Claude Squad vs Herdr: Two Ways to Run Many Coding Agents at Once
A practical comparison of Claude Squad and Herdr, two terminal tools for running several AI coding agents side by side, and how to pick between them.
If you have started running more than one AI coding agent at a time — a Claude Code session finishing one task while Codex churns on another — you quickly need a way to keep them organized. Claude Squad and Herdr both answer that need from the terminal, but they approach it from different angles. Claude Squad is a terminal app that puts each task in its own git workspace so you can review changes before they ship. Herdr is a background runtime that holds the terminals open so the agents keep working even after you close the laptop.
This comparison lays out what each tool is, where they overlap, where they diverge, and which one fits which workflow, using each project's own pages as observed on 2026-08-07.
At a glance
Pick by the problem you have. If you need agents to keep working after you close the laptop or disconnect, choose Herdr — its site describes a background runtime whose sessions survive a closed lid and resume after a restart (herdr.dev, as of 2026-08-07). If you need each parallel task in its own git workspace with a review-before-push step, choose Claude Squad (Claude Squad README, as of 2026-08-07). Both are free and open source; the pages we read on 2026-08-07 listed no paid tier for either.
Head to head
Key differences side by side; the stronger option is tinted green.
| Feature | Claude Squad | Herdr |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Terminal app that manages multiple local agents in separate workspaces | Background "agent runtime" server that holds the agents' terminals open |
| License (as of 2026-08-07) | GNU AGPL v3.0 | Apache 2.0 |
| Supported agent CLIs (per each site, as of 2026-08-07) | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Aider and other local agents | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, opencode, Grok, Copilot, Hermes, Pi; 19 detected |
| Per-task isolation | Each task gets its own isolated git workspace to avoid conflicts | Agents grouped into spaces and workspaces |
| Survives disconnect / machine restart | Not covered on the pages we read (2026-08-07) | Keeps working when the lid closes; resumes layout and sessions after restart |
| Per-agent status at a glance | Supervise multiple agents in one UI | Reads every pane and marks each agent working, blocked or idle |
| Review changes before pushing | Review changes before applying; checkout changes before pushing | Not covered on the pages we read (2026-08-07) |
| Install method | Homebrew (brew install claude-squad) or shell script | One-line shell script; Windows/Homebrew/Nix/manual options |
| Runtime dependencies (per each site, as of 2026-08-07) | Requires tmux and the GitHub CLI (gh) | Distributed as one binary |
| Unattended / background run mode | Background tasks including yolo / auto-accept (--autoyes) | Always-running background server |
| Reported GitHub stars (as of 2026-08-07) | 8.2k | 25,051 |
Feature matrix
| Feature | Claude Squad | Herdr |
|---|---|---|
| Manage multiple agents in one interface | ✓ | ✓ |
| Isolated workspace per taskClaude Squad uses a git workspace per task; Herdr groups agents into spaces and workspaces. | ✓ | ✓ |
| Runs external agent CLIs (Codex and others) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unattended / background executionClaude Squad via yolo / --autoyes; Herdr via its always-on server. | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in per-agent status (working / blocked / idle)Claude Squad's pages describe supervising agents in one UI; Herdr's site labels each agent working, blocked or idle. | △ | ✓ |
| Open-source licenseAGPL-3.0 (Claude Squad) vs Apache 2.0 (Herdr), as of 2026-08-07. | ✓ | ✓ |
✓ full · △ partial/paid · ✗ not supported
Pricing
Confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.
- Manages Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and Aider in separate workspaces
- Isolated git workspace per task
- Review and checkout changes before pushing
- Background / yolo auto-accept mode
- Installs as the cs binary via Homebrew or shell script
- Requires tmux and gh
- Background runtime keeps agents running after you disconnect
- Resumes layout and sessions after a restart
- Marks each agent working, blocked or idle
- Single binary; macOS and Linux, Windows in beta
- Remote access from a rented box
- 506 community plugins listed
Pros & cons
- Each task runs in its own isolated git workspace, reducing conflicts
- Built-in review: inspect changes before applying and checkout before pushing
- Runs several agent CLIs (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Aider)
- Background and yolo / auto-accept mode for unattended runs
- Open source under AGPL-3.0; simple Homebrew or script install
- Requires tmux and the GitHub CLI (gh) to be installed
- The pages we read on 2026-08-07 did not describe session persistence after a disconnect
- The pages we read on 2026-08-07 did not describe a plugin ecosystem
- Agents keep running when you close the lid or drop the network
- Restarts bring the layout back and resume sessions
- Labels each agent working, blocked or idle so you find the stuck one fast
- Ships as one binary with remote access from a rented box
- Open source under the permissive Apache 2.0 license
- At v0.8.0 (pre-1.0) as of 2026-08-07
- Windows support is in beta as of 2026-08-07
- The pages we read on 2026-08-07 did not describe a per-task git-diff review step like Claude Squad's
Claude Squad and herdr: the public release record on 2026-08-07
| Measured on 2026-08-07 | Claude Squad smtg-ai/claude-squad | herdr herdrdev/herdr |
|---|---|---|
| Latest release | v1.0.19, published 2026-06-17 | v0.8.0, published 2026-08-03 |
| Commits, weekly average | 0.8 a week (10 commits in the 12 weeks to 2026-08-07) | 77.6 a week (931 commits in the 12 weeks to 2026-08-07) |
| Most recent commit | 2026-07-30 | 2026-08-06 |
As recorded on 2026-08-07 from each project's public source repository on GitHub, herdr averaged 77.6 commits a week over the preceding twelve weeks while Claude Squad averaged 0.8 commits a week over the same span — both figures being counts of code changes pushed to the projects' open repositories, not vendor statements. Read together, they indicate that herdr's codebase was under far more active development in mid-2026 than Claude Squad's, which a reader weighing the two might treat as a signal of ongoing maintenance and momentum. What such commit counts cannot show, however, is how reliable either tool is in practice, the quality or support behind it, or how many people actually use it, since none of those things are captured by how often a repository is updated. Anyone relying on these numbers should read them only as a snapshot of development activity on that one date and verify current status directly before choosing.
Where these numbers come from: on 2026-08-07 (2026-08-07T00:11:07Z) we called the public endpoints listed below and recorded what they returned. Nothing here is taken from either vendor's marketing pages, and anyone can repeat the same calls. Repository figures describe the named repository — for a closed-source platform that is its official CLI or SDK, not the platform itself. What these figures do not tell you: Commit counts include merges, dependency bumps and documentation changes, and a monorepo will always show more commits than a single-purpose repository, so this measures how busy the named repository is — not progress, quality, or how much of it reaches the product. The commit date says the repository is being worked on, nothing about what changed. None of them measures reliability, support or how either product feels to use.
- Claude Squad — GitHub REST API · GitHub releases API · the project's own repository, where its releases are published
- herdr — GitHub REST API · GitHub releases API · the project's own repository, where its releases are published
What each tool actually is
Claude Squad describes itself as a terminal app that manages multiple local agents — Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and Aider among them — in separate workspaces, so you can work on several tasks at once (Claude Squad README, as of 2026-08-07). Each task gets its own isolated git workspace, which the project frames as the way it avoids conflicts between simultaneous tasks. It installs as a binary called cs and, per its README, expects tmux and the GitHub CLI (gh) to be present. The code is written in Go (the repository's file listing shows go.mod and main.go, as of 2026-08-07).
Herdr calls itself "the agent runtime" — a server that runs in the background with the agents' terminals living inside it (herdr.dev, as of 2026-08-07). Its pitch is persistence and reach: close the lid or drop the network and the agents keep working; restart the machine and Herdr brings the layout back and resumes the sessions. Its site says it runs the agent CLIs you already use — listing Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, opencode, Grok, Copilot, Hermes and Pi — and reports 19 agent CLIs detected out of the box. Herdr was at v0.8.0 as of 2026-08-07.
Where they overlap
Both tools exist to supervise several agents from one place rather than juggling terminal tabs by hand, and both run third-party agent CLIs rather than replacing them. Claude Squad lists Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and Aider (Claude Squad README, as of 2026-08-07); Herdr lists Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, opencode, Grok, Copilot, Hermes and Pi (herdr.dev, as of 2026-08-07).
Both also isolate work. Claude Squad gives each task its own git workspace; Herdr groups agents into spaces and workspaces. And both offer a way to let agents run unattended: Claude Squad's README documents completing tasks in the background including a yolo / auto-accept mode (enabled with the --autoyes flag), while Herdr's whole model is an always-running background server. Finally, both are open source — details in the pricing and licensing section below.
Where they differ
The clearest difference is persistence. Herdr's site centers on sessions that outlive your connection: the server keeps the agents working when the lid closes or the network drops, and resumes the layout and sessions after a restart (herdr.dev, as of 2026-08-07). The Claude Squad pages we read on 2026-08-07 did not describe session persistence after a disconnect, so that is a fact about our reading rather than about the tool.
A second difference is status visibility. Herdr's site says it reads every pane and marks each agent working, blocked or idle, so you do not go pane by pane hunting for the one waiting on you. Claude Squad's pages describe supervising multiple agents in one UI, but the pages we read did not spell out explicit per-agent status labels.
A third is the review step. Claude Squad's README highlights reviewing changes before applying them and checking out changes before pushing them — a git-diff gate built into the flow. The Herdr pages we read on 2026-08-07 did not describe an equivalent review-before-push step.
Finally, dependencies and reach differ. Claude Squad's README lists tmux and gh as prerequisites; Herdr's site presents itself as one binary and adds remote reach — running on a box you rent and getting you back in from anything with a keyboard. Herdr's site also advertises 506 community plugins as of 2026-08-07; the Claude Squad pages we read did not describe a plugin ecosystem.
Pricing and licensing
Neither project sells a paid tier on the pages we read. Both are open-source tools you install from the command line.
Claude Squad is licensed under GNU AGPL v3.0 (Claude Squad site and repository, as of 2026-08-07). It installs via Homebrew (brew install claude-squad) or a shell script, landing the cs binary on your system. Its GitHub repository showed 8.2k stars and 596 forks as of 2026-08-07.
Herdr is licensed under Apache 2.0 and was at v0.8.0 as of 2026-08-07 (herdr.dev). It installs with a single command (curl -fsSL https://herdr.dev/install.sh | sh), supports macOS and Linux with Windows in beta, and its site reported 25,051 GitHub stars and 342,549 installs to date as of 2026-08-07. The AGPL-3.0 versus Apache 2.0 split is the practical licensing decision: Apache 2.0 is the more permissive of the two, which can matter if you plan to build closed-source tooling on top.
The pages we read on 2026-08-07 listed no paid plan for either project, so treat both as free to run and confirm current terms on each project's site before you standardize on one.
Which one fits your workflow
Reach for Herdr if the pain you feel is agents dying when you disconnect. Its runtime model — always-on server, sessions that resume after a restart, working/blocked/idle labels, and remote access from a rented box — targets long-running, unattended work you want to check in on from anywhere (herdr.dev, as of 2026-08-07).
Reach for Claude Squad if your priority is shipping clean, reviewed changes. Its per-task isolated git workspaces plus the review-and-checkout-before-push flow are built for keeping several parallel tasks conflict-free and inspecting each diff before it lands (Claude Squad README, as of 2026-08-07). It does assume you already run tmux and the GitHub CLI.
They are not mutually exclusive in principle — one is a terminal manager built around git review, the other a runtime built around persistence — so the right pick follows the problem you are actually trying to solve.
These tools solve adjacent but distinct problems, so the honest verdict is use-case-based rather than a single winner. Herdr is the better fit when persistence and reach matter: its runtime keeps agents working through a closed lid or dropped network, resumes them after a restart, and labels each agent working, blocked or idle so you find the one waiting on you (herdr.dev, as of 2026-08-07). That suits long-running or unattended jobs you want to check on from anywhere.
Claude Squad is the better fit when disciplined shipping matters: it gives each task an isolated git workspace and a review-and-checkout step before changes are pushed, which keeps several parallel tasks conflict-free and every diff inspected (Claude Squad README, as of 2026-08-07). It expects tmux and the GitHub CLI in place. Both are free and open source as of 2026-08-07, so the low-cost move is to try the one whose core model — persistent runtime versus git-review manager — matches the workflow you actually run.
FAQ
Are Claude Squad and Herdr free?
Both are free, open-source tools as of 2026-08-07. Claude Squad is licensed under GNU AGPL v3.0 and Herdr under Apache 2.0. The pages we read on that date listed no paid tier for either.
Do I need to pick just one?
Not necessarily. Claude Squad is a terminal manager built around per-task git workspaces and change review, while Herdr is a background runtime built around keeping sessions alive. They target different problems, so some workflows could use each for what it does best.
Which agent CLIs do they run?
Claude Squad lists Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and Aider among supported local agents (Claude Squad README, as of 2026-08-07). Herdr lists Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, opencode, Grok, Copilot, Hermes and Pi, and reports 19 agent CLIs detected out of the box (herdr.dev, as of 2026-08-07).
What does each require to install?
Claude Squad installs via Homebrew or a shell script and lists tmux and the GitHub CLI (gh) as prerequisites; it lands as the cs binary. Herdr installs with a single command as one binary on macOS and Linux, with Windows in beta (as of 2026-08-07).