dmux

At a glance

dmux manages coding-agent terminals with tmux and Git worktrees, giving each task its own branch and working directory. It is worth considering when tracking several CLI agents and bringing their changes together has become its own job. Its defaults favour autonomy: permission bypass and automatic dialog handling are enabled, so evaluate those settings before launching an agent on a valuable repository.

Good fit

Developers who already like terminal agents such as Claude Code and want one place to create tasks, inspect files and see which pane needs attention. A worktree keeps one task’s edits out of another task’s working copy. It does not isolate network access, credentials or the rest of the computer. Multiple agents can also be deliberately attached to the same worktree, where they share files.

Consider something else when

One agent and a few manual branches already work well, or you need a security sandbox rather than a terminal organiser. Parallel tasks still need review, tests and integration decisions. Separate worktrees prevent accidental shared-file editing during independent tasks; they do not guarantee compatible changes when those branches meet. An AI-assisted merge is another code change to inspect.

Start here

After evaluating installation, use a disposable Git repository first. Open dmux, press s, select Agent default (ask) for Agent Permission Mode and disable Enable Autopilot by Default before launching a test task. Press n for one narrow task, j to inspect its terminal and f to inspect the worktree. Review the diff before using m and Merge. These are documented acceptance steps, not a terminal trial performed for this guide.

Cost and requirements

MIT-licensed software requiring tmux 3.0+, Node 18+, Git 2.20+ and a separately installed agent for coding work. Agent usage remains separately funded. Optional inference adds names, commit summaries and pane-state analysis; it can send prompts, diffs or terminal output to the chosen provider. Without it, documented fallbacks use timestamp branch names, generic commit messages and heuristic status detection.

Limits to know

The inspected merge module brings the base branch into the worktree first, offers conflict handling, then merges the result back and offers cleanup. Lifecycle hooks can execute local scripts. Source confirms permissive settings defaults; browser research inspected documentation only. No agent, hook, merge, notification or recovery was run. Treat saved provider credentials and automated approval as separate decisions from organising panes.

Related work

• Claude Code: one of the terminal agents dmux launches (complement)