Where your coding agents actually live

Where your coding agents actually live An architecture diagram generated by Archify. A terminal tab · the thing you are looking at · Terminal tabs — nothing outlives the window A terminal tab the thing you are looking at The agent · same lifetime as the window · Terminal tabs — nothing outlives the window The agent same lifetime as the window tmux client · attach and detach freely · Multiplexer (tmux · Zellij) — terminals survive, meaning does not tmux client attach and detach freely tmux server · owns the PTYs · Multiplexer (tmux · Zellij) — terminals survive, meaning does not tmux server owns the PTYs Panes · alive, and indistinguishable · Multiplexer (tmux · Zellij) — terminals survive, meaning does not Panes alive, and indistinguishable cmux · Warp window · replaces your terminal · Terminal app (cmux · Warp) — the window is the runtime cmux · Warp window replaces your terminal Agents inside the app · its renderer, its platforms · Terminal app (cmux · Warp) — the window is the runtime Agents inside the app its renderer, its platforms TUI · CLI · plain SSH · detach them all; work continues · herdr — a runtime, and every UI is a client of it TUI · CLI · plain SSH detach them all; work continues herdr server · owns the PTYs · herdr — a runtime, and every UI is a client of it herdr server owns the PTYs Agent panes · your terminal, unchanged · herdr — a runtime, and every UI is a client of it Agent panes your terminal, unchanged A state per pane · working · blocked · done · idle · herdr — a runtime, and every UI is a client of it · the difference A state per pane working · blocked · done · idle the difference close the tab, the work stops detach, the work continues bytes in, bytes out quit the app, the work stops detach, the work continues owns the PTYs classified per pane Terminal tabs — nothing outlives the window Multiplexer (tmux · Zellij) — terminals survive, meaning does not Terminal app (cmux · Warp) — the window is the runtime herdr — a runtime, and every UI is a client of it Legend Frontend Backend Security External

The row that sorts the field

  • • What happens to the agents when the thing you are watching goes away
  • • Tabs and apps: they stop. Multiplexers and herdr: they do not.

What the runtime adds, and what it costs

  • • A state per agent pane, and a wait a script can use: agent wait --until blocked
  • • One more background daemon, and for most agents the state is matched from the screen