An agent multiplexer that lives in your terminal, providing persistent sessions, multi-agent parallel status monitoring, and Socket API-based autonomous orchestration.
herdr is a terminal multiplexer positioned as "tmux for agents," designed specifically for the parallel management and monitoring of AI coding agents. Built on top of traditional terminal multiplexing capabilities (workspace/tab/pane hierarchy, persistent sessions, detach/reattach), it introduces a real-time agent status awareness system β a sidebar displays each agent's status with a four-level color scheme (π΄ blocked / π‘ working / π΅ done / π’ idle), with workspace-level aggregation of the most urgent status.
Core Differentiators#
- Zero-config status detection: Works via foreground process name matching and terminal output heuristic analysis, with optional Socket API for precise reporting
- Complete Socket API: Allows agents to programmatically create workspaces, split panes, run commands, read output, and wait for status changes, enabling agent-to-agent collaboration
- One-click integration: Built-in support for mainstream agents including Claude Code, Codex, Amp, and OpenCode
Architecture#
herdr uses a client-server architecture delivered as a single Rust binary with no external runtime dependencies. The background session server ensures agents continue running after client detach, with SSH remote reattach support. All communication β between client and server, and between agent integrations and server β goes through local Unix Sockets.
The status detection engine operates in dual modes: passive mode infers agent status via foreground process name matching and terminal output heuristic analysis; active mode allows agents to report semantic status via the socket API. Agent status follows a four-level state machine: blocked β working β done β idle.
Features#
- Three-level window management: workspace β tab β pane, with horizontal/vertical splitting, fullscreen toggle, and resize
- Named sessions: Each named session has independent panes, tabs, workspaces, and status, sharing global configuration
- Native mouse support: Click to focus panes, drag borders to resize, select text to copy
- Theme system: 9 built-in themes (catppuccin, tokyo night, dracula, nord, gruvbox, one dark, solarized, kanagawa, rosΓ© pine)
- Notification system: Sound + toast notifications with tab-aware silence mechanism
- Nesting compatible: Can run inside tmux
Installation & Usage#
curl -fsSL https://herdr.dev/install.sh | sh
Quick start:
herdr # Start/attach to default background session server
# ctrl+b q Exit client (agents keep running)
# n Create new workspace
# v/- Split pane
# c Create new tab
# b Toggle sidebar
# f Fullscreen pane
Agent integration:
herdr integration install claude
herdr integration install codex
herdr integration install pi
herdr integration install opencode
Configuration file: ~/.config/herdr/config.toml. Use herdr --default-config to view full default config.
Use Cases#
- Multiple AI coding agents running different subtasks in parallel with unified status monitoring
- Remote server environments where agents run continuously, accessible via SSH from any device
- Agent-to-agent collaboration and subtask orchestration via Socket API
- Project-level workspace management organized by git repository or folder
Currently supports Linux and macOS. Licensed under AGPL-3.0, current version v0.5.4.