comparison · hands-on

Pane vs Silo

TL;DR

Silo (getsilo.dev) is a free, MIT-licensed lightweight editor that keeps every project open with its own terminals and agents running in the background, and brings them back after a reboot with each agent's resume command. Pane is a free, AGPL-3.0 desktop app that gives every task its own git worktree and real agent terminal, with a Changes panel, git shortcuts and an orchestrator. Silo is about keeping many projects alive; Pane is about running several isolated tasks in one project. Pick Silo on a Mac or Linux if you juggle projects by hand; pick Pane for parallel tasks that don't collide, and for Windows and WSL.

or
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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 silo if

  • → you work on macOS or Linux and juggle several projects at once
  • → you run agents by hand in terminals and want them back after a reboot
  • → you want a light, hackable editor with an extension SDK
  • → you don't need worktrees or a pull request flow

pick pane if

  • → you want a worktree and branch per task, so agents never collide
  • → you're on Windows, or your code lives inside WSL
  • → you want commit, push and merge from one place
  • → you want an orchestrator that starts and steers other agents

at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

pane12 yes · 0 partly · 0 nosilo6 yes · 3 partly · 3 no
basics
what it isdesktop app: real terminals for agents, a worktree per taska light editor that keeps every project's terminals alive
made byDcouplea solo developer
licenseAGPL-3.0, freeMIT, free
maturityv2.4v0.72, four months old
platforms
Windowsyes (x64 and ARM64)experimental (x64)
repos inside WSLyes: agents, terminals and git run in the distrono; a WSL repo failed in our test
macOSyesyes, signed and notarized
Linuxyes (x64 and ARM64)yes (x64)
agents
agentsany CLIany CLI in a terminal; ACP chat in beta
agents that run agentsSessionsno
everyday work
worktree per taskyes, on by defaultno
review and gitChanges panel, commit, push, mergeGit panel with diff, stage and commit
after a restartlayout, scrollback and agent sessions returnprojects, terminals and agent resume return
code editoropen in your own editorbuilt in (no LSP)
safety and setup
analyticson by default; one switch in Settingsanonymous update-check counts
account needednono

basics

what it is

pane

desktop app: real terminals for agents, a worktree per task

silo

a light editor that keeps every project's terminals alive

made by

pane

Dcouple

silo

a solo developer

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, free

silo

MIT, free

maturity

pane

v2.4

silo

v0.72, four months old

platforms

Windows

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

silo

experimental (x64)

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

silo

no; a WSL repo failed in our test

macOS

pane

yes

silo

yes, signed and notarized

Linux

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

silo

yes (x64)

agents

agents

pane

any CLI

silo

any CLI in a terminal; ACP chat in beta

agents that run agents

pane

Sessions

silo

no

everyday work

worktree per task

pane

yes, on by default

silo

no

review and git

pane

Changes panel, commit, push, merge

silo

Git panel with diff, stage and commit

after a restart

pane

layout, scrollback and agent sessions return

silo

projects, terminals and agent resume return

code editor

pane

open in your own editor

silo

built in (no LSP)

safety and setup

analytics

pane

on by default; one switch in Settings

silo

anonymous update-check counts

account needed

pane

no

silo

no

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: Silo v0.72.0 and Pane v2.4.157.

what it's like to use

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

1.agents at work

Pane

Pane: the agent's real terminalPane runs the agent's own terminal UI, exactly as it looks anywhere else, with several panes going at once.Pane 2.4.155, three panes running Claude Code

Silo

Silo: agents as tabs in one projectAgents run in real terminal tabs, listed in the Navigator with status and age. They all share the project's checkout.Silo 0.72.0 on Windows 11, three agents in one project, October 4, 2026

2.reviewing the change

Pane

Pane: Changes panel and diff tabsPane lists every touched file with its line counts. Click one and its diff opens as a tab next to the agent.Pane 2.4.155, after the agent finished

Silo

Silo: a Monaco diff and a Git panelClick a changed file for an inline diff in a preview tab, stage files one by one, then commit.Silo 0.72.0, after the agent finished

the real difference: many projects or many tasks

Silo keeps many projects alive. Pane runs many isolated tasks.

Silo's idea is one window for every project, with each project's terminals and agents still running when you switch away, and coming back after a reboot with resume commands. Agents inside a project share its checkout, and there's no way to fan one prompt out to several agents or create pull requests.

Pane's idea is a pane per task: a worktree and branch, the agent's own terminal, extra terminals, and a Changes panel. Several agents can work on one repo without touching each other's files, and Sessions can start and steer them for you. Pane also restores layout, scrollback and agent sessions when you reopen it.

windows and wsl

Silo's Windows build is experimental. Pane is native on Windows and handles WSL repos.

Silo's README labels the Windows build experimental. In our test it defaulted to cmd.exe, showed Mac shortcut symbols, couldn't open a repo through a \\wsl$ path, and its Git panel got stuck on Loading after an error. Linux and Windows builds are x64 only.

Pane ships native x64 and ARM64 Windows builds, and for a repo inside WSL it runs the agent, terminals and git inside the distro.

editing code

Silo is an editor. Pane hands off to yours.

Silo includes a Monaco editor, file tree and search, though its own docs say it's below VS Code and Zed, with no language server. Pane doesn't try to be an editor: open any pane's worktree in VS Code, Cursor or a custom command with one click.

our verdict

Silo is a pleasant, light way to keep many projects' agents alive on a Mac or Linux. If you want parallel tasks isolated in their own worktrees, a review and git flow, an orchestrator, and first-class Windows and WSL, Pane is the better fit.

how we checked

On October 3 and 4, 2026 we ran Silo 0.72.0 on Windows 11 with Claude Code and Codex, reviewed and committed a change, and tried a WSL repo and the Linux build under WSLg. Pane 2.4.155 ran on the same PC, including a repo inside WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04).

Facts about each product come from its own docs, changelog, issue tracker and source code, checked on the same dates.

What we ran
  • → Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11, native and WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04) repos
  • → Silo 0.72.0 on the same PC with Claude Code and Codex
  • → The same small task in both
Who wrote this
We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We tried to be fair: Silo'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 TortiePane vs HerdrPane vs cmux
See also: desktop agent managers · terminal multiplexers
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. .