Skipper and Herdr
Herdr organizes coding agents inside your terminal. Skipper puts agents, branches, pull requests, and account choices in a Mac app. Both show when an agent needs your attention.
At a glance
Facts about Herdr are as of September 2026, from herdr.dev, its documentation, and its repository.
| What matters | Skipper | Herdr |
|---|---|---|
| Price and license | Free in private beta, closed source | Free, Apache 2.0 |
| Works on | macOS 26.5 or later | macOS, Linux, and Windows |
| Agents | Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, and Antigravity | 22 detected agent CLIs, and any other command |
| Accounts | Several Claude and Codex accounts, chosen per session | Whatever each CLI is signed in to |
| Remote machines | Local Mac only | Saved SSH machines in one window, and panes that survive a dropped connection |
Code review and setup details
| What matters | Skipper | Herdr |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A native Mac app written in Swift, with a Rust core | A terminal workspace manager, one Rust binary with a text interface |
| Where agents run | The vendor CLIs in Ghostty terminals inside the app | The vendor CLIs in panes inside your own terminal |
| Agent state | Working with a count of agents, needs input, or finished, from Herdr's manifests and the agents' own hooks and plugins | Working, blocked, or idle, from its manifests or lifecycle hooks |
| Worktrees | One per session, created with the session | A sidebar action creates one and opens it as a workspace |
| Pull requests | Status, checks, and merge from the app | None, and Herdr's compare page says it pairs with a diff and review tool |
When to choose Skipper
You work on a Mac and want a window with every session, its branch, and its pull request side by side. You want each session in its own worktree without setting one up, and you want to switch between work and personal accounts for the same agent. You would rather click a session than remember a pane's key binding.
What Herdr offers
Herdr runs in a terminal, including over SSH and on Linux or Windows. Agents can keep running on a remote machine after you disconnect. It detects agent CLIs beyond the five Skipper launches and is free and scriptable, with a socket API and plugins for tmux or other terminals. Skipper’s detection rules come from Herdr.
Using both
They do not conflict. You can run Herdr on a remote machine and Skipper on your Mac. Skipper takes Herdr's newer manifests when it updates its bundled agent CLIs, so detection improvements upstream reach Skipper too.