comparison · hands-on

Pane vs Waku

TL;DR

Waku (waku.sh) is a free, GPL-3.0 native app that puts Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Amp, Pi and five other agents behind one fast, polished chat window, with rewind and fork that undo code and conversation together and a usage dashboard across agents. Pane is a free, AGPL-3.0 desktop app that runs any CLI agent in its own terminal and worktree, several side by side, with a Changes panel, git shortcuts and an orchestrator. Waku is built for one task at a time in a beautiful chat; Pane is built for many tasks at once. Pick Waku if you want the calmest single-agent window; pick Pane for parallel work, WSL repos and any agent.

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which one should you pick?

pick waku if

  • → you want the fastest, calmest chat window over Codex, Claude Code or OpenCode
  • → you mostly work on one task at a time
  • → you want rewind that undoes code and conversation together
  • → you want a usage and limits dashboard across agents

pick pane if

  • → you run several agents at once and want to see them side by side
  • → you want an orchestrator that starts and steers other agents
  • → your code lives inside WSL
  • → you use Gemini CLI, Aider, Copilot CLI or any other CLI

at a glance

yespartly, or with a catchno

pane12 yes · 2 partly · 0 nowaku6 yes · 6 partly · 2 no
basics
what it isdesktop app: real terminals for agents, side by sidenative app: one chat window over many agents
made byDcouplea solo developer (EGOIST)
licenseAGPL-3.0, freeGPL-3.0, free
maturityv2.4v0.1, first commit July 2026
platforms
Windowsyes (x64 and ARM64)yes (x64 and ARM64), unsigned
repos inside WSLyes: agents, terminals and git run in the distronot supported
macOSyes, Apple Silicon and IntelApple Silicon only
Linuxyes (AppImage, .deb)yes (tarball)
agents
agentsany CLI11 built in; no Gemini CLI or Aider
how agents runthe agent's own terminal UIWaku's chat view over each agent's protocol
agents that run agentsSessionsno
usage metersClaude Code and Codexacross agents
everyday work
agents on screenseveral, in split tabsone transcript at a time
worktree per taskyes, on by default, cleaned up on archiveoptional, undocumented, no cleanup
review and gitChanges panel, commit, push, mergeReview panel by turn; commit with an AI message
undo an agent turnrestore uncommitted changesrewind code and chat together
safety and setup
account needednono

basics

what it is

pane

desktop app: real terminals for agents, side by side

waku

native app: one chat window over many agents

made by

pane

Dcouple

waku

a solo developer (EGOIST)

license

pane

AGPL-3.0, free

waku

GPL-3.0, free

maturity

pane

v2.4

waku

v0.1, first commit July 2026

platforms

Windows

pane

yes (x64 and ARM64)

waku

yes (x64 and ARM64), unsigned

repos inside WSL

pane

yes: agents, terminals and git run in the distro

waku

not supported

macOS

pane

yes, Apple Silicon and Intel

waku

Apple Silicon only

Linux

pane

yes (AppImage, .deb)

waku

yes (tarball)

agents

agents

pane

any CLI

waku

11 built in; no Gemini CLI or Aider

how agents run

pane

the agent's own terminal UI

waku

Waku's chat view over each agent's protocol

agents that run agents

pane

Sessions

waku

no

usage meters

pane

Claude Code and Codex

waku

across agents

everyday work

agents on screen

pane

several, in split tabs

waku

one transcript at a time

worktree per task

pane

yes, on by default, cleaned up on archive

waku

optional, undocumented, no cleanup

review and git

pane

Changes panel, commit, push, merge

waku

Review panel by turn; commit with an AI message

undo an agent turn

pane

restore uncommitted changes

waku

rewind code and chat together

safety and setup

account needed

pane

no

waku

no

Facts checked on October 3 and 4, 2026: Waku v0.1.20 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

Waku

Waku: one calm chat at a timeTasks are listed with live timers; the selected one fills the window as a chat. There's no view of several at once.Waku 0.1.20 on Windows 11, three tasks in three worktrees, 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

Waku

Waku: a Review panel by turnA changed-files card opens a review of the last turn, any earlier turn, or the whole branch.Waku 0.1.20, after the agent finished

the real difference: one chat or many terminals

Waku polishes a single conversation. Pane runs many agents side by side.

Waku shows one transcript at a time, with an instant native UI, tidy tool-call rows, and rewind and fork that undo code and conversation together. There's no grid, fan-out, orchestration or task board, and in our test finished, idle and waiting tasks looked the same in the sidebar.

Pane is built for parallel work: a pane per task with its own worktree, the agent's own terminal and a Changes panel, split tabs to watch several at once, and Sessions to start and steer agents in other panes. To undo an agent's work you restore its uncommitted changes in the pane, or discard the pane and its worktree.

agents

Waku speaks each agent's protocol. Pane runs any terminal command.

Waku talks to Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode, Amp, Pi and others through their structured protocols, which is what makes rewind and its chat possible; Gemini CLI, Copilot CLI and Aider aren't available, and Amp and Pi run only in full access. Pane runs the agent's own CLI in a real terminal, so any agent works, with Claude Code, Codex and Cursor one click away.

windows and wsl

Waku doesn't support WSL. Pane runs agents inside the distro.

Waku runs natively on Windows (unsigned), and its Mac build is Apple Silicon only. In our test, creating a worktree on a WSL repo failed. Pane opens WSL repos from the Windows app and runs the agent, terminals and git inside the distro, and has builds for Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.

our verdict

Waku is one of the nicest native chat windows over coding agents, if you work one task at a time. For running many agents in parallel, each in its own worktree and terminal, with any agent and WSL, Pane is the better fit.

how we checked

On October 3 and 4, 2026 we ran Waku 0.1.20 on Windows 11 with Claude Code and Codex, three tasks in three worktrees, reviewed and committed a change, tried a WSL repo, and ran Pane 2.4.155 on the same PC.

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
  • → Waku 0.1.20 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: Waku'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

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See also: desktop agent managers · agent manager tools
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. .