cmux has no Linux build. It is distributed as a Homebrew cask and built on Swift/AppKit — Apple's UI framework that does not exist on Linux. Ghostty, which cmux uses for terminal rendering, does support Linux, but cmux's own UI layer makes a Linux port structurally impossible without a full rewrite. If you want the worktree-per-agent workflow on Linux, Pane ships a native Linux AppImage and .deb package with the same core capabilities and no external terminal dependency.
By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. Tested every agent manager in this comparison set in production. .
why cmux doesn't work on linux
cmux's architecture has two macOS-specific dependencies. The first is Ghostty: cmux uses it as its terminal rendering engine, and while Ghostty itself runs on both macOS and Linux, cmux's integration with it is written in Swift and targets macOS. The second — and more fundamental — dependency is AppKit, Apple's native windowing framework. AppKit is macOS-only. Swift can compile on Linux, but the AppKit calls in cmux's codebase have no Linux equivalent.
cmux distributes via Homebrew as a cask — a macOS-native package format. There is no Flatpak, no AppImage, no .deb, and no .rpm in cmux's release artifacts. A Linux user who installs Ghostty and looks for cmux to pair with it will find nothing to install.
→ AppImage — download, run chmod +x pane.AppImage, then execute. No root needed, works on any distribution including Ubuntu 20.04+, Fedora, Arch, and openSUSE.
→ .deb package — install with sudo dpkg -i pane.deb on Debian, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Linux Mint, and derivatives.
Pane does not require Ghostty, tmux, Homebrew, or any external terminal emulator. It bundles its own terminal engine. The only prerequisite is git, which is already present on virtually every Linux development machine.
No. cmux is distributed exclusively as a Homebrew cask and its UI layer is written in Swift with AppKit — Apple's windowing framework that does not exist on Linux. While Ghostty itself supports Linux, cmux's integration is macOS-specific. There is no Linux build, no Flatpak, no AppImage, and no announced plans for Linux support.
Ghostty runs on Linux, but cmux cannot. cmux's dependency on Ghostty is only one part of the picture — its Swift/AppKit UI layer is the bigger blocker, and AppKit has no Linux equivalent. Even with Ghostty installed on Linux, you cannot run cmux. Pane includes its own terminal emulator and has no dependency on Ghostty at all.
Pane ships two Linux formats: an AppImage (works on any distribution without installation) and a .deb package (for Debian, Ubuntu, and derivatives). Download either from runpane.com/docs/download or run: curl -fsSL https://runpane.com/install.sh | sh. The only prerequisite is git.
No. Pane is a native desktop application that manages terminal sessions internally using its own built-in terminal emulator. You do not need tmux, screen, Ghostty, or any external terminal multiplexer. Pane handles session persistence and switching itself.
The workflow is identical across platforms. When you create a new pane, Pane automatically provisions a git worktree on a fresh branch — no manual `git worktree add` needed. When you delete the pane, the worktree is cleaned up. cmux on macOS leaves worktree management to you; Pane automates it on Linux, macOS, and Windows alike.
Pane supports Claude Code, Codex, Aider, OpenCode, Goose, Letta Code, and Cline on Linux. Each agent runs inside Pane's built-in terminal emulator within its own isolated worktree. cmux only targets Claude Code and is macOS-only, so none of these agents can use cmux on Linux regardless of which one you prefer.
Yes. Pane is distributed as an AppImage and .deb and runs under both X11 and Wayland display servers. It has been tested on Ubuntu 22.04+ with GNOME/Wayland and on Fedora with Wayland. If you run a tiling compositor like Sway or Hyprland, Pane behaves as a standard desktop window.
Pane is a desktop application and requires a display server — X11 or Wayland — to render its UI. It is not designed for headless or SSH-only Linux environments. For remote Linux machines, the typical workflow is to run Pane on your local Linux desktop and point agents at a remote repository, or use X11 forwarding if you need the full GUI over SSH.
Yes. Pane is licensed under AGPL-3.0, an OSI-approved copyleft license. The source is publicly available and there is no paid commercial license required for any use case. The AGPL-3.0 license applies uniformly across Linux, macOS, and Windows builds.
Pane is a desktop Electron-style application, so its memory footprint is larger than a bare tmux session — typically 150–300 MB resident. The trade-off is that Pane replaces the manual worktree, diff review, and commit steps with keyboard shortcuts, which saves significant time when running multiple parallel agents. If you need the absolute minimum memory overhead, bare tmux with Claude Code is lighter; if you need structured multi-agent orchestration, Pane's overhead is justified.
Yes. Running parallel agents is Pane's primary use case. Each agent gets its own worktree-backed pane, its own terminal session, and its own branch. Pane surfaces desktop notifications when any agent needs input, so you can monitor several agents concurrently without watching each terminal. This is the same on Linux as on macOS — cmux offers parallel workspaces too, but only on macOS.
Windows SmartScreen warningDirect downloads can show a SmartScreen warning while Pane is unsigned. Pane is fully open source, so you can audit the code and build from source yourself.1. Click More info2. Click Run anyway3. Continue the installerThe PowerShell install downloads the official release directly and avoids most browser download friction.npm global install
