Pane
Pane is a free, open-source agent manager that runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any CLI coding agent in parallel git worktrees.
Pane's selling point isn't a clever UI, it's that worktree bookkeeping stops being your job — panes, branches, ports and .env files are handled for you. If you already juggle three Claude Code or Codex sessions across branches, that alone is worth the install, and $0 with no seat cap makes it an easy trial. Wait if you need a signed installer, a graphical editor, or hosted cloud worktrees today; those are roadmap, not shipping.
Verified 2d ago · liveness 70/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/pane
- Developers running two or more AI coding agents in parallel on separate branches
- Engineers who want worktree isolation and port management without typing git worktree
- Solo devs and small teams that won't pay per-seat fees for an agent manager
- Open-source teams that need to audit, fork or self-host their agent tooling
- Developers who want a graphical IDE or code editor — Pane is terminal-first
- Teams that need hosted cloud worktrees or SOC 2 today; those are planned services, not shipped
- Users who want bundled model access — you supply your own Anthropic, OpenAI or Google keys
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Skip Pane if you want a graphical IDE with a built-in editor, need signed Windows installers or SOC 2 today, or expect the tool to supply model access rather than bringing your own Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google API keys.
Pane itself is $0, but your agent bill is metered by your provider — running Claude Code or Codex autonomously for hours burns Anthropic or OpenAI tokens at full rate
Pane is free forever under AGPL-3.0 with no seat limit, usage cap, trial period, or feature gating — the whole desktop app is included at $0. Against peers: Conductor is free (BYOK) but closed source and Mac-only; Superset charges $20/seat/mo for its Pro tier (ELv2, source-available) which adds remote workspaces and SOC 2; cmux is GPL or a paid commercial license. Pane fits solo devs and small teams where per-seat cost or lock-in is the deciding factor, and any budget that has no room for a
In short
Pane — Pane is a free, open-source agent manager that runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and any CLI coding agent in parallel git worktrees. Best for Developers running two or more AI coding agents in parallel on separate branches, Engineers who want worktree isolation and port management without typing git worktree, Solo devs and small teams that won't pay per-seat fees for an agent manager. Free to use.
What's new in Pane
Checked 4 days agoAcross the latest 4 updates: 1 feature update and 3 changelog entries.
Pane v2.4.179: Coded errors with next steps carried to CLI, MCP and app
v2.4.179 reports failures with an error code and next step from daemon to runpane CLI, MCP and app, prints JSON failures only for runpane's own --json, and surfaces connection-drop cases.
Pane v2.4.180: Persist sidebar state across compact mode, host switches, restarts
v2.4.180 keeps the sidebar Archived list and repository groups open across compact mode, host switches and restarts, and documents collapsed Sessions in the remote daemon lifecycle.
Pane v2.4.178: Pane setup queued two at a time, one Pane per branch
v2.4.178 queues Pane setup two at a time, refuses a second Pane on one branch, prints each Pane's setup lines in order, and shows setup notices to screen readers.
Pane v2.4.178: SSH host list and built-in SSH view
v2.4.178 adds SSH hosts to the sidebar with a built-in SSH view per host, host-change restarts, retried tab loads, and a documented list of aliases Pane skips.
What people actually say about Pane — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
120 mentions across 7 sources (Hacker News, Product Hunt, App Store, Bluesky, Stack Overflow, GitHub, Lemmy) · researched Jul 6, 2026.
Average across the 7 sources that answered — each source counts once, not each post.
- +Cross-platform support: Windows ARM64, macOS, and Linux desktop app.
- +Agent-agnostic design works with Claude Code, Codex, Aider, OpenCode.
- +Automated git worktree management eliminates manual branching overhead.
- +Remote Pane via SSH enables control from phone or any device.
- +In-app browser and split panes reduce context switching during development.
- −No real user feedback available to validate any claimed benefits.
- −Name is too generic, causing search noise and brand confusion.
- −Existing terminal multiplexers (tmux) may already meet user needs.
- −Lack of community support forums or active issue tracker presence.
- −Unclear how well it handles large-scale multi-agent workflows.
- • Cloud services pricing not yet announced; early adopters may face future fees
- • Potential infrastructure costs if running agents on cloud VMs
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Pane? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: October 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Auto git worktrees: Pane creates and cleans them — you never type git worktree
- Parallel panes running Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Aider or any CLI
- Agent-agnostic: no plugins, no SDK, anything that runs in a terminal works
- Session orchestrator: chats with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor that split work and start panes
- MCP server registered with Claude Code, Codex and Cursor on launch, including in WSL
- Agent-operable CLI: agents discover the schema, register repos and create follow-up panes
- Isolated ports: each pane gets its own block of 10 ports in $PANE_PORT
- Secrets sync: .env auto-copies into every new worktree
- Setup, run and archive scripts via pane.json or conductor.json
- Cross-terminal context: type @ to pull output from any other pane
- In-app browser split alongside the terminal, including opening pull requests
- Built-in git: diff, commit, push, rebase, squash and merge from the keyboard
- Remote Pane over SSH with built-in SSH view per host and sidebar host list
- Remote Pane PWA and React Native (Expo) companion app for phone control
- Windows, macOS and Linux with WSL sessions in a selected distribution
About Pane
Pane is a keyboard-first desktop app for developers who run several terminal-based AI coding agents at once. One pane equals one task on one branch, and Pane creates the git worktree behind it automatically — you never type git worktree. Archive a pane and Pane removes the worktree again; one command rebases it from main. It is built by Dcouple Inc (runpane.com) and shipped under AGPL-3.0. Agent-agnostic by design: Claude Code, Codex and Cursor are built in, and anything else that runs in a terminal works too — OpenCode, Aider, Goose — with no plugins and no SDK. Each pane gets its own block of 10 ports in $PANE_PORT so parallel dev servers never collide, .env secrets auto-copy into every new worktree, and Pane runs the setup, run and archive scripts from your pane.json or conductor.json. Typing @ in a terminal pulls output from any other pane straight into your prompt. Sessions are chats with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor that split up work, start panes, watch them, collect reports and track PRs, and several can be tiled side by side. Pane registers an MCP server with those agents on launch — even inside WSL — so your agents can start and check on other agents. The v2.4.178–2.4.180 releases added SSH hosts in the sidebar with a built-in SSH view per host, queued Pane setup two at a time, persisted sidebar state across restarts and host switches, and coded errors with next steps carried through the daemon, runpane CLI, MCP and app. Remote Pane keeps the desktop UI local while agents run on a VM, WSL box or home server, and a phone PWA plus React Native (Expo) companion put the same control in your pocket. Windows, macOS and Linux share one UI. Alternatives like Conductor and Superset have different licensing and pricing models; Pane's desktop binary is free forever with no seat limit or usage cap, and the team plans to monetize separate cloud services instead.
Behind the Verdict
We'd reach for Pane the moment agent count passes one. Two or three Claude Code or Codex sessions on separate branches turn into a git worktree, port-collision and .env-copying chore fast, and Pane removes all three. The auto worktree creation, the per-pane block of 10 ports in $PANE_PORT, and the setup/run/archive scripts in pane.json are the parts that earn their keep on day one. The Sessions feature is where it gets interesting beyond convenience. Rather than babysitting tabs, you chat with an orchestrator that starts panes, watches them, collects reports and tracks PRs, and Pane registers its MCP server with Claude Code, Codex and Cursor on launch — even in WSL. Agents can then spin up follow-up panes themselves via the agent-operable CLI. In practice that flips you from typing prompts to reviewing output. Remote Pane over SSH is the other reason to pick it. The desktop UI stays local while the agents run on a VM, WSL box or home server, and the phone PWA and Expo companion mean a long-running session doesn't pin you to the desk. Recent v2.4.178–2.4.180 releases tightened this: SSH hosts in the sidebar with a built-in per-host SSH view, sidebar state that survives host switches and restarts, setup queued two at a time, and coded errors with next steps flowing through the daemon, CLI, MCP and app. Why pass? Pane is terminal-first. If you want a graphical IDE with an editor pane, this is the wrong tool — it manages agents, it doesn't write your code for you. You also bring your own Anthropic, OpenAI or Google keys; there's no bundled model access. The tradeoff to weigh against Conductor and Superset is licensing plus platform. Conductor is closed source and Mac-only; Superset's Pro runs $20/seat/mo on an Elv2 license and adds remote workspaces and SOC 2. Pane is
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Pane actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
You create three panes, one per feature; Pane generates a git worktree and isolated localhost port for each. You launch Claude Code in pane one, Codex in pane two, and Aider in pane three, then type @ in pane one to pull output from pane two so the agents share context across branches.
Outcome: Three branches progress in parallel without stepping on each other, and you commit, rebase, and squash from the keyboard without ever typing git worktree or alt-tabbing to a separate git client.
You stand up Pane's self-hosted daemon on a VM, connect over Remote Pane SSH from your laptop, and switch hosts from the sidebar — Pane restores the session state you left on each host. Overnight you check the Remote Pane PWA on your phone and resume an interrupted Pane Chat turn.
Outcome: Agents keep working on the VM while your laptop sleeps, and you approve the resulting PR from a phone instead of staying tethered to the desktop.
You install via Homebrew cask or winget, read the AGPL-3.0 source, and configure Pane Chat with a Codex orchestrator that registers the repo, creates follow-up worktree panes, and verifies progress through the public runpane CLI contract under named locks.
Outcome: You get multi-agent orchestration on your own terms with forkable, self-hostable code and no per-seat fee, and you can reproduce or patch any behavior you don't like.
Use Cases
- Run Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode simultaneously on one repository without branch conflicts
- Automate git worktree creation and cleanup so you never type git worktree
- Set up a remote agent farm on a cloud VM or home server and control it from desktop or phone
- Use the Pane Chat orchestrator to plan, delegate, review, and PR-test work across panes in one conversation
- Let CLI agents self-orchestrate by creating panes, reading terminal output, and validating progress
- Keep isolated environments per agent with per-pane ports and synced .env secrets
- Review and commit changes inside Pane using built-in git diff, commit, push, rebase, and squash
- Use the in-app browser to reference docs while an agent works in a split pane
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-10-16
Limitations
- Pane is an agent manager, not an AI provider: you bring your own API keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or whatever a chosen CLI agent supports) and your API bill is between you and that provider.
- The Windows desktop binary is unsigned, so direct downloads can trigger a SmartScreen warning; the vendor advises auditing the open-source code, building from source, or using the PowerShell install path to avoid browser download friction.
- Dcouple Inc's planned paid services (managed cloud worktrees and team collaboration features) are announced but not shipped; the local desktop app is and will remain free under AGPL-3.0, which requires releasing modifications if you distribute a modified version of Pane itself or run it as a network service.
as of 2026-10-03
Verification history
We have re-verified Pane 9 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-checked, vendor evidence unchanged
Showing the 6 most recent of 9 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Pane tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Pane
$0
Ideal for
Solo devs and small teams running multiple AI coding CLIs who want worktree isolation with no seat fee or usage cap
What this tier adds
Starting tier and only tier: $0 under AGPL-3.0, with no seat limit, trial period, usage cap, or feature gating
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Pane's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
Pane is free forever under AGPL-3.0 with no seat limit, usage cap, trial period, or feature gating — the whole desktop app is included at $0. Against peers: Conductor is free (BYOK) but closed source and Mac-only; Superset charges $20/seat/mo for its Pro tier (ELv2, source-available) which adds remote workspaces and SOC 2; cmux is GPL or a paid commercial license. Pane fits solo devs and small teams where per-seat cost or lock-in is the deciding factor, and any budget that has no room for a
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Pane — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
Solo dev: minutes if you already have a CLI agent and an Anthropic/OpenAI/Google key — install via the PowerShell one-liner, Homebrew cask, or winget, then runpane setup. Small team on a remote host: add 20–40 minutes to provision the VM, set up the daemon, and connect Remote Pane over SSH, plus a few more if you want phone push. Windows users should expect a SmartScreen prompt on direct
Switching to or from Pane
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From raw terminal + git worktree: install Pane, open your existing repo, and let it create worktrees per pane instead of running git worktree add and remove by hand
- →From Conductor (Mac-only): install Pane on the same machine, keep your Anthropic or OpenAI keys, and recreate your task layout as panes on Windows, Mac, or Linux
- →From Superset: point Pane at the same repositories and drop the $20/seat/mo Pro subscription while keeping parallel worktree isolation locally
- →From tmux or a terminal multiplexer: install Pane, open your repos, and use @ cross-terminal context plus built-in git in place of hand-rolled tmux sessions
- ↗To Conductor: export your branches, recreate the layout as Conductor workspaces, and accept a Mac-only closed-source desktop app
- ↗To Superset: move repos across and pay $20/seat/mo for its Pro tier if you want hosted remote workspaces and SOC 2
- ↗To raw Claude Code, Codex, or Aider plus tmux: drop the manager and run each agent in its own tmux window, managing git worktrees yourself
- ↗To cmux: re-create the layout under its GPL tier or buy a commercial license if you need an alternative worktree-aware terminal
Integrations
Resources & Guides
- Documentationrunpane.com
Docs · Pane
Full product docs from runpane.com
- Quickstartrunpane.com
Getting Started · Pane
Get up and running fast from runpane.com
- Documentationrunpane.com
Panes And Worktrees · Pane
Full product docs from runpane.com
- Documentationrunpane.com
Keyboard Shortcuts · Pane
Full product docs from runpane.com
- Documentationrunpane.com
Troubleshooting · Pane
Full product docs from runpane.com
- Resourcerunpane.com
Changelog · Pane
Helpful link from runpane.com
Tutorials & Learning
YouTube returned 6 videos for “Pane”, and we withheld 6: 6 could not be judged, because “Pane” is a single word that other videos use for other things. We are showing none, because we could not prove any of them are about Pane.
Official links
Tools that pair well with Pane
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Pane, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
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Ellipsis
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Featured Head-to-Head Comparisons
Pane vs Spider Cloud
Choose Pane if you need to orchestrate multiple CLI-based AI coding agents in parallel with automated git worktree isolation. Choose Spider Cloud if your priority is ingesting web data into AI pipelines via a fast, cheap scraping API. They solve completely different problems — Pane is a local agent manager, Spider Cloud is a web data extraction service.
Pane vs Voyage Ai
If you need high-accuracy retrieval in domain-specific RAG pipelines (finance, legal) and have enterprise budget, Voyage AI is the clear choice. If you're a developer running multiple AI coding agents in parallel and want a free, open-source, terminal-first manager, Pane is unbeatable. They solve entirely different problems — pick the one that matches your workflow.
Pane vs Temporal Ai
Choose Temporal AI if you need a battle-tested durable execution platform for mission-critical AI agents and workflows that survive crashes, retries, and human-in-the-loop delays. Choose Pane if you're a developer who wants to run multiple coding agents (e.g., Claude Code, Codex) in parallel with automatic git worktree isolation — it's free, terminal-first, and requires zero backend overhead.
Pane vs Poolside Ai
For individual devs wanting a free, keyboard-driven agent manager that runs multiple CLI agents in parallel, Pane is unbeatable. For enterprises in finance, healthcare, or defense needing custom, auditable AI agents with long-context reasoning and on-prem deployment, Poolside AI is the clear choice. Your pick depends on budget, compliance needs, and whether you want to manage agents or have them managed for you.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Best-of guides
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