A terminal dashboard for Claude Code sessions running in tmux. It shows each session's status, model and context use, and jumps you to the next one waiting for input.

Yes. It's free and open source under the MIT license. Pane is free too, under AGPL-3.0.

Does recon work with Codex or other agents?

No. recon only supports Claude Code, and its maintainer has declined other agents. Pane runs any CLI agent.

Does recon work on Windows?

Not natively; it needs tmux. It runs inside WSL if you build it there. Pane runs natively on Windows x64 and ARM64 and runs WSL repos inside the distro.

Can I use recon and Pane together?

They don't conflict, but recon only sees Claude Code sessions inside tmux, and Pane runs its own terminals, so recon won't list Pane's agents.

comparison · hands-on

Pane vs recon

TL;DR

recon is a tiny, free terminal dashboard that finds every Claude Code session running in tmux and shows whether it's working, idle or waiting for your answer, with one key to jump to the next one that needs you. It's a monitor: it doesn't create worktrees, show diffs, commit or notify you, and it only knows Claude Code. Pane is the workspace itself: any CLI agent, each in its own worktree, with diffs, git buttons, notifications and native Windows and WSL support. If you already run Claude Code in tmux and just want to see it all at a glance, recon is a lovely add-on; otherwise pick Pane.

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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

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which one should you pick?

pick recon if

→ you already run several Claude Code sessions in tmux and keep losing track
→ you want one key that jumps to the next session waiting on you
→ you want to save and restore all your Claude conversations around a restart
→ you like a playful pixel-art view on a side monitor

pick pane if

→ you want each task isolated in its own worktree and branch
→ you want to review diffs and commit from the same place
→ you use agents besides Claude Code
→ you want notifications, not a table you have to check
→ you're on Windows, or keep code inside WSL

at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

	pane15 yes · 0 partly · 0 no	recon5 yes · 4 partly · 6 no
basics
what it is	desktop app: real terminals for agents, side by side	a terminal dashboard over your tmux Claude Code sessions
made by	Dcouple	one maintainer; no outside code accepted
license	AGPL-3.0, free	MIT, free
maintenance	v2.4, releases most days	v0.7.0, last release July 17, 2026
platforms
install	one installer	build from source with cargo; no binaries
native Windows	yes (x64 and ARM64)	no (needs tmux)
repos inside WSL	yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro	works inside WSL; not documented
macOS and Linux	yes, signed installers and packages	yes, wherever tmux and Rust run
agents
agents	any CLI; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor built in	Claude Code only, by design
agent status	working, finished and waiting dots on every pane	Working, Input, Idle and New, plus context use per session
jump to what needs you	notifications take you to the pane	one key jumps to the next session waiting for input
agents that run agents	Sessions, plus the runpane CLI and an MCP server	recon launch and recon json, plus a Claude skill for a root session
everyday work
worktree per task	yes, on by default	no; it starts claude in the folder you give
review changes	Changes panel and diff tabs	no
commit and push	buttons and shortcuts	no
notifications	on by default	none; check the dashboard
after a restart	panes come back; Claude Code, Codex and Cursor resume their conversations	park and unpark saves and restores every Claude conversation

basics

what it is

pane

desktop app: real terminals for agents, side by side

recon

a terminal dashboard over your tmux Claude Code sessions

made by

pane

Dcouple

recon

one maintainer; no outside code accepted

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, free

recon

MIT, free

maintenance

pane

v2.4, releases most days

recon

v0.7.0, last release July 17, 2026

platforms

install

pane

one installer

recon

build from source with cargo; no binaries

native Windows

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

recon

no (needs tmux)

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

recon

works inside WSL; not documented

macOS and Linux

pane

yes, signed installers and packages

recon

yes, wherever tmux and Rust run

agents

pane

any CLI; Claude Code, Codex, Cursor built in

recon

Claude Code only, by design

agent status

pane

working, finished and waiting dots on every pane

recon

Working, Input, Idle and New, plus context use per session

jump to what needs you

pane

notifications take you to the pane

recon

one key jumps to the next session waiting for input

agents that run agents

pane

Sessions, plus the runpane CLI and an MCP server

recon

recon launch and recon json, plus a Claude skill for a root session

everyday work

worktree per task

pane

yes, on by default

recon

no; it starts claude in the folder you give

review changes

pane

Changes panel and diff tabs

recon

commit and push

pane

buttons and shortcuts

recon

notifications

pane

on by default

recon

none; check the dashboard

after a restart

pane

panes come back; Claude Code, Codex and Cursor resume their conversations

recon

park and unpark saves and restores every Claude conversation

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: recon v0.7.0 and Pane v2.4.157. Hands-on: recon built from source and run in WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04, tmux 3.4) with three real Claude Code sessions; Pane 2.4.155 on the same PC.

by the numbers

installed size

pane429 MBrecon2.1 MB

start time

pane3.6 s (median)recon0.13 s (median)

idle RAM

pane780 MBrecon4.6 MB

Measured on the same PC (recon inside WSL2). Shorter bars are better. recon has no download of its own: you build it from source.

what it's like to use

recon doesn't review or commit, so here are the two steps it does cover, next to Pane: starting a session and watching several at once. Green notes work well, blue ones are nice touches, amber ones are confusing, and red ones are missing or broken.

1.starting a session

Pane

recon

2.watching several agents

Pane

recon

the real difference: a monitor or a workspace

recon watches Claude Code sessions you already run. Pane creates, isolates, reviews and ships the work.

recon doesn't host anything. It finds every Claude Code process in any tmux pane, works out its status from the screen and its conversation from Claude's own files, and gives you a table, a pixel-art view and keys to jump between them. Quitting it changes nothing. It uses under 5 MB of memory, has no network code, and its maintainer keeps it small on purpose.

Pane is where the work happens: each task gets a pane with its own worktree, the agent's real terminal, a diff view, git buttons and a notification when the agent finishes or needs you.

agents

recon is Claude Code only, and its maintainer has said no to other agents.

recon reads Claude Code's on-screen text and its undocumented session files, so it can't see Codex, Gemini, Cursor or OpenCode, and Claude Code updates have broken it before. Sub-agents don't show up either.

Pane runs Claude Code, Codex and Cursor with built-in buttons, and any other command line agent as a custom command.

windows and wsl

recon needs tmux, so on Windows it only runs inside WSL. Pane is a native Windows app that also runs WSL repos.

recon doesn't mention Windows or WSL, but it runs inside WSL if you build it there with a Rust toolchain, which is how we tested it. Its suggested tmux key bindings replace some of tmux's defaults, so check them before pasting.

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

maintenance

recon is one person's project, deliberately closed to outside code, with no release since July.

Most of recon's commits landed in March 2026, and the last release, v0.7.0, came out on July 17. The maintainer doesn't accept pull requests, to keep the code auditable, and there are no prebuilt binaries or Homebrew package. Pane releases most days and accepts pull requests.

our verdict

If you already juggle several Claude Code sessions in tmux, recon is a tiny, private and genuinely useful way to see them all and jump to the one that needs you. You can run it next to anything.

If you want the work itself handled, with isolated worktrees, diffs, commits, notifications and any agent, on Windows, WSL, macOS or Linux, pick Pane.

how we tested

On October 3, 2026 we built recon 0.7.0 from source inside WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04, tmux 3.4), ran three Claude Code sessions in different states, including one blocked on a permission prompt, and tried its table, Tamagotchi view, JSON output and resume picker. We gave Pane 2.4.155 the same task in a private test repo. We backed up every agent config before the test; recon changed nothing.

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
→ recon 0.7.0 built from source in WSL2 with tmux 3.4, three Claude Code sessions
→ 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: recon'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 Claude Squad Pane vs claude-tmux Pane vs Terminal Multiplexers

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