cmux is built on Ghostty's terminal rendering engine and Swift/AppKit for its UI — both of which are macOS-specific. It ships exclusively as a Homebrew cask, so there is no Windows installer and no path to get cmux running on Windows. If you want the same worktree-backed parallel agent workflow on Windows, Pane is the direct alternative: native Windows installer, ARM64 support, and WSL-aware worktrees out of the box.
By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. Tested every agent manager in this comparison set in production. .
why cmux doesn't work on windows
cmux relies on two technologies that are incompatible with Windows. First, its UI layer is written in Swift and uses AppKit — Apple's proprietary windowing framework. AppKit does not exist on Windows; there is no port and no compatibility layer. Second, cmux integrates with Ghostty for terminal rendering. While Ghostty itself supports Linux, cmux's specific integration targets macOS and is distributed as a Homebrew cask, a package manager that runs only on macOS (and optionally Linux).
The result is straightforward: if you open cmux's repository and look for a Windows release, there is none. No .exe installer, no WinGet package, no Scoop formula. Windows users have no supported path to run cmux.
pane on windows
Pane
cmux
Windows x64
yes — native installer
no
Windows ARM64
yes — separate ARM64 build
no
WSL-aware worktrees
yes
no
requires Ghostty
no (built-in terminal)
yes (macOS only)
install method
.exe installer or PowerShell script
Homebrew cask (macOS only)
worktree-backed sessions
yes
yes (macOS only)
parallel agent sessions
yes
yes (macOS only)
open source
yes (AGPL-3.0)
yes (MIT)
how to install pane on windows
The fastest path is the PowerShell one-liner:
irm https://runpane.com/install.ps1 | iex
Alternatively, download the Windows installer (.exe) directly. After installation, launch Pane from the Start menu or run pane from any terminal. No Homebrew, no Ghostty, no Unix toolchain required.
For ARM64 devices (Surface Pro X, Snapdragon laptops), select the ARM64 build from the download page. It runs natively — not under emulation.
the workflow carries over from cmux
cmux and Pane share the same fundamental model: each agent session gets its own git worktree so agents work in isolation and you can run many in parallel without conflicts. If you have used cmux on a Mac, the mental model in Pane is the same — the differences are in the details:
→ No external terminal needed. cmux wraps Ghostty. Pane has its own built-in terminal emulator — there is nothing extra to install or configure.
→ WSL repos are accessible. If your code lives inside WSL, Pane resolves the path and creates worktrees correctly. You do not need to clone outside WSL.
→ Any agent works. Point Pane at Claude Code, Codex, Aider, Goose, or any other CLI agent you already use.
→ ARM64 native. On Snapdragon laptops and Surface Pro X, Pane runs natively without emulation overhead.
No. cmux is built on Ghostty for terminal rendering and Swift/AppKit for its UI layer. AppKit is Apple's proprietary UI framework and does not exist on Windows. cmux distributes exclusively as a Homebrew cask, which is macOS-only. There is no Windows installer, no cross-compilation path, and no announced Windows support.
cmux's architecture depends on two macOS-specific technologies: Ghostty (a GPU-accelerated terminal emulator that supports macOS and Linux, but whose integration with cmux's Swift codebase targets macOS) and AppKit (Apple's native UI framework that has no Windows equivalent). Porting cmux to Windows would require replacing both the terminal rendering layer and the entire UI framework.
Both Pane and cmux provide worktree-backed parallel agent sessions — the core workflow is the same. The key difference is platform coverage. cmux runs on macOS only. Pane runs on macOS, Windows (x64 + ARM64), and Linux. Pane also includes its own terminal emulator and does not require Ghostty or any external terminal as a dependency.
Yes. Pane ships separate builds for Windows x64 and Windows ARM64. Both are fully supported and tested — not experimental builds. On Snapdragon laptops and Surface Pro X devices, Pane runs natively without x64 emulation.
Git worktrees work on NTFS the same way they do on HFS+ or ext4 — each worktree is a separate checkout of your repository in its own directory, sharing the same .git object store. Pane provisions a new worktree automatically when you create a pane and cleans it up when you delete it. NTFS has no special worktree limitations; the main practical difference on Windows is path length, and Pane accounts for this by keeping worktree paths short.
No. Pane runs as a native Windows application and does not require WSL. If your code already lives inside WSL, Pane is WSL-aware and handles the path translation so worktrees are created correctly across the boundary. You can work with repos in native Windows paths, inside WSL, or both — Pane handles either case without extra configuration.
Pane works with any CLI-based coding agent. Supported agents include Claude Code, Codex, Aider, OpenCode, Goose, Letta Code, and Cline — all of which run on Windows. Because Pane manages the worktree lifecycle and terminal session, you can run multiple different agents in parallel across separate panes on the same repository.
Run the PowerShell one-liner: `irm https://runpane.com/install.ps1 | iex`. Alternatively, download the .exe installer directly from runpane.com. No Homebrew, no Ghostty, no Unix toolchain required. After installation, launch Pane from the Start menu or run `pane` from any terminal.
Pane includes its own built-in terminal emulator on Windows. You do not need to install or configure Ghostty, Windows Terminal, or any other terminal application. This is a key difference from cmux, which wraps Ghostty's rendering engine and is therefore macOS-only. On Windows, Pane's terminal works out of the box with no additional dependencies.
The mental model carries over directly: both tools give each agent session its own isolated context, and you run multiple sessions in parallel. The main difference is that Pane automates the worktree lifecycle — you do not need to run `git worktree add` and `git worktree remove` manually. cmux.json custom commands can be re-created as shell aliases in your PowerShell profile or WSL shell config. There is no automated import tool; the migration is a one-time manual setup.
Yes. Pane manages session state at the application level, so your panes and their associated worktrees survive a restart. This is different from cmux, which saves layouts and scrollback but does not restore live processes — a running agent is lost when cmux closes. In Pane, the worktree and session metadata persist so you can resume where you left off.
Yes. Pane is licensed under AGPL-3.0, an OSI-approved copyleft license. The source is publicly available and auditable. There is no paid commercial license required — AGPL-3.0 covers all use cases including commercial use. This differs from cmux, which uses GPL-3.0 with a separate commercial license option for teams that cannot use GPL.
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
