A terminal multiplexer for coding agents. It runs inside your terminal, shows each agent's state, and keeps agents running when you close the terminal or lose SSH.

Yes. It's free and open source under Apache-2.0. A paid Herdr Cloud is on a waitlist. Pane is free too, under AGPL-3.0.

Does Herdr work on Windows?

Yes, natively since August 2026 (x64, unsigned), or run its Linux build inside WSL. Pane runs natively on Windows x64 and ARM64 and runs WSL repos inside the distro.

Does Herdr show diffs or commit?

No. You run git in a pane or use a plugin. Pane has a Changes panel, diff tabs and git buttons.

Can I use Herdr and Pane together?

Yes. Both use plain git worktrees, so you can open the same repo in each.

comparison · hands-on

Pane vs Herdr

TL;DR

Herdr is a free, open-source terminal multiplexer built for coding agents: it runs inside your terminal, shows which agent is working or waiting, keeps agents running when you close the terminal or lose SSH, and starts in half a second using about 40 MB. It has no diff viewer and no commit or pull request tools, so you review and commit with git in a pane. Pane is a desktop app around the same terminal agents, with a worktree for every feature, a diff view, git buttons and an orchestrator, natively on Windows and inside WSL as well as macOS and Linux. If you live in the terminal and want agents that never stop, Herdr is excellent; if you want review and git built in, pick Pane.

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which one should you pick?

pick herdr if

→ you live in the terminal, especially tmux or zellij
→ you want agents to keep running when you close the terminal or lose SSH
→ you work across remote machines over SSH, even from a phone
→ you want the lightest tool: about 40 MB and a half-second start
→ you like extending things with plugins

pick pane if

→ you want a worktree for every feature without thinking about it
→ you want to review diffs and commit, push and merge from the app
→ you want a desktop window with notifications, not a TUI
→ you're on Windows with repos inside WSL
→ you want an orchestrator chat that hands out work to panes

at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

	pane13 yes · 2 partly · 0 no	herdr9 yes · 4 partly · 2 no
basics
what it is	desktop app: real terminals for agents, with worktrees and git	terminal multiplexer for agents that runs inside your terminal
made by	Dcouple	Herdr, Inc. (YC F26)
license	AGPL-3.0, free	Apache-2.0, free
maturity	v2.4, releases most days	v0.9, frequent breaking changes
platforms
native Windows	yes (x64 and ARM64)	yes since August 2026 (x64, not signed)
repos inside WSL	yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro	run its Linux build inside WSL; the Windows build can't use WSL git
macOS and Linux	yes, signed installers and packages	yes, single binaries
agents
agents	any CLI; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor built in	any CLI; state for about 25 agents
agent status	working, finished and waiting dots, plus notifications	working, blocked and idle in a sidebar, with a goto picker
agents keep running	while Pane is open; Remote Pane keeps them on a host	yes: close the terminal or lose SSH and agents keep going
agents that run agents	Sessions, plus the runpane CLI and an MCP server	CLI and socket API with waits on agent state
everyday work
worktree per task	yes, on by default	yes, from a dialog or the CLI
review changes	Changes panel and diff tabs	no; run git diff in a pane, or use a plugin
commit, push, merge	buttons and shortcuts	no; run git in a pane
remote and teams
run on another machine	Remote Pane host over SSH, Tailscale or HTTPS	installs itself on SSH hosts; multi-machine sidebar
phone	iOS and Android app coming soon; browser app via Remote Pane today	any SSH app; community mobile clients
account needed	no	no

basics

what it is

pane

desktop app: real terminals for agents, with worktrees and git

herdr

terminal multiplexer for agents that runs inside your terminal

made by

pane

Dcouple

herdr

Herdr, Inc. (YC F26)

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, free

herdr

Apache-2.0, free

maturity

pane

v2.4, releases most days

herdr

v0.9, frequent breaking changes

platforms

native Windows

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

herdr

yes since August 2026 (x64, not signed)

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

herdr

run its Linux build inside WSL; the Windows build can't use WSL git

macOS and Linux

pane

yes, signed installers and packages

herdr

yes, single binaries

agents

pane

any CLI; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor built in

herdr

any CLI; state for about 25 agents

agent status

pane

working, finished and waiting dots, plus notifications

herdr

working, blocked and idle in a sidebar, with a goto picker

agents keep running

pane

while Pane is open; Remote Pane keeps them on a host

herdr

yes: close the terminal or lose SSH and agents keep going

agents that run agents

pane

Sessions, plus the runpane CLI and an MCP server

herdr

CLI and socket API with waits on agent state

everyday work

worktree per task

pane

yes, on by default

herdr

yes, from a dialog or the CLI

review changes

pane

Changes panel and diff tabs

herdr

no; run git diff in a pane, or use a plugin

commit, push, merge

pane

buttons and shortcuts

herdr

no; run git in a pane

remote and teams

run on another machine

pane

Remote Pane host over SSH, Tailscale or HTTPS

herdr

installs itself on SSH hosts; multi-machine sidebar

phone

pane

iOS and Android app coming soon; browser app via Remote Pane today

herdr

any SSH app; community mobile clients

account needed

pane

herdr

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: Herdr v0.9.3 and Pane v2.4.157. Hands-on: Herdr's Linux build in WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) inside Windows Terminal with real Claude Code agents, plus its native Windows build on a WSL repo; Pane 2.4.155 on the same PC.

by the numbers

download

pane115 MBherdr30 MB (Linux); 9.8 MB zip (Windows)

installed size

pane429 MBherdr29 MB

start time

pane3.6 s (median)herdr0.53 s (median); 0.28 s to reattach

idle RAM (app only)

pane780 MBherdr41 MB with three agents

Measured on the same PC (Herdr inside WSL2). Shorter bars are better. Agents themselves add about 300 MB each in both.

what it's like to use

We gave both tools the same small job in a test repo: add a --version flag to a CLI, then review and commit it. Here's what you see at each step. Green notes work well, blue ones are nice touches, amber ones are confusing, and red ones are missing or broken.

1.starting a task

Pane

Herdr

2.agents at work

Pane

Herdr

3.reviewing the change

Pane

Herdr

4.committing

Pane

Herdr

the real difference: a runtime or a workspace

Herdr keeps terminal agents alive and visible. Pane also isolates, reviews and ships their work.

Herdr calls itself an agent runtime. A background server owns every terminal, so closing the window, losing SSH or crashing the interface doesn't stop your agents, and after a server restart it restores the layout and resumes native sessions for 18 agents. It tracks state for about 25 agent CLIs, runs inside the terminal you already use, and has a CLI and socket API with waits on agent state, so one agent can supervise others. There are about 1,500 community plugins.

What Herdr leaves to you is review and git. There's no diff viewer, commit, push or pull request UI; you run git in a pane or add a plugin. Pane builds those in, with a worktree for every pane by default, a Changes panel, diff tabs and buttons and shortcuts for commit, push, pull, rebase and merge, plus notifications and an orchestrator chat.

windows and wsl

Herdr's Linux build runs well inside WSL; its native Windows build is new. Pane is a native Windows app that runs WSL repos inside the distro.

Herdr has had a native Windows build since August 2026. It isn't signed, there's no ARM64 build, live handoff isn't supported, and there are about 170 Windows-labelled issues. Opening a WSL repo from the Windows build worked, but Windows git refused the repo inside its panes. Running Herdr's Linux build inside WSL works well, which is how we did most of our testing.

Pane installs as a native Windows app on x64 and ARM64, and runs agents, terminals and git inside WSL for repos you keep there.

what we measured

Herdr is tiny and instant. Pane is a full desktop app.

Herdr is a single 30 MB binary that painted its first screen in about half a second and reattached in under a third of a second. With three Claude Code agents running, Herdr itself used about 41 MB of memory and under 1% of a CPU core. Pane is a 115 MB download, starts in 3.6 seconds and uses about 780 MB. From the first keystroke to a running agent, Herdr took about ten keystrokes, with no account or wizard.

company and licence

Herdr is a funded YC company that promises the runtime stays free; Herdr Cloud is coming.

Herdr moved from AGPL to Apache-2.0 in August 2026, raised a $6M seed, and has a waitlist for Herdr Cloud, an account-based relay that's likely its paid product. Its founder says the runtime you use now stays free. It checks herdr.dev for updates and agent detection files by default, which you can turn off, and it doesn't take unsolicited pull requests. Pane is AGPL-3.0, free, and accepts pull requests.

our verdict

If you live in the terminal, work over SSH and want agents that keep running no matter what, Herdr is one of the best tools in this space, and it costs almost nothing to run.

If you want worktrees, diffs, commits and notifications built in, in a desktop app that runs natively on Windows and handles WSL repos, pick Pane. They don't conflict.

how we tested

On October 3, 2026 we ran Herdr 0.9.3's Linux build inside WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) in Windows Terminal with real Claude Code agents, three in parallel across worktrees, and timed start, reattach, memory and CPU. We also opened a WSL repo with its native Windows build. We gave Pane 2.4.155 the same task in a private test repo. We backed up every agent config before the test and restored anything a tool changed.

Facts about each product come from its own docs, release notes, issue tracker and source code, checked on the same dates. Measurements are single-machine numbers, not lab benchmarks.

What we ran

→ Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11, native and WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) repos
→ Herdr 0.9.3 Linux build in WSL2 inside Windows Terminal, three Claude Code agents; native Windows build on a WSL repo
→ Claude Code (Opus 5.5) on the account's existing login

Who wrote this

We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We tried to be fair: Herdr's strengths are listed as plainly as Pane's, every claim was checked against the product itself or its docs and source, and the screenshots are unedited captures from our own runs.

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

more comparisons

Pane vs Terminal Multiplexers Pane Remote vs Alternatives Pane vs CLI Agents Pane vs Conductor

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By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. Last reviewed October 4, 2026.