Running Several AI Coding Agents Without Losing Track

Here are two ways to do it: a lightweight tmux plugin, and (briefly) dedicated “AI terminal” apps.

Option A: a tmux plugin (lightweight, works over SSH)

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tmux-claude-session-manager adds two keystrokes to tmux:

• prefix + y: launch (or jump back to) a Claude session for the current folder.
• prefix + u: open a searchable picker of your live Claude sessions, showing each one’s status (🔴 working / 🟡 waiting for you / 🟢 idle) plus a live preview, with the ones needing attention sorted to the top.

It uses fzf (a fast fuzzy finder) for the picker, so you just start typing to filter.

Installing it (with TPM)

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Most people manage tmux plugins with TPM, the Tmux Plugin Manager. If you don’t have it yet:

git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

…and add this near the bottom of ~/.tmux.conf (it must come before the TPM run line):

run '~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/tpm'

Now add the plugin. Put this line above that run line:

set -g @plugin 'craftzdog/tmux-claude-session-manager'

Reload tmux (prefix + r or tmux source-file ~/.tmux.conf), then press prefix + I (capital i) to install. Done. prefix + y and prefix + u now work. You’ll also need fzf installed (brew install fzf).

Making the status dots light up

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The picker can show working/waiting/idle, but it needs to know the state. It learns this from Claude Code hooks (we met hooks in Part 2). The plugin ships a tiny script, scripts/state.sh, that you wire into a few hook events in ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "UserPromptSubmit": [
      { "matcher": "", "hooks": [ { "type": "command",
        "command": "~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-claude-session-manager/scripts/state.sh working" } ] }
    ],
    "Notification": [
      { "matcher": "permission_prompt", "hooks": [ { "type": "command",
        "command": "~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-claude-session-manager/scripts/state.sh waiting" } ] }
    ],
    "Stop": [
      { "matcher": "", "hooks": [ { "type": "command",
        "command": "~/.tmux/plugins/tmux-claude-session-manager/scripts/state.sh idle" } ] }
    ]
  }
}

(Merge these into any hooks you already have rather than replacing the whole block.) Translation: “when I submit a prompt → mark working; when Claude asks permission → waiting; when it stops → idle.” Now the dots are live. The three hook events drive a simple state machine:

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> working: UserPromptSubmit
    working --> waiting: Notification
(permission_prompt)
    waiting --> working: you approve
    working --> idle: Stop
    idle --> working: UserPromptSubmit
    note right of working : 🔴 running
    note right of waiting : 🟡 needs you
    note right of idle : 🟢 done

Why this is great for remote servers

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If you SSH into a remote machine and run Claude in tmux there, this plugin runs on that machine, so your picker and status work on the remote too. That’s a big deal: GUI-based managers on your laptop can’t see what’s happening inside an SSH session, but a tmux plugin lives right where the agents do.

Option B: a dedicated “AI terminal” app

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There’s a newer category of macOS apps built specifically for running many agents in parallel, with sidebars showing each agent’s status, git branch, and so on. Two popular ones:

• cmux: a native macOS terminal for parallel AI agents (vertical tabs, per-pane notifications). Unrelated to tmux despite the name.
• Supacode: a terminal “command center” (built on Ghostty’s engine) that runs each agent in its own isolated git worktree, with GitHub integration for opening PRs and reviewing CI checks.

These are slick and worth a look if you do a lot of local, parallel, many-agents-on-one-repo work.

tmux vs. a dedicated app: how to choose

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There’s no wrong answer, and they’re not exclusive. You can keep tmux as home base and trial a dedicated app for heavy local days. For my own SSH-heavy workflow, staying in tmux won out.

The whole series, in one breath

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1. Part 1: Find them

   1 / 4

   Sessions live in ~/.claude/projects; find them with claude -r → Ctrl+A. Read →
2. Part 2: Name them

   2 / 4

   A SessionStart hook auto-names sessions so search actually works. Read →
3. Part 3: Label tmux

   3 / 4

   A shell wrapper + set-titles label your tmux window and terminal tab. Read →
4. Part 4: Juggle many

   4 / 4

   A tmux plugin (or a dedicated app) helps you manage many live agents. (this post)

Put together, you go from “where did that conversation go?” to “type three letters, hit Enter, back in business.” Happy hacking.