Does Pane run Pi on Windows?

Yes. Pane is a native Windows app, and Pi runs in a Pane terminal like in any shell. If your repo lives in WSL, Pane runs the terminal inside the distro, so Pi uses your Linux install.

Can I run several Pi sessions in parallel?

Yes. Create a pane per task. Each gets its own worktree and branch, and Pi runs independently in each.

Do I still need tmux for Pi sub-agents?

No. Pi's site suggests tmux for extra instances; in Pane you start each one in its own pane instead, with its own worktree.

Does Pane change Pi's settings or extensions?

No. Pi loads its own settings, extensions, skills and packages from ~/.pi and your project as usual.

Can I use Pi with my Claude or ChatGPT subscription?

Pi signs in to providers with /login, by subscription or API key. Pane doesn't touch those logins.

Can I run Pi and Claude Code in the same repo?

Yes. Put Pi in one pane and Claude Code in another. They get separate worktrees, so they don't conflict.

Oh My Pi is a batteries-included fork of Pi. It runs in Pane the same way; see the Oh My Pi page.

Agents · Pi

pi with parallel worktrees on windows, mac, linux

TL;DR

Pi (pi.dev) is a minimal, open source coding agent for the terminal that works with about 40 model providers and leaves sub-agents, plan mode and background jobs to extensions or tmux. Pane gives each Pi session its own git worktree and real terminal, so you can run several side by side without tmux and keep their changes apart. Put Claude Code, Codex or Oh My Pi in the next pane to compare them on the same task. For one task at a time, a single Pi in one terminal is enough.

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

Pi's site lists sub-agents under what it deliberately didn't build, and suggests you "spawn Pi instances via tmux" instead. Pane is a friendlier way to do exactly that: one Pi per pane, each on its own branch.

What is Pi?

Pi is a free, MIT-licensed coding agent created by Mario Zechner and now developed at Earendil, his company with Armin Ronacher and others. It's deliberately small: a short system prompt, a handful of tools, and extensions, skills and packages for everything else. It reached version 1.0 on October 1, 2026, has about 120,000 GitHub stars, and is the engine under OpenClaw.

It runs on macOS, Linux and Windows (natively with Git Bash or PowerShell, or inside WSL), talks to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, local models and more, and can sign in with a subscription or an API key. It keeps conversation history as a tree you can branch and share.

Quickstart

Install Pi, create a pane, open a terminal, type pi.

1Install Pi

macOS, Linux or WSL

curl -fsSL https://pi.dev/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell)

powershell -c "irm https://pi.dev/install.ps1 | iex"

Then start it in your repo and pick a provider and model

pi
/login
/model

2Create a pane
Press Ctrl+N (⌘N on a Mac), pick the repo and branch, and create it. Pane makes a worktree for the pane.
3Start Pi
Open a terminal in the pane with Ctrl+Alt+1 (⌘⌥1 on a Mac), or pick Terminal from the Ctrl+T menu, and type pi. To launch it with one keystroke next time, save it as a custom command; your first four custom commands get shortcuts.

Pane's Create Pane dialog with repository, base branch, pane name and the Use worktree toggle — Creating a pane for a new taskThe same dialog works for every agent. Pi runs in the terminal of the pane it creates.
1.Repository and base branch: Pick the repo and the branch Pi should start from.
2.Pane name: Becomes the new branch name. Name it after the task.
3.Use worktree: On by default, so this Pi session gets its own folder and branch.
4.Create: Opens the pane in its new worktree. Open a terminal there and type pi.
Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11, repo inside WSL2

What works with Pi in Pane

Everything Pane does around the terminal works. Agent-specific extras are for its three built-in agents.

✓Pi's TUI in a Pane terminalPane's terminals are real terminals, so Pi's interface, keys and slash commands work as in any shell.

✓Pi in a WSL repoFor a repo inside WSL, Pane opens the terminal in the distro, so Pi uses your Linux install and tools.

✓Sub-agents as panesWhere Pi suggests tmux for extra instances, start each one in its own pane and worktree instead.

✓Its own worktree and branchEach pane is a separate git worktree, so several sessions never touch each other's files.

✓Diff view and git actionsSee what changed, commit, push, rebase and open a pull request from the pane.

✓Ports and env per paneEach pane gets its own port block in PANE_PORT, and .env files are copied into new worktrees.

~Status in the sidebarPane shows terminal activity. Detailed working, waiting and done states are tuned for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.

~Resume after restartLayout and terminal output come back. Add a custom resume template if the agent can resume a conversation by ID.

✕Usage and cost trackingPane tracks usage for Claude Code and Codex only.

Several Pi sessions without tmux

One pane per task gives each Pi its own branch and terminal.

Pi leaves parallel work to you: its site suggests running extra instances in tmux. In Pane, each task is a pane with its own worktree and branch, so three Pi sessions on three issues never edit the same files, and you can see which one is working, finished or waiting in the sidebar. Pane copies your .env files into each new worktree; add .pi to the copy list in Settings if you keep project settings there.

Pi next to other agents

Compare Pi with Claude Code, Codex or Oh My Pi on the same task.

Because Pi works with almost any model, a common setup is Pi on a cheaper or local model in one pane and Claude Code or Codex in another, or Pi next to Oh My Pi, its batteries-included fork. Create several panes from the same base branch, give each agent the same prompt and compare the diffs in each pane's Changes panel.

When one Pi session is enough

If you work on one thing at a time in one terminal, you don't need Pane. It helps once you run several Pi sessions at once, mix Pi with other agents, or want each session's changes isolated and reviewable before you merge.

Sources

What we ran

→ Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11 and WSL2; Pi details checked against its own repo and docs in October 2026

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