Compare cmux terminal panes with tmux sessions you can detach from.
Official product sites
cmux has a Mac app with terminal panes, a browser, and agent notifications. It also supports remote work and can attach to remote tmux sessions.
tmux runs its sessions on the host where you start its server. Those sessions survive terminal and SSH disconnects while the host and server remain running.
Use cmux for graphical terminal controls. Use tmux on the host where you need a session to continue after disconnecting. Solo manages local project commands and can restart them after exit or file changes.
Decide where your commands need to run and how you want to control them.
Arrange terminal panes and a browser in the Mac app. Agent notifications show which session needs attention.
Start tmux on the remote host to keep its sessions running when SSH disconnects. Reattach after you reconnect.
Inspect command output, CPU, and memory use. Configure command restarts and launch installed coding agents in the same project.
| Feature | cmux | tmux | Solo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Native macOS terminal for running multiple coding agents | Terminal multiplexer with session persistence | Local process dashboard for agents and project commands |
| Runs inside another terminal | — | Yes — runs inside any terminal emulator | — |
| Terminal rendering | libghostty with GPU acceleration in the native Mac app | Text-based — renders inside host terminal | Custom retained WebGL 2 renderer with 2D canvas fallback |
| Tabs / workspaces | Vertical sidebar tabs showing git branch, directory, ports, and notification status | Windows inside sessions, switchable via prefix key | Sidebar with process status and CPU/memory stats |
| Split panes | Yes — horizontal and vertical with directional keyboard navigation | Yes — horizontal and vertical with flexible layouts | — |
| Detach and reattach | Can attach to remote tmux sessions; native workspaces restore app state rather than live process state | Yes — reattach on the same running host after a client disconnect | — |
| Remote workflows | SSH and Mosh workspaces, plus remote tmux attachment | Runs directly on supported Unix hosts | — |
| Embedded browser | Yes — scriptable web view with API for clicks, form filling, JS eval, screenshots | — | — |
| Agent notifications | Blue rings around panes, unread badges, desktop alerts, Cmd+Shift+U to jump to latest | Bell and activity alerts in status bar | Native desktop notifications, in-app toasts, OSC escape sequences |
| Automation API | Unix socket API and CLI for workspaces, splits, input, browser, and notifications | Extensive command interface and format strings | MCP, local HTTP API, and Solo CLI |
| Session restore | Layout, directories, best-effort scrollback, browser history, and supported agent resume | Live while server remains running; plugins can restore saved layouts after restart | Processes persist while app is running |
| Plugin ecosystem | Community extensions via CLI | TPM ecosystem including resurrect, continuum, yank, and themes | — |
| Session config files | .cmux/cmux.json for project commands and layouts | tmux.conf; tmuxinator or tmuxp for YAML layouts | solo.yml for project command definitions |
| Ghostty config compatibility | Yes — reads existing Ghostty config for themes, fonts, and colors | — | — |
| Agent hooks | Install supported hooks with cmux hooks setup | — | First-party agent integrations and MCP tools |
| Auto-restart on crash | Manual restart in Task Manager; no automatic policy documented | Not built in; use a supervisor or wrapper | Automatic self-exit restart for commands, with rate limiting |
| Open source | Yes — GPL-3.0-or-later | Yes — ISC license | — |
| Price | Core app free; optional Founders Edition | Free | Free (4 projects, 20 processes); Pro plan |
| Platform | Native app on macOS 14+; TUI on macOS, Linux, and Windows | OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, macOS, and Solaris | macOS, Windows, Linux |
cmux is a terminal and workspace tool from Manaflow.
tmux is an ISC-licensed terminal multiplexer maintained since 2007.
Solo is a native desktop process dashboard for local dev environment management.
cmux supports agent-oriented terminal workflows.
Run a CLI agent in a tmux pane as you would in any terminal. Bell and activity monitoring can flag output. Add scripts or plugins if you need notifications tied to an agent's task status.
Solo runs supported agents as first-class processes alongside generic commands.
cmux supports SSH and Mosh workspaces and can attach to remote tmux sessions. Its own session restoration restores app state and supported agent sessions, not arbitrary live process memory.
tmux runs on the remote Unix host. Sessions survive client and SSH disconnects while that host and the tmux server remain running; a client that can reach the same host can reattach.
Solo is a local desktop app for project-process management. It does not provide remote detach/reattach.
cmux already provides project commands, CPU/memory task views, and manual stop/restart. Solo adds automatic self-exit and file-watch restart for commands plus a dedicated project-process model.
If tmux is your multiplexer, Solo adds a GUI process layer for local desktop work.
Solo complements both tools. Use cmux for interactive agent sessions, tmux for remote servers, and Solo for local command restart policies, resource views, and shared configuration.
Run a command on a remote host, disconnect, and reconnect. Check whether the command is still running, rather than whether the app restores its pane.
Connect over SSH and start the named session below. Run a command such as sleep 300. Detach with Ctrl+b, then d, and close SSH. Reconnect to the host and attach to the same session.
The command continues while the remote host and tmux server remain running. Rebooting the host or killing the tmux server ends the session.
Run on the host that should own the session
tmux new-session -s storefront
# Detach with Ctrl+b, then d.
tmux attach-session -t storefrontFollow the cmux remote setup for the same host. Run the command, disconnect, and reconnect. Check the process as well as the restored layout.
If the setup uses tmux on the remote host, tmux keeps the session alive. Reopening a pane alone does not preserve the process that ran in it.
In Solo, define local dev servers and workers in solo.yml. After you trust and start a command, Solo can restart it after it exits or a watched file changes. Agent sessions launch separately and do not use these restart settings.
Solo does not provide remote sessions that you can detach from and reattach to. Keep tmux on the remote host for that.
cmux and tmux are both free and open source. Choose between a visual terminal workspace and host-side detachable sessions.
cmux
The core app is free and open source, with an optional Founders Edition.
tmux
tmux is free and open source.
Solo
Solo manages local project commands and agent sessions in a desktop app.
Try cmux if you want terminal panes, a browser, and agent notifications in a Mac app. Keep tmux on remote hosts where sessions need to survive an SSH disconnect. For local commands that need automatic restarts or file watching, try Solo. Check the reconnect behavior before moving a remote project.
Related comparisons
If you are evaluating cmux, tmux, Solo, these are the closest next comparisons in the matrix.
Updated:
Sources reviewed: 2026-08-24
Start with one project and a small task. These guides walk through the setup and what to check when the work finishes.
Set up both tools in one project, give one agent implementation work, and ask the other to review the diff.
Read the guide →Give a lead agent a plan, shared todos, and a scratchpad so workers have clear assignments and a useful handoff.
Read the guide →Put a Laravel server, Vite, and a queue worker in solo.yml, then manage their output and restart behavior in Solo.
Read the guide →The Free plan includes every feature, so you only need Pro after you outgrow four projects.
Team seats
Buy seats under one Stripe subscription, then share a claim link in Slack or email. Each claimant signs in or registers and receives a normal Solo Pro license. Optional auto-grow adds prorated seats automatically when the pool is full, so your team never hits a license wall.
Seats 1–3
$99/seat/yr
Seats 4–10
$89/seat/yr
Seats 11–50
$79/seat/yr
Seats 51+
$69/seat/yr
Brackets apply per seat — a 10-seat team pays $99 each for seats 1–3 and $89 each for seats 4–10.
Free for four projects on macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Start with a terminal and add the programmable meta-harness when you need to coordinate agents with your local development stack.
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