Herdr
Open SourceThe runtime your coding agents live on.
Published 27 September 2026
Scores
Popularity3/5
Crossed 31,000 GitHub stars within months of launch and is referenced across multiple independent coverage sites and agent-tooling roundups as a go-to option for managing multiple coding agents.
Learning Curve2/5
Uses tmux-style prefix-key navigation, which is immediately familiar to developers already comfortable with tmux or zellij. The docs provide separate onboarding paths for multiplexer beginners, tmux/zellij migrants, and agent-CLI users, and mouse support lowers the barrier further for anyone not used to keyboard-driven terminal tools.
Flexibility4/5
Configurable keybindings, themes, sidebar behavior, notifications, and scrollback settings, combined with a local plugin system built on manifest actions and event hooks and a socket API for scripting custom orchestration logic.
Performance4/5
Ships as a single dependency-free Rust binary with no Electron runtime, designed to sit inside existing terminal environments rather than spawn a separate application shell.
Portability5/5
Distributed as a single binary for macOS, Linux, and Windows under the Apache 2.0 license, runs entirely locally or on a self-managed box, and has no cloud dependency or vendor lock-in.
About Herdr
Herdr is a Rust-built terminal multiplexer designed specifically for running and supervising AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor CLI, and other agent CLIs. It runs as a lightweight background server that holds real terminal sessions open on a laptop, desktop, or rented server, so agent work continues even after the lid closes, the network drops, or the terminal window is closed. Users can detach and later reattach from any machine with a keyboard, including over SSH.
Each pane in Herdr surfaces the live status of the agent running inside it (working, blocked, idle, or done), making it easy to scan a multi-agent workspace and see which sessions need attention. The interface borrows tmux-style prefix-key navigation for keyboard-first users while also supporting mouse interaction for splitting, clicking, and dragging panes, so the workflow adapts to the moment rather than forcing one input style.
Beyond terminal management, Herdr exposes a local Unix socket API that scripts, tools, and the agents themselves can use to create workspaces, split panes, read pane output, and subscribe to state-change events. This turns Herdr into a coordination layer where agents can hand off work to other agents or spawn new sessions programmatically, not just run in isolated panes. A local plugin system, driven by manifest files and event hooks, lets users extend pane behavior and workflows.
Herdr ships as a single dependency-free binary (no Electron) for macOS, Linux, and Windows, installed with a one-line shell script. It is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with no paid tiers.
Key Features
- Persistent, detachable terminal sessions that survive restarts and lost connections
- Real-time per-pane status tracking (working, blocked, idle, done) across agents
- Works unmodified with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, opencode, and other agent CLIs
- Local Unix socket API for agent-to-agent orchestration and scripting
- tmux-style keyboard prefix keys plus first-class mouse support
- Local plugin system with manifest actions and event hooks
- Single dependency-free Rust binary, no Electron
- Cross-platform: macOS, Linux, and Windows
Pros
- Free and open source under Apache 2.0 with no paid tiers
- Lightweight single binary with no Electron overhead
- Reattach from any machine, including over SSH, without losing agent progress
- Agent-agnostic — works with most existing agent CLIs without modification
- Socket API enables scripting and agent-to-agent coordination beyond simple pane management
Cons
- Terminal-only interface has a learning curve for users unfamiliar with tmux/zellij-style multiplexers
- Very recently launched, so ecosystem, plugin marketplace, and community resources are still thin
- No graphical UI — not an option for users who prefer IDE-style agent management
- Value depends entirely on already running CLI-based coding agents
Herdr Pricing
Open SourceTech Stacks with Herdr
Herdr Dev Stack
DeveloperHerdr keeps several coding agents running in persistent terminal sessions on your laptop or a server, with your pick of agents and models and GitHub or GitLab for version control.
Tools Related to Herdr
Works well with Herdr(4)
Claude Code is one of the primary coding agent CLIs Herdr is built to run — Herdr keeps Claude Code sessions alive in persistent, reattachable terminal panes and tracks whether each session is working, blocked, or idle.
Codex is one of the coding agent CLIs Herdr explicitly supports, running unmodified inside a Herdr pane with the same persistent-session and status-tracking behavior as its other supported agents.
OpenCode is one of the open agent CLIs Herdr detects and runs natively without modification, tracking its working/blocked/idle state like its other supported agents.
Cursor's CLI agent is one of the coding agents Herdr is documented to run and track alongside other agent panes in the same multiplexed workspace.
Alternatives to Herdr(7)
herdr is a lightweight terminal multiplexer that keeps coding-agent sessions alive and reattachable from any machine; OpenHands is a self-hosted control center that runs and orchestrates agents across backends. herdr for persistence, OpenHands for orchestration.
Herdr is built for the agent-sessions job tmux gets used for, but agent-aware: it tracks each agent's state and coordinates them, where tmux is a general-purpose multiplexer that knows nothing about what runs inside it.
Herdr competes with Zellij for keeping agents running on a server: per-agent state and coordination instead of general-purpose panes, though Zellij's sessions also resurrect after a reboot.
Same job-to-be-done (running and tracking multiple coding agents in parallel) delivered through a different interface — Herdr is a terminal-native, headless session runtime, while Orca is a full desktop app with a GUI terminal, diff viewer, and mobile companions.
Same job of running and tracking several coding agents at once, delivered through very different interfaces — Herdr is a terminal-native, headless session runtime, T3 Code a GUI-first Electron app with mobile and web clients.
Same job of running several coding agents in parallel, delivered through very different interfaces — Herdr is a terminal-native session runtime, Conductor a native macOS GUI app with a visual diff viewer.
Learning Resources
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