Cursor alternative: run your own Claude Code and Codex, without credits

Cursor is an AI editor with its own agent runtime: the editor, Composer and a menu of frontier models, parallel agents that run in the cloud for hours, Bugbot for review, automations, and plans from a free tier up to Ultra. It's a platform, and a strong one if you want everything on one bill.

omux is a 5 MB window that runs the Claude Code and Codex you already have. No model menu, no credits, no account, no telemetry. The sessions sit under projects in a sidebar, show their status from the agents' own signals, and take Allow and Deny from one click. This page is for people who moved their agent work to the terminal and want to run many sessions without losing track.

Download omux for macOS About Cursor

At a glanceomuxCursor

No account or credits✓✕

Runs your own Claude Code and Codex✓~

Agent status and Allow/Deny✓~

Split panes✓✓

Worktrees and pull requests✓✓

Cloud agents✕✓

Code editor✕✓

No telemetry✓✕

Free and open source✓✕

5 MBnative Swift app, no Electron
0accounts, credits or telemetry
6sessions side by side per project
MITfree and open source

omux with eight projects in the sidebar, a session running five subagents, a session waiting on Allow or Deny, two Codex sessions, and the Changes tab showing the diff — omux: projects and sessions on the left, the agent in the middle, its diff on the right. The session that needs you shows Allow and Deny.

Where the agent lives

Cursor

Cursor editor (VS Code fork)

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Cursor's agent: Composer and other models

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Cursor account, plans and credits

omux

One native macOS window, about 5 MB

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Claude CodeClaude CodeCodexCodexshell

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The real Claude Code and Codex, on your own plans

working needs you done

Side by side

	omux	Cursor
What it is	A session manager for Claude Code and Codex	An AI code editor with its own agent, models and cloud
Runs on	macOS	macOS, Windows and Linux; web and mobile for cloud agents
Account and billing	None; you pay only your Claude or Codex plan	Cursor account; a free tier and paid plans by usage, with third-party models billed separately
Whose agent	Claude Code and Codex as installed, with their own logins	Cursor's agent with Composer and third-party models; a CLI as well
Many agents at once	✓ sessions under projects, split panes per project	✓ parallel agents and cloud agents
Agent status	Working, needs you, done, read from the agents' own signals	Task states in the editor and its planning view
Answer a permission prompt	Allow and Deny from the sidebar	In the agent panel
Subagents	Listed under the session with transcripts	Depends on the model and mode
Conversations after a restart	Each session resumes its exact conversation	Chats persist in the editor
Worktrees and pull requests	One worktree per session, PR status, merge and clean up	Worktrees for parallel agents; pull requests from cloud agents
Code review	Changes panel with notes sent back to the agent	Bugbot on GitHub and the diff view in the editor
Editing code	✕	Its whole purpose
Telemetry	None	Collected, with a privacy mode
Price and license	Free, MIT	Proprietary; free tier and paid plans

See omux in 37 seconds

From scattered terminals to one window: projects, status, Allow and Deny, subagents, panes and pull requests.

Pick Cursor if

You want an editor and an agent in one product, with a choice of models on one bill.
You want cloud agents that keep working for hours and come back with a pull request.
You work on Windows or Linux.

Pick omux if

You already pay for Claude Code or Codex and want a calm place to run many sessions of them on a Mac.
You don't want another account, credit balance or telemetry.
You want to see which session needs you and answer it in one click, with the diff and files beside it.

What omux does for every session

Projects with sessions under them, in a sidebar
Shows whether each agent is working, needs you or is done
Allow or Deny an agent's permission request without switching to it
Lists a session's subagents and opens their transcripts
Resumes each Claude Code and Codex conversation after a relaunch
Git worktree per session, with pull request status and merge
Files, Changes (diff with review notes) and Browser panels
Claude and Codex plan usage limits in the sidebar
Split panes: up to six sessions side by side per project, layouts saved
An omux command line: list, status, send, new, close and wait on sessions
macOS notifications with sound

Questions

Can I use omux and Cursor together?

Yes. Cursor stays your editor; omux runs the terminal sessions. The Files panel in omux opens files in whatever editor you set as default.

Does omux have its own model or agent?

No. It runs Claude Code and Codex, which you install and sign in to yourself. omux never sees your prompts or keys.

Does omux cost anything?

No. It's MIT-licensed, the app has no paid tier, and there are no credits. Your only cost is the Claude or Codex plan you use with it.

Also compared: Terminal alternative, tmux alternative, cmux alternative, Warp alternative, herdr alternative, T3 Code alternative, VS Code alternative, Antigravity alternative, Devin alternative. Facts about Cursor come from its public documentation as of 2026-11-02; if something is out of date, open an issue.