thaytool vs Superset vs Conductor vs Maestri vs tmux
thaytool, Superset, Conductor, and Maestri all run several AI coding agents side by side on a Mac; tmux is the terminal multiplexer people reach for first. the differences that matter are how each one isolates work (a git worktree, a filesystem clone, or nothing), whether terminals outlive the app, whether an account or a cloud is in the loop, and how you pay (one-time or monthly). the table is compiled from each vendor's own site and says "not stated" where a vendor doesn't say.
Same job, different trade-offs.
| axis | thaytool | Superset | Conductor | Maestri | tmux |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| what it is | native macOS app: one git worktree and one persistent terminal per task, for CLI coding agents | "one workspace for Claude Code, Codex, and any coding agent" (superset.sh) | "run parallel Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor agents in isolated workspaces on your Mac" (conductor.build) | "the infinite canvas for orchestrating AI agents" (themaestri.app) | a terminal multiplexer: many terminals from one screen, no agent-specific features (github) |
| platform | macOS 26+, Apple silicon | macOS desktop app | macOS (docs) | macOS 15.4+ on Apple silicon; a separate Windows build | OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, macOS, Solaris |
| isolation per task | a git worktree per workspace, on its own branch; one worktree per repo for multi-repo projects | a git worktree per agent | a git worktree per workspace (docs) | an APFS copy-on-write clone of the directory, not a worktree | none — sessions and windows only |
| agents | Claude Code and Codex out of the box; any CLI agent, the launch command is overridable | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Gemini, Mistral Vibe, Kimi Code, Grok CLI, Hermes | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or a shell | anything that runs in a terminal |
| terminals survive quitting the app | yes — a detached daemon owns every PTY, so sessions survive quit, self-update, and reboot; claude resumes with --resume | "closing a laptop doesn't kill the sessions" | not stated | not stated | yes — detach and reattach; the tmux server keeps running |
| account, cloud, telemetry | no account, no cloud backend, no telemetry; zero TCP ports | local-first; "cloud sync covers account and organization metadata only" | not stated | no account required; data stays on the machine; zero telemetry (vendor's own claim) | none |
| source | closed source; signed, notarized binary | source-available under the Elastic License 2.0 (github) | not stated | not stated | open source, ISC license |
| pricing | $20 one-time for up to three Macs; a 40-day trial that keeps working after it ends | free tier; Pro $20/month or $180 per user/year; enterprise custom (pricing) | free tier; Pro $50/month; Teams $60 per user/month; enterprise custom (pricing) | free tier; Pro R$95 one-time for up to two Macs; 7-day trial | free |
| built with | SwiftUI, a Metal terminal renderer, one binary; on-device Apple Intelligence for naming and routing | not stated | not stated | native; Metal-accelerated canvas | C |
prices and features change. every third-party cell is what that vendor's own site said on the date above, and the sources are linked below. "not stated" means their site doesn't say — it is not a claim that the product lacks the thing.
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