Compare · Terminal multiplexer
Zentty vs tmux
A terminal multiplexer, and a native Mac terminal with worklanes.
Overview
tmux is powerful, battle-tested, and still the right answer for remote sessions that must survive disconnects. Zentty solves the local side differently: panes and worklanes are part of a native Mac app, visible and arrangeable, with agent attention built in.
What each tool is
Zentty is a native macOS terminal, written in Swift and AppKit and built on libghostty. It runs your agents in real shells across worklanes and surfaces the moment an agent needs you: running, idle, needs input, needs approval, done. No telemetry. No editor, file tree, git diff UI, or cloud runtime. It stays a terminal.
tmux is a terminal multiplexer that runs inside any terminal. It splits one terminal into panes and windows, keeps sessions running after you disconnect, and is fully scriptable.
Who each tool is best for
Zentty is best for Mac developers who run CLI agents like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, or OpenCode in parallel and want to stay in flow while those agents work in other panes and worklanes.
tmux is best for developers who live on remote servers, need sessions that survive SSH disconnects, and want one workflow that works across machines.
Capability comparison
| Dimension | Zentty | tmux |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Native Mac terminal with worklanes and agent attention | Multiplex and persist terminal sessions |
| Where it runs | macOS app, local | Any shell, local or remote |
| Remote persistence | No — local panes | Yes — core strength |
| Layout model | Visual worklanes and panes | Keyboard-driven windows and panes |
| Agent attention | Running / idle / needs input / needs approval / done | Varies by tool |
| Built-in editor | No — keep your editor | Varies by tool |
| Cloud runtime | No — local only | Varies by tool |
How to choose
- You work locally on a Mac and want panes and worklanes you can see.
- You want agent state and notifications without scripting them yourself.
- You would rather not maintain a tmux config to get a good local layout.
- You need sessions that survive SSH disconnects.
- You want the same multiplexer everywhere.
- You already have a tmux config and plugin setup you love.
Common questions
Not for remote persistence. If you depend on sessions surviving an SSH disconnect, keep tmux.
Yes. Zentty is a real terminal, so tmux can run inside a pane when you need it.
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Sources
Last reviewed: 2026-05-23
Run your agents in real panes, and see which one needs you.
Free Native macOS No telemetry