desktop apps for managing claude code and codex

häufig gestellte fragen

• +What is a desktop agent manager?

  A desktop app for running several AI coding agents, like Claude Code and Codex, at once. The good ones give each agent its own git worktree, show you what it changed, and let you commit or open a pull request without leaving the app.

• +Which desktop agent managers work on Windows?

  Of the apps we tested, Pane, Orca, Emdash, T3 Code, Paseo, Traycer, Ghostex, Maestri, Solo and Reliant have Windows builds. Conductor, Superset, Agentastic and super.engineering don't. If your code lives in WSL, Pane, Orca, Ghostex, Maestri and Solo ran agents inside the distro in our tests.

• +Is Pane an IDE?

  No. Pane doesn't replace your editor. It runs your agents in real terminals, keeps each one on its own worktree, and shows you the diff, while you keep VS Code, Cursor, Vim or whatever you use.

• +What matters most when comparing desktop agent managers?

  In order: does it run on your system, does it run the agents you use, does it give each task its own worktree, can you review and commit the result in the app, and does it need an account.

• +Should I choose a desktop app or a TUI?

  Choose a desktop app if you want a diff viewer, notifications and git buttons, and you work at your own machine. Choose a terminal tool like Herdr or Claude Squad if you work over SSH or already live in tmux.

• +Are desktop agent managers only for Claude Code?

  No. Pane, Orca, Superset, Agentastic and Ghostex run any CLI agent or 30+ of them. Conductor supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode. Crystal, now discontinued, started as Claude Code only.

• +Does a desktop app replace tmux?

  For running agents, usually yes: a desktop app keeps the sessions, shows status and handles worktrees. Many people still use tmux for servers and long-running shells.

• +When is a desktop agent manager overkill?

  If you run one agent now and then and read its changes in your editor, a plain terminal is fine. A manager pays off once you run two or more agents at the same time.

• +Why does worktree support matter?

  Two agents editing the same folder overwrite each other. A git worktree gives each agent its own folder and branch from the same repo, so they can work in parallel and you merge what you want.

• +Can I use a desktop agent manager with VS Code?

  Yes. Each agent's worktree is a normal folder on disk, so you can open it in VS Code or any editor and keep working there while the manager runs the agent.

• +Are browser dashboards desktop agent managers?

  They overlap. Tools like bb, Kandev and Vibe Kanban run a local server you open in a browser. The question that matters is the same: does it run the agents and show their changes, or only watch them?

• +What is Pane's main advantage in this category?

  Pane runs any CLI agent in a real terminal on Windows, macOS and Linux, including repos kept in WSL, with a worktree, diff view and git actions per agent. It's open source and needs no account.