---
title: "Robion vs. Herdr — a cockpit for Claude Code vs. a terminal multiplexer for agents"
description: "Herdr is “tmux for coding agents”: one Rust binary, 20+ CLIs, SSH remotes and a sidebar of agent states. Robion starts where Herdr ends: diffs, worktrees and merge, a phone that decides, automations, a Steward and a workshop — around Claude Code on macOS."
url: "https://robion.app/compare/herdr/"
lang: en
---

# Robion vs. Herdr

Herdr is a terminal multiplexer that knows what agents are: a server holds the PTYs, a client attaches from any terminal or over SSH, and a sidebar shows working, blocked, done and idle for 20+ agent CLIs. Robion shares one idea with it — a pane host that survives the client — and builds a desktop cockpit on top of it for one agent, Claude Code.

_Compiled from the other product’s public documentation, README and reviews as of 23 September 2026, not from hands-on use; Robion as of version 0.20.16. Corrections are welcome in the issue tracker._

- **Herdr** — Open source (Apache 2.0), one Rust binary without Electron, macOS and Linux with a Windows client. Runs inside iTerm2, Kitty, WezTerm or Ghostty with tmux-style keys, detach and reattach, plain SSH to remote boxes, a socket API agents use to open panes and start other agents, plugins with a marketplace, zero telemetry and no account. Aimed at people who work on a remote box and want no GUI.
- **Robion** — Free, proprietary, an Electron app on macOS plus a headless Linux server and a terminal TUI over the same pane host. Claude Code only, driven by its hooks: panels next to the terminal, worktrees and merge, a phone that answers permissions, automations, a Steward and a workshop for makers. Anonymous usage counts to PostHog, switched off in settings.

## What Herdr has and Robion does not

- **The terminal as home** — Runs in your own terminal with tmux keys, over plain SSH without installing anything on the client, as a thin remote client. Robion’s TUI (robion-cli tui) and attach need the Robion server and its pane host on the box.
- **Any agent** — 20+ CLIs — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini, OpenCode — and several agents in one workspace. Robion is Claude Code only.
- **Lightness** — One Rust binary, no Electron, no telemetry, no account. Robion is Electron plus a Node server, with opt-out telemetry.
- **Plugins and a marketplace** — Local executable plugins with manifest actions and event hooks, shared over GitHub. Robion has its own agent plugin and the Maker Pack.
- **More UI languages** — Japanese and Chinese besides English. Robion speaks English and Czech.

## What Robion has and Herdr does not

- **Everything beyond the terminal** — Diff, review, a GIT section with commit and push, worktrees with update, merge and tidy, a web preview, an editor, logs, statistics, cost, notifications. Herdr has the pane and the sidebar.
- **Agent state from hooks, not from the screen** — Robion reads Claude Code’s hooks: permission, question, error, unread result, subagents, background shells, forks, a session moving into a worktree. Herdr reads Claude Code’s screen and keeps “blocked” deliberately strict; it has hooks for a few other agents.
- **A phone that decides** — End-to-end encrypted push, allow or deny from the lock screen, question cards, plan approval, photos into the prompt, changes and merge. Herdr’s official phone app is a console; approvals from the phone come from a third-party relay.
- **Worktrees, merge, isolation** — A worktree per task with claude --worktree, update, merge with four strategies and pre-checks, tidy, a sandbox toggle per task. Reviews of Herdr note that file isolation is absent and worktrees are yours to manage; it does not sandbox agents.
- **Automations, Inbox, Steward, board** — Rules with no model in the path, a planner from a briefing, an Inbox of decisions, a board the planner reads. Herdr’s orchestration is a socket agents open panes over; nothing plans or limits.
- **A workshop and hardware** — 3D models, Gerber, DXF, DRC and ERC, a live customizer, a design record with gates, a stream deck. Out of Herdr’s scope.

## Who should pick which

Pick Herdr if you live in a terminal on a remote box, run several different agent CLIs, want one binary with no telemetry, or want to extend it with plugins.

Pick Robion if you want what comes after the terminal — review, worktrees and merge in one window, a phone that answers permissions, work that starts by itself from tickets and the clock, a planner, or a workshop for physical things — and you are on Claude Code with a Mac (or a Linux server driven from the phone and the TUI).

Both keep the agents alive when the client goes away; the difference is what sits on top of that.

## Sources

- https://github.com/herdrdev/herdr
- https://herdr.dev/
- https://herdr.dev/docs
- https://flaviocopes.com/herdr/
- https://www.bitdoze.com/herdr-agent-multiplexer/
- https://github.com/0cv/herdr-mobile-relay