A Better Way to Run Terminal Agents!

Is Herdr a better way to manage terminal agents? I put its workspaces, Git worktrees, agent status, persistent sessions, and remote-machine workflow through a hands-on review. I also cover where plain tmux is enough—and when I’d choose a broader workspace like Orca instead.

Getting started

Herdr is a terminal multiplexer, not a replacement for the coding agents you already use. It keeps real shells and agents in panes, groups them into tabs and workspaces, and shows supported agents' activity in a sidebar. See the official installation guide for your platform; on macOS with Homebrew:

brew install herdr
herdr

Closing the client leaves its background session and running processes in place. That is not the same as surviving a machine reboot: the original processes stop, even if Herdr restores the workspace layout afterward. Mouse navigation also works.

Keybindings used in the review

Press Ctrl+B, release it, then press the next key. These are the defaults shown in the review; Ctrl+B, then ? displays the bindings for your current configuration.

Action	Keys
Show keybinding help	Ctrl+B, then ?
New tab	Ctrl+B, then C
Split pane right	Ctrl+B, then V
Split pane down	Ctrl+B, then -
New workspace	Ctrl+B, then Shift+N
New Git worktree	Ctrl+B, then Shift+G
Detach from the session	Ctrl+B, then Q

Worktrees and agents

The review uses a separate Git worktree so agents can operate in distinct checkouts. Herdr groups those workspaces, shows recognized agents and their status, and can notify when an agent finishes. Check the agent's output before acting on a status indicator. A Herdr workspace organizes the terminal view; the Git worktree separates the files.

Remote machines

Herdr can connect to a remote session over SSH or save machines so local and remote workspaces appear in one client. The remote machine still owns its own Herdr session and processes. In these examples, workbox is a host in your SSH config—replace it with your own reachable target. First check ssh workbox and exit that remote shell; then run these commands on your local machine:

# Attach to just this remote session, without saving a machine profile
herdr --remote workbox

# Save it for the regular client, which shows Local and remote workspaces together
herdr machine add workbox --label "Build machine"
herdr

The first-time remote setup may ask before installing or replacing a Herdr server; run it interactively and review that prompt. The remote-machine guide covers named sessions and other SSH targets.