0 no | ADE5 yes · 5 partly · 0 no | |
|---|---|---|
| basics | ||
| what it is | a desktop app | a desktop app with web, iPhone and CLI clients |
| platforms | ||
| Windows | yes, native (x64 and ARM64) | yes, x64, with fewer features than the Mac |
| repos inside WSL | yes, in the same app | not documented; not a supported remote target |
| macOS | yes | yes, macOS 13 or later |
| Linux | yes (AppImage, .deb) | no desktop app; headless Brain and CLI |
| agents | ||
| agents | any CLI | 13 listed runtimes, plus custom model endpoints |
| everyday work | ||
| worktree per task | yes, by default | yes, a "lane" per task |
| review and git | Changes panel, commit, push, merge | diffs, staging, PRs with CI status and auto-merge |
| remote and teams | ||
| other machines | Remote Pane host on your own machine or server | machines linked through your ADE account |
| phone | Remote Pane in a phone browser | iPhone on TestFlight; no Android yet |
| safety and setup | ||
| license | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| account needed | no | no for one machine; yes to reach others |
basics
what it is
pane
ADE
a desktop app with web, iPhone and CLI clientsplatforms
Windows
pane
ADE
yes, x64, with fewer features than the Macrepos inside WSL
pane
ADE
not documented; not a supported remote targetmacOS
pane
ADE
yes, macOS 13 or laterLinux
pane
ADE
no desktop app; headless Brain and CLIagents
agents
pane
ADE
13 listed runtimes, plus custom model endpointseveryday work
worktree per task
pane
ADE
yes, a "lane" per taskreview and git
pane
ADE
diffs, staging, PRs with CI status and auto-mergeremote and teams
other machines
pane
ADE
machines linked through your ADE accountphone
pane
ADE
iPhone on TestFlight; no Android yetsafety and setup
license
pane
ADE
AGPL-3.0account needed
pane
ADE
no for one machine; yes to reach othersADE facts checked on November 5, 2026 (ADE v1.2.128); Pane facts from Pane v2.4.157, with its agent presets rechecked on v2.4.214.
why people look for an ADE alternative
Linux gets no desktop app, phones get only an iOS beta, and Windows trails the Mac.
ADE's desktop app is for macOS and Windows. On Linux you get the ade CLI and the "Brain", a background service with no window, and you drive them from another client such as the web app. The iPhone app is on TestFlight. The README lists the App Store and Android as coming soon.
ADE's Windows docs list what's missing there: native computer use, the iOS simulator and the Claude Code sandbox, and Claude Code restarts on every follow-up. Issue #1382, where a second Windows logon starts a second Brain, was still open on November 5, 2026. Users have also reported a hang on open (#176), a CLI that crashed on launch (#1090) and a UI they couldn't read (#1824). All three are closed.
moving from ADE to pane
Each lane becomes a pane, and your agents keep their logins.
An ADE lane and a Pane pane are the same idea: one task on its own worktree and branch. Open the repo in Pane and create a pane where you'd have opened a lane. Pane copies your .env and agent config files into it. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Cursor are one-click presets (Cursor on macOS, Linux and WSL), and Pi or any other CLI runs as a custom command, signed in with your own subscription.
In Pane every agent runs in its real terminal UI, and status dots and notifications tell you when one needs you. Pane doesn't create pull requests: you commit, push and merge from the Changes panel. For ADE's linked machines, run Remote Pane's host on your own server and connect from the desktop app or a phone browser, with no Pane account. That phone access is a browser app, so if you want native iOS and Android apps, Orca has both.
our verdict
ADE covers a lot for a free app: worktree lanes, PRs with auto-merge, multi-model chats and one chat across machines. If you're on Linux, or Windows and WSL matter as much as your Mac, Pane is the most direct alternative. Orca for phone apps on both platforms. Paseo for reaching agents from anywhere without an account. Kandev for a self-hosted board on your own servers.
how we checked
Our ADE facts come from its README, docs, changelog, GitHub releases and issue tracker, read on November 5, 2026. No hands-on test: we didn't install ADE.
For Orca, Paseo and Kandev we used their own docs, releases and issue trackers, researched on October 3, 2026 and rechecked on October 4.
- What we ran
- → Desk research: ADE's README, docs, releases, changelog and issue tracker, checked November 5, 2026. We didn't install or run it.
- Who wrote this
- We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We checked every claim about ADE against its own site, docs, releases and issues on the dates above.
- Corrections
- If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and update the date at the top. Open an issue on GitHub
- Sources
frequently asked questions
By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .