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Agent workspace · Haplab (site footer and haplab.com); GitHub user marcus

Sidecar

Go terminal UI that runs coding agent CLIs in embedded tmux-backed shells, one git worktree per feature, with a cross-project sessions view, git diffs, file browser and td task integration. Free, MIT.

Reviewed by the Termdex team · facts checked 2026-10-21 against 13 vendor sources · how we check

Official site

Sidecar review

Sidecar is a terminal program written in Go. It runs coding agents in embedded terminals with tmux integration, manages git worktrees, and can open diffs, files and td issues in split panes beside the terminal. It is MIT licensed and free. We read the vendor's site, the GitHub repository and its docs on 10 November 2026. We did not install or run it.

What it does

The README names Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, Cursor, OpenCode and Pi, with "etc." The site's list adds Antigravity, Copilot, Grok, Amp, Kiro and Warp. In Workspaces, `n` makes a worktree and `m` starts a merge flow that commits, pushes and opens a pull request.

A Sessions screen lists agents, shells and worktrees across projects. The README groups them as Needs Attention, Working, Live and Idle. The site describes other states: Working, Blocked, Done, Idle and Paused.

The README says you or the agent can use `sidecar open`, `sidecar layout` and `sidecar notify` to place files, diffs or td issues in panes beside the terminal.

The README says Sidecar sends no telemetry. Its only network calls are a GitHub version check and changelog fetches you start yourself.

Limits

The repository had 1,092 stars on 10 November 2026.

Alternatives

Claude Squad is another Go tool that gives each agent task its own tmux session and git worktree.

Sidecar at a glance: on macOS, Linux, free, MIT licence.
Platforms, price and licence at a glance, from the vendor pages we read.

Facts: platforms, price and licence

platforms
macOSLinuxSite hero says 'macOS & Linux'. The site's terminal-compatibility section says Sidecar runs 'on macOS, Linux, and Windows' and lists Windows Terminal as 'Windows · WSL'. Release v1.17.1 ships darwin and linux tarballs (amd64, arm64) only. The README says 'macOS, Linux, or WSL' and the getting-started guide says 'macOS, Linux, or Windows (WSL)'. tmux 3.4 or newer is listed under prerequisites 'for workspaces and embedded shells' (getting-started guide); the guide does not say whether other features need tmux.
price
FreeSite: 'Free & open source (MIT)'. README license section: MIT. No paid tier mentioned on pages read (seen 2026-11-10).
source
Open sourceLicence: MIT
github
marcus/sidecar 1.1k stars, seen 2026-11-13

Sidecar features

✓ documented · – absent or not in its feature list · ? not verified

Sidecar strengths

  • MIT licence and no paid tier; single Go binary installed by Homebrew, setup script or release tarball
  • Workspaces manage a git worktree per workspace and launch Claude, Codex, Gemini, Cursor, OpenCode or Pi with 'a' (README, which ends its agent list with 'etc.'; the site's agent list also names Antigravity, GitHub Copilot, xAI Grok, Amp Code, Kiro and Warp); a merge flow (m) handles commit, push, PR creation and cleanup
  • Sessions screen lists agents, shells and worktrees across all configured projects with a live preview; README groups them as Needs Attention, Working, Live and Idle, while the site describes Working, Blocked, Done, Idle and Paused
  • README says you or the agent can use sidecar open, sidecar layout and sidecar notify post to open files, diffs and td issues in split panes beside the terminal; some verbs (for example layout get, agent list) accept --json
  • README privacy section: no telemetry; the only network calls are GitHub version checks on startup (cached 3 hours) and user-started changelog fetches. The site says '100% offline & private', which is looser wording than the README

Sidecar weak points

  • Workspaces and embedded shells need tmux 3.4 or newer (getting-started guide); no Windows release asset, Windows only through WSL per README and guide, while the site's compatibility list also names Windows
  • Remote hosts (flag sidecar_remote_hosts), broadcast to agents and remote agent control (flag agent_control) are behind feature flags; broadcast is default off and does not include remote hosts
  • The Conversations plugin (agent session history) is off by default behind the conversations_plugin feature flag (docs/features.md)
  • Task features integrate with td (README 'TD Monitor'), a separate tool in the same GitHub account (marcus/td) that the setup script offers as an optional install; the site also lists a built-in Tasks (beta) manager
  • Site hero said 1.15.1 while GitHub had v1.17.1; the repo was created 2025-12-26 and v1.17.1 was published 2026-10-08

Who Sidecar is for

best for
Developers who already work in a terminal and tmux and want one free TUI to watch several agent sessions and worktrees across projects.
look elsewhere if
Users who want a graphical app, a native Windows build, or a phone app.

Lists that include Sidecar

Sources and what we could not verify

Checked 2026-10-21. Prices and features change; the vendor's page is the authority.

Not verified