Agent environment

Waycar vs T3 Code

T3 Code is open source, with a server and desktop, web, iOS and Android apps for coding agents. Waycar is an iPhone and iPad console for coding agents in tmux or herdr.

Facts checked October 18, 2026. See the sources.

Get WaycarSide by side

The short version

Pick Waycar if

Your agents already run in tmux or herdr, and you want to attach to those sessions, not start new ones in a server.
You want mosh or SSH straight from your phone to your machine, with no T3 server and no account.
You want a push when an agent is Blocked or Done without signing in to anything.
You want one Console of agents from all your machines, sorted by who needs you.

Pick T3 Code if

You want open source under the MIT license, with desktop, server and mobile code in one repository.
You want one interface for many agents: Codex, Claude, Cursor, Grok Build, OpenCode, Pi and more.
You want the same tool on desktop, web, iPhone and Android.
You want subscription limits and a usage widget on the phone, plus tokens and cost on desktop and web.

Side by side

Waycar and T3 Code compared on 23 points
Point of comparison	Waycar	T3 Code
How it connects
Where the agent runs	Your own Mac or Linux machine, in herdr or tmux	Your own machine, on a T3 server you run
Account needed	None. Optional iCloud Keychain sync between devices	None for direct pairing. T3 account for T3 Connect
How your phone reaches the session	Direct mosh or SSH to your machine. No session relay	Direct (LAN, Tailscale, URL) or the T3 Connect tunnel
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 T3 server on your machine keeps running
What your machine needs	OpenSSH, herdr 0.7.5+/tmux 3.2+, opt. mosh-server. No Node	T3 server (t3 CLI or desktop app) plus agent CLIs
Watching and steering agents
Agents it works with	23 launch from the app; any CLI runs in a shell	Codex, Claude, Cursor, Grok Build, OpenCode, Pi, more
Agent status list	Yes. herdr: every agent it knows. tmux: 5 agents	Yes, per thread: working, waiting, limited, failed
Push alerts when blocked or done	Yes, Blocked or Done, encrypted. On tmux: 5 agents	Yes, but background push needs a T3 Connect account
Answer a blocked agent from the phone	Yes. Allow or Cancel in Chat Mode (tmux: hooks), or type	Yes, approve or reject in the thread
Chat view of the agent	Yes, Chat Mode for 5 agents you start in Waycar	Yes, a thread conversation view
Full terminal	Yes, a native terminal into the agent or a shell	Yes, a terminal on the T3 host
Lock Screen Live Activity	Yes, Lock Screen and Dynamic Island	Yes, Live Activities on iOS
Send images and files to the agent	Yes, up to 10 per message; files up to 64 MiB	Yes, up to 100 files per message
Voice input	Yes, on-device dictation (iOS 26 or later)	Yes, on-device, iPhone with iOS 26 or later
Usage and rate limits	Partial: limits via CodexBar; Claude on a Mac not read	Yes: phone has limits. Tokens and cost on desktop, web
Resume a closed agent	Yes, Closed Sessions are kept for 30 days	Partial: resumes after a restart. Quit agent: not documented
Platforms, price and fit
iPhone and iPad app	Yes, iPhone and iPad, iOS 18 or later	Yes, iPhone and iPad, iOS 18 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 and a web app
Source code	Closed source app. Host plugin is Apache-2.0	Open source, MIT license
Price	Free: 10 Launches per 30 days. Pro $5/mo or $40/yr	Free. T3 Connect caps linked environments
General SSH tools (SFTP, port forwarding, any server)	No. Your machine must run herdr or tmux	No. The phone app connects to T3 servers only

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

What T3 Code is

T3 Code is an open source app for running and steering coding agents, made by T3 Tools, Inc. It has a server, a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, a web app, and phone apps for iOS and Android. It works with Codex, Claude, Cursor, Grok Build, OpenCode, Antigravity, Pi and agents from the official ACP Registry (ACP is the Agent Client Protocol). The code is MIT licensed.

The phone app is a companion for your T3 environments. Per its App Store listing, you can start agent runs, browse files, review diffs, take version control actions and use a terminal.

Its README says the project is very early and to expect bugs. Desktop and server are at v0.1.0, the first stable release of its V2 line, and the App Store lists the mobile app at 2.0.0. T3 Code does not resell tokens, so you pay your own agent providers.

Where the agent runs and how your phone reaches it

The agent runs on your machine, under a T3 server. You install the server with the t3 command or the desktop app, and sign in to your agent CLIs there first. The phone then connects to that server. It does not connect to a plain shell.

There are two ways in from the phone. With direct pairing, the phone reaches the machine over a LAN, Tailscale or a URL. That needs no T3 account. With T3 Connect, you sign in to a T3 account on both devices, and it reaches the machine without router forwarding. T3 says it uses Cloudflare for this networking. Background push notifications need T3 Connect. A direct or Tailscale connection alone does not deliver them.

The desktop app can also reach a remote Linux or Apple Silicon Mac over SSH and start a T3 server there. That is documented for the desktop app, not the phone.

Waycar works differently. Nothing of ours runs as a server on your machine, other than small host tools. The agent keeps running in herdr (0.7.5 or newer) or tmux (3.2 or newer), and the phone attaches over mosh or SSH. We did not find attaching to an existing tmux session in the T3 Code docs. T3 Code can import recent Claude Code and Codex conversations and continue them, but we did not find a way to take over a process still running in tmux.

What Waycar adds to T3 Code

Your sessions, not a new server. Waycar opens your herdr or tmux sessions and starts new agents in them. Mosh keeps going while the app is open and catches up after dead zones. There is 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.
One list, sorted by who needs you. The Console shows agents from all your machines as Blocked, Done, Working or Idle.
Chat Mode for five agents. Start Claude Code, Codex, omp, pi or opencode in Waycar with Chat Mode on, and it opens as a chat, with Allow and Cancel.
Closed Sessions. An agent you quit by mistake can come back, for 30 days.

Where T3 Code is better

Open source. The desktop, server and mobile code are in one public MIT repository. Waycar’s app is closed source.
Many agents in one place. T3 Code lists Codex, Claude, Cursor, Grok Build, OpenCode, Antigravity and Pi, plus agents from its Agent Client Protocol (ACP) registry.
Every platform. It has desktop, web, iOS and Android. Waycar is an iPhone and iPad app with no native desktop or web client. An Android app is coming soon.
More in the phone app. It has push, Live Activities, on-device voice (iOS 26 or later), attachments, a terminal, subscription limits and home screen widgets, plus file browsing and diff review.
Usage in full. Its Usage page on desktop and web covers tokens, cost and limits across several agents. Waycar shows limits only through CodexBar and does not read Claude on a Mac.

What each costs

T3 Code is free, and no paid tier is documented. T3 Connect limits how many environments you can link (its docs name the error but not the number), and we did not find T3 Connect pricing. The App Store lists the app as Free.

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).

Can you use both?

Yes. They do not share a server or a session, so they do not clash. Use T3 Code for its server, its desktop app or Android. Use Waycar for the herdr or tmux sessions you already run. See how to check an agent remotely.

Questions people ask

Is there a T3 Code alternative that attaches to tmux?

Waycar opens your herdr or tmux sessions over mosh or SSH, and can start agents in them. Nothing of ours runs as a server on your machine, other than small host tools. We did not find attaching to an existing tmux session in the T3 Code docs. T3 Code runs agents in its own server.

Do I need an account to use T3 Code on my phone?

Not for direct pairing. T3 Code's privacy policy says you may use local or direct connections without a T3 account. T3 Connect, the tunnel for reaching a machine without router forwarding, needs a T3 account. Push notifications in the background also need T3 Connect.

Does T3 Code support mosh?

We did not find mosh in the T3 Code docs. It lists LAN, Tailscale, another VPN, a public URL, SSH and T3 Connect as routes to a machine. Waycar runs agent terminals over mosh and falls back to SSH on its own.

Can I use T3 Code on Android?

Yes. T3 Code Mobile is on Google Play as well as the App Store. Waycar is an iPhone and iPad app with no native desktop or web client. An Android app is coming soon.

Is T3 Code free, and is Waycar?

T3 Code is free and MIT licensed, and you pay your own agent providers. Waycar is free for up to 10 Launches in any rolling 30 days. Waycar Pro is $5 a month or $40 a year (US).

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 T3 Code.

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?