herdr
Terminal multiplexer and workspace manager built for running and supervising multiple AI coding agents.
Liked as a tmux replacement built for running many coding agents at once,1234 with clear status of which agents are working or waiting567 and easy remote and phone access.8910 Complaints are scattered rather than shared: a limited plugin system, awkward pane reordering, and missing features like diff viewing.111213
Why people recommend it
Multi-agent oversight · 3
Shows which agents are working or stalled and makes switching between many agents quick.
“3 reasons why I switched to herder.”
“just having workrees with a single click and a visual tree/children hierarchy was the killer feature for making me look at herdr at the first place.”
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“It's a great bit of software, the UI is focused on switching between multiple agents quickly.”
Tmux replacement · 3
Long-time tmux users switched and call it a step up.
“I switched to herdr this year after a decade of using tmux, and I haven't looked back since.”
“I have been using herdr for a few months, love it and for me it is a step up from years using tmux.”
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“It's awesome. It worked out of the box, has actually good, working mouse support”
Remote and mobile · 3
Built-in remote sessions work with SSH and Tailscale, including from phones.
“3 reasons why I switched to herder.”
“The built-in terminal app also works nicely with herdr and Tailscale to let me connect to my work machine.”
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“prefix+g (equivalent to prefix+w in tmux) presents itself nicer, has binds for agent state filtering and its /search imho is mildly nicer than tmux's”
Easy yet customizable · 3
Works out of the box with mouse support and sane defaults, but stays highly customizable.
“Over the last few weeks, Herdr has given me the vibe of "works out of the box, but is highly customizable"”
“Herdr is my daily driver. It is lightweight and snappy while also being customisable”
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“It's awesome. It worked out of the box, has actually good, working mouse support”
Workspaces and worktrees · 3
Workspaces and native worktree support organize several projects at once.
“it shines when you are working with multiple projects, with multiple worktrees, and multiple agents within those projects”
“just having workrees with a single click and a visual tree/children hierarchy was the killer feature for making me look at herdr at the first place.”
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“I can spread this all across several projects using herdrs workspaces.”
Agent-agnostic API · 3
Programmatic bindings and a JSON API let any agent or harness drive panes.
“I'm mostly using it now because it integrates with ssh while still supporting image paste.”
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“Over the last few weeks, Herdr has given me the vibe of "works out of the box, but is highly customizable"”
Caveats and dissent
Limited plugins · 1
The plugin system is described as limited and immature.
“I love herdr and use it daily but it has its limits.”
Pane management · 1
Panes cannot easily be moved around or reordered.
“then I switched to herdr which is great so far except its not s great at managing panes.”
Missing features · 2
Users want file-diff viewing and better support for editing code.
“I just tried this and I'm pleasantly surprised! I definitely see myself using this as my goto.”
X11 select/paste · 1
Lacks standard X11 mouse select and paste behavior.
“failure to handle basic X11 select/paste is what keeps me away from herdr and tmux”
Desktop app gaps · 2
The new GUI makes agent integration take extra steps and has no TUI surface yet.
“Right now the new herdr has more ... just more. Rex has the polish, attention to detail, and attention to performance.”
Enshittification worries · 3
Some users worry VC funding could make the tool worse.
“I love this tool so much I’d pay for it.”
“I am going to be PRing herdr to stagex as it is my daily driver.”
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“I'm mostly using it now because it integrates with ssh while still supporting image paste.”
Often compared with
7 moved from tmux to herdr
3 moved from herdr to tmux
1 moved from cmux to herdr
1 moved from Zellij to herdr
1 moved from herdr to Orca
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Herdr has released native app 19 mentions
- Herdr is joining Y Combinator. The runtime stays open 11 mentions
- Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical 6 mentions
- Show HN: Corgi, a helpful {agent, terminal} multiplexer 5 mentions
- Herdr: One terminal to rule them all 4 mentions
- Pi 1.0 3 mentions
Also written as Herdr. Data: herdr.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 45
“I gave herdr try this morning and ported my scripts so it works with their desktop app - looks kinda nice I guess”
“Right now the new herdr has more ... just more. Rex has the polish, attention to detail, and attention to performance.”
“subagents are harness agnostic”
“This new GUI looks awesome”
“Just finished ricing herdr-app with pi, damn it looks good!”
“I'm already a happy user of herdr CLI”
“it shines when you are working with multiple projects, with multiple worktrees, and multiple agents within those projects”
“If agents didn’t exist, would herdr provide a nice UX as a terminal multiplexer?”
“3 reasons why I switched to herder.”
“I use herdr daily.”
“herdr has pinged me four times during writing this reply”
“I installed herdr but made the mistake of launching it from within tmux and had no idea how to close it.”
“There are tons of similar free alternatives”
“tools like herdr make it easier, smoother.”
“Having used herdr since its release, the recent 'Emacs is 50' made me decide to go back to it and just vibecode herdr features i use into an emacs package.”
“Herdr is truly awesome. Game changing almost.”
“I have been using herdr for a few months.”
“I have been using herdr for a few months, love it and for me it is a step up from years using tmux.”
“Herdr has been wonderful and I've been using it for a while.”
“I switched to herdr this year after a decade of using tmux, and I haven't looked back since.”
“I use herdr a lot”
“personally switched from VS Code to herdr (with some custom plugins), and couldn't be happier.”
“I use Pi as my harness and they run in herdr.”
“I have also given up on Herdr and came back to Tmux”
“The built-in terminal app also works nicely with herdr and Tailscale to let me connect to my work machine.”
“failure to handle basic X11 select/paste is what keeps me away from herdr and tmux”
“I really like the prefix key and how easily I can edit it”
“it doesn't sync/connect with other machines like herdr does”
“I've been using herdr and this looks like a v2 of it.”
“I love herdr and use it daily but it has its limits.”
“I'm mostly using it now because it integrates with ssh while still supporting image paste.”
“herdr does a better job at showing you what’s open”
“I connect with https://herdr.dev/ for persistence”
“Now I use claude inside of herdr, and I appreciate having more screen real estate devoted to claude.”
“Herdr is OK - but the actual interface / layout is nice.”
“Herdr to manage all the terminals.”
“I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it.”
“I started using Herdr and taught my agents to use it.”
“Take a look at how Herdr got viral, and how it exposes protocols that let others come and build with it.”
“I use tailscale + https://herdr.dev/ with ssh to connect my laptop/phone.”
“just having workrees with a single click and a visual tree/children hierarchy was the killer feature for making me look at herdr at the first place.”
“It's a great bit of software, the UI is focused on switching between multiple agents quickly.”
“I just tried this and I'm pleasantly surprised! I definitely see myself using this as my goto.”
“It's awesome. It worked out of the box, has actually good, working mouse support”
“then I switched to herdr which is great so far except its not s great at managing panes.”