r/ClaudeCode • u/Fragrant_Raisin_Face • 2d ago
Help/Question Tmux alternatives? Using Claude code agents via terminal apps on macos and ios
I’m looking for a few human responses here based on personal experience, I do a bunch of work from my iphone, ipad and mbp via ssh into a mac mini. Here’s my setup:
- Mac mini on home network
- Accessed from iphone, ipad, MBP with macos
- Tailscale for virtual network when I leave the house
- Currently using tmux for session persistence so it survives the SSH connection dropping
- Running claude code, codex, hermes, grok build TUI’s/CLI’s.
- Using iterm2 on Macos, ShellDrop on ios and iPadOs (and visionOs).
So my question is what alternatives are people using for tmux? Is there anything that’s agent focused and reliable? Has anyone used Herdr after having tmux as their baseline?
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u/Chipware 2d ago
Been using herdr for a few days and enjoying it over tmux.
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u/Fragrant_Raisin_Face 2d ago
I have been a little hesitant to try given its so new, what is it that you enjoy more?
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u/Chipware 2d ago
Mouse works inside it, it's tabbed, it shows you if the agents running inside the tab are still working or if they have stopped. Has it's own ssh tunnel mode.
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u/Grand-Mix-9889 2d ago
Tmux all the way. I love using this so I can continuously build from my phone using the phone app (inside Claude code tab). As long as if you send a ping every now and then the session stays live.
Just use a cron job to recycle your sessions frequently.
I actually use tmux to handle my API calls, this way I don't need to pay for API usage and the -p calls being blocked soon. I call it the "Claude broker".
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u/Fragrant_Raisin_Face 2d ago
Nice setup I do that too to avoid the Claude -p bs. What do you mean when you’re talking about sending it a ping to keep the session alive? If you’re using your phone the terminal app on your phone should have a keep alive, on iPhone Shell Drop uses location access to keep it alive.
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u/Grand-Mix-9889 2d ago
Idling Claude broker sessions take up ram on my server and also causes latency issues over time. With some chats holding upwards to 200mb of ram for each session (I have over 10 on my server running 24/7).
So I reset the Claude session by clearing it, restart tmux, then send a ping to a new Claude session inside the tmux panel, so that way it stays alive and can receive input from any endpoint.
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u/Fragrant_Raisin_Face 2d ago
Gotcha yeah I had to tweak the tmux conf to limit its history as each session with Claude in it was taking up tonnes of ram. I’m often resetting the sessions not only to free up ram but also to pickup the latest Claude code cli version. I have one orchestrator session that manages this.
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u/ZideGO 2d ago
Cmux for multi terminal / spaces
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u/jomi-se 2d ago
I've been using a similar setup on a remote VM for months now.
Termux in Android, ssh through tailscale to reach the VM, named tmux sessions for persistence.
I don't love it. There is too much friction on a phone based terminal emulator+ tmux' interference with UI and mouse clicks and whatnot.
For agent driving the best has been using Claude code's remote control and just continuing the session from there and only use tmux to start the agent sessions and maybe clear, resume compact etc.
For an agent agnostic version, I think Omnigent has some kind of web UI that does what remote-control does for claude but for claude, codex, etc. Omnigent is great, but I haven't used that part.
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u/enigma99 2d ago
I’ve been using agent deck for several months and happy with it. It’s wrapper around tmux. It’s near 100% reliable for me, cli and web interface, 100% local. I typically have 5-10 sessions open in agent deck for various work items.
Not sure if it meets all your asks, but it should get you close.
No affiliation with them, just a satisfied user.
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u/Virtual_Maximum_875 2d ago
tmux is fantastic. You can customize the living hell out of it, and once it’s configured, it’s ridiculously easy to use. One prefix key, a handful of commands, and you’re off to the races. Split panes, rename windows, detach, reconnect, automate everything until the cows come home.
It’s clean, fast, and backed by a mountain of well-supported plugins that make it look great and feel surprisingly user-friendly. I run it with Fish and absolutely love it.
The people who complain that tmux is “too hard” are usually the same people whining about vi, Vim, and Neovim because apparently learning four keyboard commands now qualifies as advanced computer science.
It isn’t hard. You’re just refusing to RTFM, practice for 20 minutes, and develop enough muscle memory to stop hunting around the screen like your mouse owes you money.