Agent environment

Waycar vs Paseo

Paseo is an open source environment that runs coding agents through a daemon on your machine. Waycar is an iPhone and iPad console for agents in tmux or herdr.

Facts checked October 18, 2026. See the sources.

Get WaycarSide by side

The short version

Pick Waycar if

You already run agents in tmux or herdr on your Mac or Linux machine, and you want to open those same sessions from your iPhone.
You want agent terminals over mosh, with SSH as a fallback, and no Waycar server in the path of your sessions.
You want one Console of agents sorted by who needs you, and a Lock Screen Live Activity.
You do not want to install a daemon that starts your agents for you.

Pick Paseo if

You want one open source app on iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, the web and the command line.
You want agents started and managed for you, many at once, each in its own git worktree if you choose.
You use agents beyond the five that Chat Mode covers, including any agent that speaks the Agent Client Protocol.
You use an older iPhone (iOS 15.1 or later) or an Android phone.

Side by side

Waycar and Paseo compared on 23 points
Point of comparison	Waycar	Paseo
How it connects
Where the agent runs	Your own Mac or Linux machine, in herdr or tmux	Your own machine, through the Paseo daemon
Account needed	None. Optional iCloud Keychain sync between devices	None required
How your phone reaches the session	Direct mosh or SSH to your machine. No session relay	Optional end-to-end encrypted relay, or direct address
mosh	Yes, in the free tier, with SSH fallback	Not documented
Agent keeps running when your phone drops	Yes. Waycar starts agents inside herdr or tmux	Yes, the daemon keeps agents running
What your machine needs	OpenSSH, herdr 0.7.5+/tmux 3.2+, opt. mosh-server. No Node	The Paseo daemon, plus the agent CLIs you use
Watching and steering agents
Agents it works with	23 launch from the app; any CLI runs in a shell	Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, OMP and 25+ more
Agent status list	Yes. herdr: every agent it knows. tmux: 5 agents	Yes, agent state streams to every client
Push alerts when blocked or done	Yes, Blocked or Done, encrypted. On tmux: 5 agents	Yes, push notifications on mobile
Answer a blocked agent from the phone	Yes. Allow or Cancel in Chat Mode (tmux: hooks), or type	Yes, approvals and question cards
Chat view of the agent	Yes, Chat Mode for 5 agents you start in Waycar	Yes, a chat view of each agent
Full terminal	Yes, a native terminal into the agent or a shell	Yes, terminals on the daemon machine
Lock Screen Live Activity	Yes, Lock Screen and Dynamic Island	Not documented
Send images and files to the agent	Yes, up to 10 per message; files up to 64 MiB	Yes, image attachments in the composer
Voice input	Yes, on-device dictation (iOS 26 or later)	Yes, dictation and voice mode
Usage and rate limits	Partial: limits via CodexBar; Claude on a Mac not read	Yes, subscription quota windows and a context meter
Resume a closed agent	Yes, Closed Sessions are kept for 30 days	Yes, History, restore and Import session
Platforms, price and fit
iPhone and iPad app	Yes, iPhone and iPad, iOS 18 or later	Yes, iPhone and iPad, iOS 15.1 or later
Android app	No. An Android app is coming soon	Yes, on Google Play
Desktop or web client	No native app. iPad app on M-series Macs (macOS 26)	Yes: macOS, Windows, Linux apps, web and CLI
Source code	Closed source app. Host plugin is Apache-2.0	Open source, Apache License 2.0
Price	Free: 10 Launches per 30 days. Pro $5/mo or $40/yr	Free. Optional hosted Hub: $0 or $15/seat/mo
General SSH tools (SFTP, port forwarding, any server)	No. Your machine must run herdr or tmux	No. SSH only reaches a Paseo daemon

Yes Partial No Not documented: the maker's own pages say nothing either way, so we claim nothing.

What Paseo is

Paseo is an open source environment for running coding agents. It is an independent project. It has apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android, plus a web app and a command line tool. The license is Apache 2.0.

Paseo does not ship an agent. It manages the agent CLIs you already use, such as Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Pi and OMP, and it can add other agents that speak the Agent Client Protocol (ACP). You can run many agents at once, and give each its own git worktree. As of 2026-10-18, its latest stable release is 0.11.4, dated 2026-10-15.

Where the agent runs and how your phone reaches it

You install the Paseo daemon on your own machine. The desktop app bundles one and starts it for you. The daemon runs your agent CLIs as ordinary programs on that machine and owns the running agents and workspaces. Idle agents stay resident. Design notes in Paseo’s repository say a provider process can die from a crash, an out-of-memory kill or a host suspend. Work running inside it dies too. Any agent process can fail this way, including one in tmux. The notes describe a closed agent as a saved record that can resume.

Your phone does not run the agent. It connects to the daemon in one of two ways. The first is the Paseo relay, which is optional, off by default, and end-to-end encrypted. The second is a direct address, such as one on your Tailscale network. There is no Paseo account. Paseo Desktop and the CLI can also tunnel over SSH, but that only reaches a Paseo daemon. It is not a general SSH client.

For past sessions, its changelog lists an Import session screen.

What Waycar adds to Paseo

In Waycar the agent runs on your machine in herdr or tmux, not in the app. Waycar can start an agent on a fresh git worktree, and it opens agents that already run there.

Your own sessions, as they are. You start an agent in tmux or herdr, from your desk or from Waycar, and Waycar opens it from your phone. We did not find attaching to a live tmux pane in Paseo’s docs. Waycar needs herdr 0.7.5 or later, or tmux 3.2 or later, on that machine.
mosh with an SSH fallback. The terminal keeps going while the app is open and catches up after dead zones. We did not find mosh in Paseo’s docs. The terminal ends about 20 seconds after you leave the app and re-attaches on its own when you return.
A Console sorted by who needs you. Agents from all your machines show as Blocked, Done, Working or Idle, and a Live Activity can keep a machine on your Lock Screen. We did not find a Live Activity in Paseo’s docs.
No account, and no Waycar server in the path of your sessions. Waycar has an optional push relay. Your machine encrypts each notification first, so the relay cannot read what it says. For Live Activities it does see how many agents are in each status.

Where Paseo is better

Every platform. Paseo has desktop apps, a web app, a CLI and an Android app. Waycar is an iPhone and iPad app with no native desktop or web client. An Android app is coming soon.
Open source. The Paseo source is public under Apache 2.0. Waycar’s app is closed source.
More agents. Paseo has native adapters for several agents and a catalog of agents that use the Agent Client Protocol. Waycar launches 23 agents, and Chat Mode covers five.
Managed workspaces. Paseo runs many agents at once and can give each its own git worktree. It also shows subscription quota windows. Waycar can start an agent in a Workspace or on a fresh git worktree. Its usage view is partial.
Older phones. The Paseo iOS app needs iOS 15.1 or later. Waycar needs iOS 18 or later.
Voice mode. Paseo has dictation and a voice mode for talking with your agents. Waycar’s dictation needs iOS 26 or later.

What each costs

Paseo is free, including the apps, the daemon and the CLI. The official relay is optional and has no listed price, and its terms say it is subject to reasonable and fair use. Paseo Hub is a separate, optional service for GitHub, Slack and Discord triggers, and you do not need it for phone access. You can self-host Hub for $0. Hosted Hub has a $0 plan with 50 agent runs a month and one seat, and a Pro plan at $15 per seat per month.

Waycar is free for up to 10 Launches in any rolling 30 days, with every feature included. A Launch is starting a new agent or shell from Waycar, resuming a closed agent, or starting an agent by typing its command in a Waycar shell. Opening and watching agents that already run never counts. Waycar Pro removes the limit for $5 a month or $40 a year (US). See pricing.

Can you use both?

Yes. Run Paseo where you want a managed workspace on its apps, and keep tmux or herdr for agents you start by hand. Waycar opens the second group from your iPhone. See tmux on iPhone for that setup.

Questions people ask

Does Paseo work with tmux?

We did not find attaching to a live tmux pane in its docs. Paseo starts agents itself, as programs run by its daemon. Its changelog lists an Import session screen for bringing in past sessions, including Claude Code and Codex, so you can pick up a conversation from the app. Its terminals are shells on the daemon machine. We did not find tmux sessions listed as agents in its docs. Waycar opens agents that run in tmux or herdr, and can start new ones there.

Does Paseo support mosh?

We did not find mosh in the Paseo docs. Phones connect through an optional end-to-end encrypted relay, or directly through an address such as Tailscale. Paseo Desktop and the CLI can also tunnel over SSH. Waycar runs agent terminals over mosh and falls back to SSH.

Does Paseo need an account or a cloud service?

Paseo says it has no required account and no telemetry. The relay is off by default and asks before you enable it. Its docs say traffic between phone and daemon is end-to-end encrypted. Paseo Hub is a separate optional service, hosted or self-hosted, and is not needed for phone access.

Is Paseo free and open source?

Yes. Paseo is Apache License 2.0, and its site says it is free. You bring your own agent CLIs and logins. It is an independent project. Waycar's app is closed source and free for up to 10 Launches in any rolling 30 days.

Which one should I use to check on an agent from my phone?

If your agents run in tmux or herdr today, Waycar opens them as they are. If you want a managed workspace with apps for every platform, Paseo fits better. Both have push alerts, approvals and a chat view, so the choice is about how agents start and where you use them.

Sources and how we checked

We checked the sources listed below on October 18, 2026. A row says "Not documented" when those pages are silent. Products change. If something here is out of date, email support@waycar.dev and we will fix it.

Product names are trademarks of their owners. Waycar is an independent app from OTREVA, LLC. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Paseo.

Try Waycar on your own machine

Waycar is free for up to 10 Launches in any rolling 30 days. Waycar Pro removes the limit. See pricing for what counts as a Launch.

Get WaycarWhat is Waycar?