comparison

Pane vs Reliant

TL;DR

Reliant (reliantlabs.io) is a desktop app and cloud service with its own coding agent, where you write your process as YAML workflows: loops, joins, approval gates, test-driven cycles and "three agents build it, a reviewer picks", with durable runs that survive laptop sleep. Pane is a free, open-source desktop app that runs the agents you already use, Claude Code, Codex and any other CLI, locally in their own terminals and worktrees, with an orchestrator that can split, compare and review work across panes. Pick Reliant if you want to encode an AI development process as code and are happy with its agent and cloud; pick Pane if you want your own agents, locally, with no account.

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which one should you pick?

pick reliant if

  • → you want to encode your AI dev process as versioned YAML workflows with loops and gates
  • → you're happy with Reliant's own agent on your keys or subscriptions
  • → you want runs to survive laptop sleep on hosted machines
  • → a cloud service between you and the model is fine

pick pane if

  • → you want to keep using Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or OpenCode as they are
  • → your code and prompts shouldn't pass through another company's servers
  • → you want no account and open source
  • → your code lives inside WSL

at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

pane11 yes · 1 partly · 0 noreliant5 yes · 4 partly · 3 no
basics
what it isdesktop app: your agents in real terminals, side by sidedesktop app and cloud: its own agent in YAML workflows
licenseAGPL-3.0, open sourceBSL 1.1, source-available
pricefreefree with your own key or subscription; cloud machines from $20/mo
platforms
Windowsyes (x64 and ARM64)yes, signed
repos inside WSLyes: agents, terminals and git run in the distronot documented
macOSyesyes
Linuxyes (AppImage, .deb)yes
agents
agentsany CLI, including Claude Code and Codexits own agent only, on many model providers
where the agent runson your machinethrough Reliant's cloud
reads AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.mdthe agents read their own filesno; uses reliant.md
everyday work
multi-step workflowsSessions orchestrator and runpane CLIYAML workflows with loops, joins, gates and tests
same task, several agentsup to five panes from one baseparallel-compete workflow with a reviewer
worktree per taskyes, on by defaultyes, as workspaces you create
safety and setup
account needednoyes

basics

what it is

pane

desktop app: your agents in real terminals, side by side

reliant

desktop app and cloud: its own agent in YAML workflows

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, open source

reliant

BSL 1.1, source-available

price

pane

free

reliant

free with your own key or subscription; cloud machines from $20/mo

platforms

Windows

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

reliant

yes, signed

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

reliant

not documented

macOS

pane

yes

reliant

yes

Linux

pane

yes (AppImage, .deb)

reliant

yes

agents

agents

pane

any CLI, including Claude Code and Codex

reliant

its own agent only, on many model providers

where the agent runs

pane

on your machine

reliant

through Reliant's cloud

reads AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md

pane

the agents read their own files

reliant

no; uses reliant.md

everyday work

multi-step workflows

pane

Sessions orchestrator and runpane CLI

reliant

YAML workflows with loops, joins, gates and tests

same task, several agents

pane

up to five panes from one base

reliant

parallel-compete workflow with a reviewer

worktree per task

pane

yes, on by default

reliant

yes, as workspaces you create

safety and setup

account needed

pane

no

reliant

yes

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: Reliant v1.7.16 and Pane v2.4.157. Rechecked against Reliant's site, docs and releases on November 5, 2026: Reliant v1.8.18.

the real difference: its agent and its cloud, or yours

Reliant is its own agent with a workflow engine. Pane runs the agents you already use.

Reliant isn't an orchestrator of Claude Code or Codex CLIs: it runs its own agent loop against model providers you connect, and its agent loop, model calls and terminal connection go through Reliant's servers. What you get in return is a real workflow engine: YAML workflows with loops, joins, routers, approval gates and tests, versioned in your repo and run durably on Temporal, so a multi-step process keeps going across laptop sleep.

Pane runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any other CLI exactly as they are, locally, each in its own terminal and worktree, with their own settings, AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md. For workflow-style runs, Sessions can start a planner, hand the plan to implementers in other panes and ask another agent to review, and the runpane CLI lets you script loops with your own cron.

account, licence and maturity

Reliant needs an account, is source-available and pre-launch. Pane is open source with no account.

Reliant's onboarding requires a cloud account and a model provider before you can open a project. It's licensed under the Business Source License, converting to Apache-2.0 four years after each release. Its own repo says it hasn't launched, and mid-2026 builds failed to render or pointed at a dead backend. Pane is AGPL-3.0, free, with no account.

our verdict

Reliant's workflows-as-code idea is genuinely interesting for teams that want a repeatable AI development process, if its agent and cloud suit you. If you want to run the agents you already use, locally and in parallel, Pane is the better fit.

how we checked

On October 4, 2026 we installed Reliant 1.7.16 on Windows 11 and ran its tools daemon in WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04); onboarding requires a cloud account and a model provider before you can open a project, which we don't connect for these tests, so the rest comes from its docs, release notes, licence and source. Pane 2.4.155 ran on the same PC.

Facts about each product come from its own docs, release notes, issue tracker and source code, checked on October 3 and 4, 2026.

What we ran
  • → Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11, native and WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) repos
  • → Reliant 1.7.16 installed on the same PC up to its account and provider wall
Who wrote this
We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We tried to be fair: Reliant'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

or
Download*
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
Paste that in PowerShell.Linux

By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .