Compared to other tools
Many good tools exist for running several coding agents at once. This page says what each is for and where Smalti differs, so you can pick the right one. It is accurate as of October 2026, based on each vendor's documentation or press coverage (linked). The products were not installed or tested for this page. If something here is wrong or out of date, it will be corrected.
Naming. Conductor (conductor.build) is a separate Mac app for running agents in Git worktrees. It is unrelated to Smalti's own orchestration agent, which is also called the Conductor.
What each tool is for
| Tool | Platforms | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Maestri | macOS | An infinite canvas of terminals and notes, with connections drawn between agents so they can talk to each other. |
| cmux | macOS | A terminal built for coding agents, with an attention ring, a notification panel, and a CLI that agents use to open panes. Open source. |
| Conductor | macOS | One workspace per Git worktree: chat with the agent, review the diff and checks, open the pull request, archive. Optional cloud workspaces. |
| Herdr | Linux, macOS | A terminal multiplexer that knows agent states (working, waiting, done but unseen), usable locally or over SSH, with a socket API. Open source. |
| Warp | macOS, Windows, Linux | An agentic terminal with a management view of running agents and cloud agents; works with other agent CLIs. |
| Claude Squad | Anywhere tmux runs | A terminal UI that lists agent sessions in tmux, each in its own worktree. Open source. |
| Nimbalyst | macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS | A kanban board of Claude Code and Codex sessions in worktrees, with a phone app. Open source. |
| Wave | macOS, Windows, Linux | A terminal of tiled blocks (shells, web pages, files, an AI assistant) with durable SSH sessions. Open source. |
| Zed | macOS, Linux, Windows | An editor with an agent panel that runs several threads in parallel and connects external agents through the Agent Client Protocol. |
| Cursor | macOS, Windows, Linux, web | An editor whose agents window runs up to eight agents across worktrees, SSH and cloud machines, and moves sessions between cloud and local. |
| Claude Code Remote Control | CLI, plus iOS, Android, web, desktop | Anthropic's own way to see and drive local Claude Code sessions from a phone or the web, with push notifications for permission prompts. |
| Happy | iOS, Android, web | A phone and web client for Claude Code and Codex that relays sessions end-to-end encrypted, with approval of permission requests. Open source. |
| GitHub Agent HQ | Web, VS Code, GitHub Mobile, CLI | Assign issues to agents from several vendors, steer them, and review their pull requests inside GitHub. |
| OpenAI Codex app | macOS, Windows | Codex threads per project, in local sandboxes and worktrees or in the cloud, with scheduled automations feeding a review queue. |
Where Smalti differs
Smalti is built for one person running many agents across several of their own machines. The differences that follow from that:
- A resource governor. Smalti measures each agent's whole process tree, holds new agents when memory is short, and pauses a runaway build before the machine runs out of memory. None of the tools above documents this. macOS today
- A record of how a project was steered. The decision timeline lists every goal, redirect, interrupt, approval and answer across a project's sessions. None of the tools above documents an equivalent. macOS today
- Your machines as peers. Most multi-machine setups above mean a laptop plus the vendor's cloud. Smalti connects to computers you own over SSH and Tailscale; Herdr, Happy and Claude Code Remote Control also treat your own machines this way. in development
- Done means verified. A task is not marked done until a passing check has run after it last started. Several tools show checks on a pull request; few apply them to local sessions. in development
- No account and no relay. Transcripts never leave your machines. Some tools above store transcripts on the vendor's servers or run agents in the vendor's cloud, which suits other needs, such as working from any browser.
Where others are ahead today
- Availability. Every tool above can be installed now. Smalti's macOS app has no signed release yet, and its Windows and iOS apps are in development.
- Approving from a phone. Claude Code Remote Control, Happy, GitHub Mobile and Nimbalyst already let you approve agent actions from a phone. In Smalti this is still being built.
- More than one agent. Most tools above support Codex and other agent CLIs. Smalti's apps support Claude Code only; Codex support exists in smaltid and the Conductor prototype, which are in development.
- Worktrees and pull requests. Conductor, Nimbalyst, Claude Squad, Cursor, Codex and Claude Code's server mode create a worktree per task and lead to a pull request in a released product. In Smalti only the command line Conductor prototype does this.
- GitHub checks. Smalti's CI panel works with Commitwell only. The Conductor prototype also reads GitHub Actions status.
Choosing
If you want a worktree-per-task loop that ends in a pull request, Conductor, Nimbalyst or Claude Squad fit that directly. If you want to approve Claude Code from your phone today, Remote Control or Happy do it now. If you live in the terminal and want agent states in a multiplexer, look at Herdr or cmux. Smalti is for keeping many agents on several of your own machines visible, within their resource limits, and accountable for how the work was steered.