Herdr
Open SourceThe runtime your coding agents live on.
Published 27 September 2026Last updated 3 November 2026
Scores
Popularity3/5
Established
Its main repository passed tens of thousands of GitHub stars within months of launch, it ships through Homebrew and mise, and independent agent-tooling roundups list it as a go-to option for running several coding agents at once.
Learning Curve2/5
Easy
The desktop app works like a tabbed terminal with a sidebar, a command palette, and settings screens, so no multiplexer experience is needed. The TUI uses tmux-style prefix keys that tmux and Zellij users already know, with full mouse support and separate onboarding paths in the docs for newcomers.
Flexibility4/5
Flexible
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
Fast
Both clients are native Rust with no Electron runtime: the desktop app renders through a GPU UI toolkit with a Ghostty-based terminal engine, and the TUI is a single binary inside an existing terminal. Terminals run in a separate background server, so closing or restarting the window costs nothing.
Portability5/5
No lock-in
The desktop app, the TUI, and herdr-core are all Apache 2.0 builds for macOS, Linux, and Windows that run locally or on a self-managed server, with no account, cloud dependency, or proprietary session format to migrate away from.
About Herdr
Herdr is an open-source runtime for running and supervising AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor CLI, and OpenCode. It comes with two front ends: a native desktop app for macOS, Linux, and Windows, and the original Herdr TUI, a terminal multiplexer that runs inside whatever terminal a developer already uses. In both, terminals live in a background server rather than in the window, so agent work keeps going after the window closes, the laptop sleeps, or the network drops.
The desktop app groups work into spaces, usually one per repository, each holding tabs that split into terminal panes. An agents sidebar collects every agent across spaces, including helpers started by other agents, and marks each one working, blocked, done, or idle, so the session waiting for an answer is easy to find. Machines added over SSH sit in the same sidebar with their terminals running on the remote host. The app is written in Rust with a Ghostty-based terminal engine instead of Electron, and its panels, menus, and layouts are JavaScript mods that users can copy and rewrite.
Underneath the app sits herdr-core, a headless runtime with its own command line that draws nothing: scripts and agents use it to start programs in persistent terminals, read their output, and attach later. Agents can spawn other agents, send them work, and hear back, which turns Herdr into a coordination layer rather than a set of isolated panes. The TUI offers the same through a local socket API, tmux-style prefix keys with full mouse support, and a plugin system built on manifests and event hooks.
Each client installs with a one-line script, and the app also ships as a macOS disk image. Herdr is free under the Apache 2.0 license, with no paid plans.
Key Features
- Native desktop app for macOS, Linux, and Windows alongside the terminal-based Herdr TUI
- Terminals run in a background server, so agents keep working after the window closes or crashes
- Agents sidebar marks every agent working, blocked, done, or idle across spaces and machines
- SSH machines share one sidebar, with remote terminals running on the remote host
- Runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, and any other terminal program unmodified
- Agents spawn helper agents, send them work, and read results through herdr-core and the socket API
- App layouts, panels, and menus are editable JavaScript mods; the TUI has a plugin system
- tmux-style prefix keys alongside full mouse support for splitting, clicking, and dragging panes
Pros
- Free and open source under Apache 2.0, with no paid plans
- Choice of a native desktop app or a terminal client over the same persistent-session model
- Native Rust app with no Electron runtime, and a TUI that runs in any existing terminal
- Agent sessions survive closed windows, sleeping laptops, and dropped SSH connections
- Works with existing agent CLIs without wrapping or replacing them
Cons
- Both clients are pre-1.0 and ship changes weekly, including occasional breaking API changes
- No Intel Mac build of the desktop app, and on Linux it needs a working Vulkan driver
- Desktop app release builds send usage telemetry by default until it is turned off in settings
- Mods and plugins are unsandboxed code, so third-party ones need a read before installing
- Value depends entirely on already running CLI-based coding agents
Herdr Pricing
Open SourceTech Stacks with Herdr
Herdr Dev Stack
Developer
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(8)
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.
Paradev runs parallel agents in a graphical desktop app with a git worktree per task, diff review and pull requests, plus remote hosts and cloud workspaces on paid plans. It has no Windows build.
Both run several coding agents side by side in desktop apps. Orca is built around git worktrees, diff annotation, an embedded browser, and mobile companions; Herdr centres on persistent terminals and agent-to-agent coordination, and also offers a terminal client for SSH-only machines.
Both give CLI coding agents a desktop home. T3 Code adds per-task worktrees, a turn-by-turn diff viewer, and web and mobile clients; Herdr keeps agents in persistent terminals that survive the window closing, with a native app plus a terminal client.
