Comparison - Terminal agent multiplexer

Winy vs Herdr

Herdr keeps a herd of agents alive inside your terminal; Winy puts them on a canvas next to your notes.

Herdr is an open-source terminal multiplexer for coding agents that runs inside the terminal you already use, knows which panes are agents, and marks each one as working, blocked, idle or done.

Winy is a native infinite-canvas notebook for Mac, iPad and iPhone, where real agent sessions like Claude Code and Codex sit on the board as live cards beside your notes, ink and images.

Both help you watch many agents at once, but Herdr is a keyboard-and-terminal runtime that keeps sessions going after you detach, and Winy is a visual board you think on.

At a glance

Question	Winy	Herdr
What it is	A canvas notebook where agent sessions are cards	A terminal multiplexer that understands coding agents
Where you use it	A native app on Mac, iPad and iPhone	Inside any terminal on macOS, Linux, Windows (beta)
Which agents	Claude Code, Codex, any CLI	22 agent CLIs detected, including Claude Code and Codex
Agent state	Status lights and a one-line summary per card	Working, blocked, idle or done for each pane
Layout	Cards on an infinite canvas	Panes you split, click and drag
Notes and sketches	Text, notes, ink, arrows and images on the board	Not a notebook
Agents driving agents	A command bar per card, with verbs a script can use	CLI and socket API to spawn, prompt and wait on agents
Other machines	Same board on iPad and iPhone; the Mac runs the agents	Add machines over SSH; agents show up in one window
Price	Early access, join the waitlist	Open source, Apache 2.0; Herdr Cloud has a waitlist

Which one is for you

Choose Herdr if

You live in the terminal and want agent awareness without switching apps, on macOS, Linux or Windows.
You want sessions that keep running when you detach, and come back after a restart.
You want agents to spawn, prompt and wait on each other through a CLI and socket API, or to run agents on remote machines over SSH.
You want it free and open source.

Choose Winy if

You think visually and want your notes, arrows and Pencil ink on the same board as the agents, visible to them.
You want to read an agent as a conversation, with Claude Code's choices as buttons, instead of a pane of terminal text.
You want the same board on your iPad and iPhone, with local-first sync over your own network and no cloud holding your notes.

Questions

What is Herdr?

Herdr is an open-source terminal multiplexer built for coding agents. It runs inside your existing terminal, detects agents like Claude Code and Codex, and shows whether each is working, blocked, idle or done.

Is Winy a Herdr alternative?

For the same job, seeing and steering many agents at once, yes, from a different direction. Herdr stays in the terminal; Winy puts each session on a canvas next to your notes, on Mac, iPad and iPhone.

Can I use Herdr inside Winy?

Winy terminal cards run any CLI, so you can start Herdr inside one like any other terminal program. Most people will pick one place to watch their agents, though.

Is Herdr free?

Herdr is open source under the Apache 2.0 license. Herdr Cloud, a hosted option, is not out yet and has a waitlist.

Thinking is Winning