A tmux Alternative for AI Coding Agents

Clusto is a tmux alternative built for AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI and OpenCode. A small daemon on your server owns the sessions, so they keep running when you disconnect, and you reattach from a desktop app, an Android app, a browser, or the CLI. Unlike tmux, it adds agent-aware alerts, a phone-friendly interface, and one view across several machines.

tmux is still a fine choice, and this page says where it wins. It is free, it is installed almost everywhere, and you can script it.

What people use tmux for with agents

Most people who run agents in tmux want three things:

• Persistence. Start claude or codex in a tmux session, close the terminal, and the agent keeps working.
• Detach and reattach. SSH back in from another machine and run tmux attach.
• Many panes. Watch several agents at once in splits and windows.

All of this works well on one server you can SSH into.

Where tmux falls short for agents

tmux was designed for terminals, not for long agent runs you check on from anywhere. The gaps people hit:

• Phones. You need an SSH client, and typing and scrolling in a terminal on a small screen is hard. A dropped connection means reconnecting and reattaching by hand.
• Knowing when an agent needs you. tmux can flag activity or a bell in a window, but it does not know that an agent is waiting on a permission prompt. You look at the pane to find out.
• Several machines. Each host has its own tmux server. Seeing every agent across a workstation, a VPS and a build box means several SSH sessions.
• No graphical interface. There is no file browser, git view or conversation view next to the terminal.

How Clusto covers each

Persistence

The Clusto daemon (clustod) owns every session and supervises its process. Disconnecting a client, whether a closed laptop or a dropped phone connection, does not stop the session. The daemon keeps a replayable output stream, so a client that reconnects resumes from where it stopped. See Architecture and Transport and Resume.

Reattach from any client

Connect the desktop app (Windows and Linux), the Android app, the web app, or the CLI to the same daemon and pick up the same session. The web app also installs as a PWA on iPhone and iPad. Only one client types at a time, while others view, and you take over explicitly. See Session Exclusivity.

Panes and workspace

The Terminals view splits into panes with Ctrl+Alt+Arrow, moves focus with Ctrl+Shift+Arrow, and maximizes a pane with Ctrl+Alt+Enter. A pane is a view of a session, so closing a pane does not stop the session. In tmux, closing a pane normally ends the shell inside it. See Terminal Workspace.

Agent attention

Clusto marks a session with a ? when the agent is waiting for an answer and can notify you with the prompt text and a Copy button. It detects when Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and GitHub Copilot CLI go from working to idle, and shows a desktop popup and sound. On Android, optional background checks about every 15 minutes catch what you missed while the app was closed. See Agent Waiting Marker and Background Notifications.

Many machines

Nodes join a leaderless cluster, and the app shows sessions from all of them in one place. Each session runs on the node that started it, and processes do not move between nodes. Clusto Tunnel can reach nodes without a VPN or port forwarding.

Beyond the terminal

For agents that support it, Chats give a conversation view with Markdown rendering, tool approval cards, queued messages and file pasting. The app also has a file explorer, a git panel, an editor, and scheduled Tasks.

tmux and Clusto side by side

	tmux	Clusto
Cost	Free	Requires a license; the Personal plan is free for one user on up to 3 devices
Where it runs	Any Unix-like system, including macOS	Daemon on Linux (x64 and ARM64) and Windows; clients on Windows, Linux, Android and the web app
Setup	One package, often preinstalled	Install the daemon, then connect a client with its token
Sessions survive disconnect	Yes	Yes
Reattach from	Any SSH client	Desktop app, Android app, web app, CLI
Closing a pane	Ends the shell in it	Keeps the session running
Several clients typing at once	Yes	One writer at a time, others view
Phone use	Through an SSH app	Android app and web app with touch selection and a key bar
Agent waiting alert	Generic bell and activity flags	? marker, notification with the prompt, idle popup and sound
Several machines	Separate server on each host	One cluster view across nodes
Scripting	send-keys, capture-pane, config in dotfiles	CLI for listing, attaching and tasks; clusto attach is read-only
File, git and chat UI	None	Built in

The scripting row favors tmux. clusto attach streams output but does not forward keystrokes, and clusto send only works for headless agent sessions. If you drive terminals from scripts, tmux is the more capable tool.

FAQ

Can I keep using tmux with Clusto?

Yes. A Clusto session can run any program, including a shell with tmux inside it. Most people drop tmux for agent work because the daemon already provides persistence and reattach.

Does Clusto replace tmux for ordinary terminal work?

It can hold ordinary shell sessions, but it is aimed at agent work. If you rely on tmux scripting, plugins or a custom config, keep tmux for that.

Do I need a server?

The daemon can run on your own computer, but the benefit shows up when it runs on an always-on machine. See Run Claude Code on a Server or VPS.

Which agents work?

Any CLI you can run in a terminal. Chats support Claude, Codex, OpenCode and OpenRouter. Idle detection covers Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Copilot CLI.

Get started

1. Install the daemon on a Linux server with the commands in Downloads and Installation.
2. Download an app from clusto.app/download or open clusto.app/app.
3. Connect to the node, start an agent session, and close the laptop.