Yes — herdr is Apache-2.0 open source, and it's one of the fastest-growing tools in the space (roughly 23k GitHub stars within months of launch). dev-mux is paid infrastructure: a dedicated always-on hub for your fleet, from $25/mo.

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dev-mux vs herdr

Q: Is dev-mux a herdr alternative?

Not really — they live on different layers. herdr is a terminal multiplexer for coding agents on one machine: an agent-native replacement for tmux with a semantic status sidebar. dev-mux is a fleet control plane: an always-on hub that watches every agent on every machine you own, with attention signals and surfaces from browser to iOS to glasses. If your world is one box, herdr may be all you need; dev-mux starts where the second machine does.

Q: Does dev-mux work with herdr?

That's the direction we're headed. Yes. dev-mux polls herdr the same way it polls tmux: a spoke running herdr contributes its workspaces and semantic agent states (idle, working, blocked, done) to the fleet map automatically — no configuration, and the spoke floor is still just bash + tmux + git. Attach/steer routing into herdr panes is next on the roadmap.

Q: Does herdr work across multiple machines?

One at a time. herdr can attach to a remote server over SSH ('herdr --remote box'), which is great for living on a single dev server — but it's still one box per view, with no cross-machine map, no machine health, and no always-on watcher. Aggregating many machines into one live, freshness-aware picture is exactly the layer dev-mux adds.

herdr is the breakout agent multiplexer of 2026 — "tmux for coding agents," roughly 23k GitHub stars within months, and genuinely excellent on a single machine. So let's be clear up front: this is not a rivalry. herdr and dev-mux live on different layers of the same stack, and for a lot of people the right answer will be both.

TL;DR — herdr runs the herd on one box. dev-mux watches the herd across every box. If all your agents live on one machine, herdr is probably all you need. When they're spread across a laptop, three cloud VMs, and a Pi — and you want one always-on picture of who needs you — that's the fleet layer, and that's dev-mux.

What herdr actually is

herdr replaces tmux with an agent-native workspace: panes and tabs like you'd expect, plus a semantic sidebar that knows each agent's state — idle, working, blocked, done — with automatic detection of agents like Claude Code, sane default keybindings, modern protocol support, and a scriptable JSON socket API. It's a single binary, Apache-2.0, and can attach to a remote server over SSH (herdr --remote box) while keeping your local keybindings.

At a glance

As of July 31, 2026. If something here is stale, tell us.

	dev-mux	herdr
Layer	Fleet control plane (above the multiplexer)	Box-level multiplexer (replaces tmux)
Scope	Every machine, repo, and agent — one live map	One machine per view (local or over SSH)
Agent awareness	Hook-level signals (waiting / done / error), attention escalation, usage	Semantic per-pane state (idle / working / blocked / done), auto-detection
Always-on watcher	Yes — hub polls even when no terminal is open; stale state flagged in seconds	No — state lives in your attached session
Machine health	CPU/mem per box, liveness, roster	—
Surfaces	Browser cockpit, TUI, iOS, G2 glasses, Telegram	Your terminal
Relationship to tmux	Runs on it (spoke floor: bash 3.2 + tmux + git)	Replaces it
Automation surface	--dry-run plan seam, signals, action plane	JSON socket API + CLI (--json everywhere)
License / price	Commercial — Solo $15/mo · Team $50/mo	Apache-2.0, free

Where herdr shines

The one-box agent experience — the semantic sidebar is the best in-terminal answer yet to "which of my agents needs me," and detection needs zero configuration.
Modern where tmux is crusty — keybindings that don't fight your editor, image protocol support, notifications that pass through correctly.
Scriptability — the JSON socket API is clean, versioned, and a pleasure to build against (we know; we've tested it).

Where dev-mux is a different layer

The fleet is the unit. herdr shows you the herd on the box you're attached to. dev-mux's hub is awake when your terminal isn't — polling every machine, aggregating every agent, flagging anything stale within seconds, and pushing attention signals to whatever surface you're carrying.
State beyond the terminal. Machine health, provider usage dials, a roster with roles, worktree session verbs, Linear wiring — fleet-operations concerns that don't belong inside a multiplexer, and aren't in one.
Surfaces beyond the terminal. A browser cockpit with live terminals, an iOS app, glasses, Telegram — the fleet follows you off the keyboard.
Heterogeneous floors. Anything with bash 3.2 + tmux + git is a spoke today — decade-old MacBooks included. herdr is a modern single binary, but it's still one more thing each box must run.

Better together

Here's the part we're genuinely excited about: herdr exposes exactly the seam a fleet layer wants. Its socket API reports semantic agent state that's richer than what heuristics can infer from a raw tmux pane, and its attach command fits the same terminal-relay pattern we use for tmux. So we built it: dev-mux now polls herdr the way it polls tmux. A spoke running herdr contributes its workspaces to the fleet map as sessions, and herdr's blocked / working / done / idle states feed dev-mux's attention model directly — richer signal than terminal heuristics can infer. It's automatic (detected per box, zero configuration, disable with DEV_HERDR=0) and strictly additive: the spoke floor is still just bash + tmux + git, with herdr as a bonus, never a requirement. Attach/steer routing into herdr panes is the next step on the roadmap.

Common questions

Is dev-mux a herdr alternative?

Different layers: herdr is the multiplexer on a box; dev-mux is the control plane over all your boxes. One box → herdr may be plenty. Many boxes → that's us — including watching your herdr boxes, which is built in.

Does dev-mux work with herdr?

Yes — herdr-aware fleet polling is built in: a spoke running herdr shows its workspaces and semantic agent states in the dev-mux fleet map automatically. Attach/steer routing into herdr panes is next on the roadmap.

Does herdr work across multiple machines?

One at a time, including remotely over SSH — but there's no cross-machine map, health, or always-on watcher. That aggregation is the layer dev-mux adds.

herdr runs the herd on a box. dev-mux watches every herd you have.

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Written 2026-07-31 against herdr's public site, docs, and a hands-on evaluation of herdr 0.7.5. herdr is a trademark of its authors; no affiliation or endorsement implied. Corrections welcome.