What's the difference between Pane and Synara?

Synara is a chat workspace over a fixed list of agents, with strong PR tooling. Pane runs any agent in its real terminal and gives every task its own worktree.

Does Synara support WSL?

Yes. It launches agents in WSL repos through wsl.exe. Pane runs agents, terminals and git inside the distro too.

Can Synara run any CLI agent?

No. Its provider list is fixed in code. Pane runs any command as an agent.

Does Synara create a worktree per task?

Optionally. Pane does it by default, with .env copying and per-pane ports.

Are Pane and Synara open source?

Yes. Synara is MIT and Pane is AGPL-3.0. Neither needs an account.

Can I use my Claude or ChatGPT subscription with both?

Yes. Both run the official agent runtimes with your existing logins.

comparison

Pane vs Synara

TL;DR

Synara and Pane are both free, open-source desktop apps with no account that run coding agents in parallel, and both handle repos inside WSL. Synara shows Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Pi and a few others as a polished chat, with a browser, terminal, diffs, stacked PRs, "Fix review comments" and agent-to-agent tools; worktrees are optional. Pane runs any CLI agent in its own terminal, gives every task a worktree by default with your .env and ports set up, and adds a Changes panel, git buttons and an orchestrator. Pick Synara for a chat view with strong PR tooling; pick Pane for any agent in its real terminal and a worktree per task.

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

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which one should you pick?

pick synara if

→ you want a polished chat UI for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode
→ you value PR review, stacked PRs and "Fix review comments" in the app
→ you're on a Mac and use Computer Use or the iOS Simulator
→ you want agents to orchestrate each other over MCP

pick pane if

→ you want to see each agent's real terminal UI
→ you use Gemini CLI, Aider, Goose, Amp, Copilot CLI or any other CLI
→ you want a worktree for every task by default, with setup handled
→ you want Windows ARM64, or Linux packages beyond an x64 AppImage

at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

	pane13 yes · 0 partly · 0 no	synara8 yes · 5 partly · 0 no
basics
what it is	desktop app: real terminals for agents, side by side	desktop app: a chat workspace over agent runtimes
license	AGPL-3.0, free	MIT, free
maturity	v2.4	v1.1, frequent releases
platforms
Windows	yes (x64 and ARM64)	x64, unsigned; installer flagged by Defender
repos inside WSL	yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro	yes, agents launched through wsl.exe
macOS	yes, signed	yes, signed
Linux	yes (AppImage and .deb, x64 and ARM64)	x64 AppImage only
agents
agents	any CLI	a fixed list; no Gemini CLI, Aider or Amp
how agents run	the agent's own terminal UI	Synara's chat view
agents that run agents	Sessions, runpane CLI, MCP server	agents orchestrate others over MCP
everyday work
worktree per task	yes, on by default	optional
worktree setup	copies .env and config, assigns ports	manual
review and PRs	Changes panel, commit, push, merge	diffs, stacked PRs, Fix review comments (GitHub)
built-in browser	yes	yes
safety and setup
account needed	no	no

basics

what it is

pane

desktop app: real terminals for agents, side by side

synara

desktop app: a chat workspace over agent runtimes

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, free

synara

MIT, free

maturity

pane

v2.4

synara

v1.1, frequent releases

platforms

Windows

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

synara

x64, unsigned; installer flagged by Defender

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

synara

yes, agents launched through wsl.exe

macOS

pane

yes, signed

synara

yes, signed

Linux

pane

yes (AppImage and .deb, x64 and ARM64)

synara

x64 AppImage only

agents

pane

any CLI

synara

a fixed list; no Gemini CLI, Aider or Amp

how agents run

pane

the agent's own terminal UI

synara

Synara's chat view

agents that run agents

pane

Sessions, runpane CLI, MCP server

synara

agents orchestrate others over MCP

everyday work

worktree per task

pane

yes, on by default

synara

optional

worktree setup

pane

copies .env and config, assigns ports

synara

manual

review and PRs

pane

Changes panel, commit, push, merge

synara

diffs, stacked PRs, Fix review comments (GitHub)

built-in browser

pane

yes

synara

yes

safety and setup

account needed

pane

synara

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: Synara v0.9.2 and Pane v2.4.157. Rechecked against Synara's site, docs and releases on November 5, 2026: Synara v1.1.0.

the real difference: chat or terminal

Synara draws agents as chat. Pane shows each agent's own terminal.

Synara drives agents through SDK, ACP and app-server integrations and renders a calm, consistent chat across them, with steering, question cards and per-task browser and terminal surfaces. The provider list is fixed in code, so Gemini CLI, Aider, Goose, Amp, Copilot CLI and Kiro aren't available.

Pane starts the agent's own CLI in a real terminal and shows it exactly as its makers built it, so every agent works, including one that shipped this morning, and every slash command and shortcut behaves as it does anywhere else.

worktrees and setup

Synara makes worktrees optional and manual. Pane makes them the default and sets them up.

Synara can run a task in your checkout or in a managed worktree; its docs tell you to install dependencies in each worktree and pick different ports yourself. In Pane, every pane is a worktree and branch, gitignored files like .env and agent config folders are copied in, a spare worktree is kept ready so panes open instantly, and each pane gets its own port block.

platforms

Both handle WSL. Pane has broader, signed builds.

Synara's Windows builds are x64 only and unsigned under an explicit exception, and Defender quarantined the 0.9.2 installer on our machine; its Linux build is an x64 AppImage. Its Mac build is signed and has Mac-only extras like Computer Use and the iOS Simulator. Pane ships x64 and ARM64 builds for Windows and Linux, signed Mac builds, and runs agents inside WSL.

our verdict

Synara is a polished, free chat workspace with strong pull request tools. If you want every agent in its own terminal, with a worktree per task set up for you, Pane is the better fit.

how we checked

On October 3, 2026 we downloaded Synara 0.9.2 on Windows 11, where Microsoft Defender quarantined the installer, and the 0.9.3 beta installer, which wasn't flagged; the rest comes from Synara's docs, release provenance files, issues and source. Pane 2.4.155 ran on the same PC with WSL2 (Ubuntu 24.04).

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
→ Synara 0.9.2 and 0.9.3-beta.1 installers downloaded and scanned on the same PC

Who wrote this

We make Pane, so we have a stake in this. We tried to be fair: Synara'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 T3 Code Pane vs MonoCode Pane vs Conductor

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By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. Last reviewed November 5, 2026.