Pane is a desktop agent manager for developers who want terminal agents running alongside their IDE workflow. Keep Cline in VS Code. Add Claude Code, Aider, Goose, or any other CLI agent in Pane — each on its own branch, each with its own review loop.
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
Cline is a VS Code (and JetBrains) sidebar agent with around 62,000 GitHub stars and over 4 million installs — the largest install base among the agents covered here. Its official site is cline.bot. It is bring-your-own-key and supports most major model providers.
Cline is known for its Plan/Act workflow: you approve the plan before the agent executes, which makes it approachable for developers who want review-before-execute semantics. The source is at cline/cline on GitHub.
I keep Cline open in VS Code for editor-aware, review-gated edits and run terminal agents in Pane for parallel work that doesn't fit the IDE — each on its own branch so neither session touches the other's state.
cline handles the editor. pane handles the terminal.
Cline is tightly integrated with VS Code — it reads your open files, uses VS Code terminals, and works within the IDE context. Terminal agents like Claude Code, Aider, and Goose operate at the shell level. Pane is the workspace for those terminal agents: named sessions, worktree isolation, and diff review without leaving the terminal environment.
worktrees keep the branches isolated
Git worktrees let you check out different branches into different directories at the same time. Pane uses worktrees so each terminal agent session gets its own clean checkout — no shared dirty state, no accidental cross-branch commits. If you have been running everything in one VS Code workspace, worktrees are the concept that makes parallel agent work tractable.
what pane does
- starts each terminal agent in an isolated worktree
- runs Claude Code, Aider, Goose, or any CLI agent in parallel
- keeps terminal output, diffs, and git actions together in one workspace
- works natively on Windows, Mac, and Linux without tmux or WSL
when vs code alone is enough
If Cline in VS Code handles everything you need, you do not need Pane. Pane is useful when you want to run terminal agents in parallel alongside Cline, or when the task at hand is better suited to a CLI agent on its own branch than to an editor-integrated agent in your current workspace.
Last verified against Cline's current release. Written by Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane.
frequently asked questions
Cline lives inside VS Code and works on your current working directory. Pane runs terminal agents — Claude Code, Aider, Goose, or others — alongside Cline, each on a separate branch via git worktrees. Pane is the layer for the terminal side of your workflow: where CLI agents run and where their diffs get reviewed.
No. Keep Cline in VS Code. Use Pane for terminal agents you want to run in parallel. Many developers use Cline for interactive, editor-integrated work and run autonomous terminal agents in Pane for heavier or parallel tasks.
Yes, if they are on separate branches. Pane uses git worktrees to give each terminal agent its own isolated checkout. Cline, operating in VS Code on the main working tree, can coexist with a Claude Code session in Pane on a feature branch.
Cline Plan mode is for designing the approach; Act mode is for executing it. In a Pane workflow, planning often happens in VS Code while execution runs as a Claude Code or Aider session in a Pane terminal — on a separate branch, so the changes are isolated until you decide to merge.
No. Keep VS Code, Cursor, or whatever editor you use with Cline. Pane is where terminal agents run and where their diffs get reviewed. The two tools operate in different layers of the workflow.
Yes. Pane lets you run Claude Code, Aider, Goose, and other CLI agents in parallel sessions. Each gets its own worktree. You can switch between them, check their output, and review diffs — all without touching the Cline session in VS Code.
A git worktree is an additional working directory linked to the same repository. It lets you check out a different branch without losing your current work. Pane uses worktrees to isolate each terminal agent session — one agent per branch, no dirty state bleed-through. If you have only used VS Code and Cline, worktrees may be new; they are how you safely run multiple agents on one repo.
If Cline in VS Code covers everything you need, you do not need Pane. Pane adds value when you want to run terminal-side agents alongside Cline, or when you want multiple parallel sessions on separate branches with structured diff review.
Yes. Pane is a native Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop app. You do not need WSL or tmux. If you are already running Cline on Windows in VS Code, Pane runs terminal agents on the same machine natively.
No. Pane does not require tmux. That matters on Windows, where tmux usually means WSL. Pane provides the session and worktree management that tmux-based setups handle on macOS or Linux, without the platform dependency.
You already have VS Code and Cline. Install git if you have not already, install the CLI agent you want to run in Pane (Claude Code, Aider, Goose, etc.), then install Pane. Pane does not bundle or resell any agent subscription.
