xcb vs herdr
herdr keeps your coding agents running in real terminals that you can reattach to from any machine, and shows which one needs you. xcb picks which of your Claude, Codex, and Devin accounts runs each task and holds that account until the run ends, and it can run in a herdr pane, so you can use both.
Which one to pick
Pick herdr when
- You run several agent CLIs and want each in a real terminal that keeps running after you disconnect.
- You want to see which agent is working, blocked, or done across all your projects.
- You work across machines over SSH, or on Windows.
- You want plugins, or agents that open and drive panes through a socket API.
Pick xcb when
- You pay for more than one of Claude, Codex, and Devin, or hold several accounts, and want each task sent to one that can take it now.
- You want each account to run one task at a time, held until that run ends.
- You want another agent to hand off a whole task with
xcb --json routeand get the result back. - You want each provider run in a sandbox.
Side by side
| Aspect | herdr | xcb |
|---|---|---|
| What it manages | Terminals: sessions, workspaces, tabs, and panes, each running a real process | Tasks: which account and model runs each one, and how the run ended |
| Agents | 22 detected agent CLIs, including Claude Code, Codex, pi, OpenCode, and the Devin CLI | Claude Code, Codex, and the Devin CLI, run by xcb instead of through their own interfaces |
| Accounts and limits | Each agent keeps its own sign-in; herdr runs it unchanged | Each task goes to an idle account that isn’t at a known limit, one task per account |
| After you disconnect | Agents keep running in herdr’s background server | Tasks keep running under xcb’s background supervisor |
| For other agents | A CLI and socket API that agents use to split panes, start and prompt other agents, and wait on them | xcb --json route takes one task and returns the result, the account and model used, and how the run ended |
| Sandboxing | Agents keep their own permission settings; herdr doesn’t sandbox plugin code | Every provider run is sandboxed; commands run in an offline Linux VM on macOS ARM64 |
| Platforms | macOS, Linux, and Windows | macOS ARM64 and Linux x86_64, with no Windows build; Codex and Devin need macOS, and Claude on Linux isn’t confirmed |
| License and price | Apache 2.0, free | MIT, free |
Using both
xcb runs in a herdr pane like any other terminal program. herdr keeps that terminal open and reachable from your other machines, and xcb’s own supervisor keeps tasks running either way.
herdr shows working, blocked, and done states for the agents it recognizes and for tools that report their state over its socket API. xcb doesn’t report its state to herdr, so its pane appears as an ordinary terminal.
Sources
- herdr home page ↗Checked
- herdr agent support ↗Checked
- herdr plugins, trust and security ↗Checked
- herdr socket API ↗Checked
- xcb: Route tasksChecked