Frequently Asked Questions

Short answers to the most common questions about Thurbox. For depth, follow the links into the rest of the docs.

What is Thurbox?

Thurbox is a multi-session TUI orchestrator that runs any coding-agent CLI — Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, opencode, aider, GitHub Copilot CLI, Vibe, pi, Oh My Pi, or any CLI you define — inside persistent multiplexer panes. Sessions, agents, and git worktrees are first-class citizens, and sessions survive crashes, restarts, and reboots because the multiplexer keeps the processes alive.

How is Thurbox different from other parallel coding-agent tools?

Unlike tools such as Conductor, Claude Squad, or Cursor, Thurbox uses an external multiplexer (tmux, psmux, or opt-in RMUX) for its sessions, runs as a lightweight terminal UI rather than an Electron or native desktop app, and launches the unmodified vendor CLI rather than its own model. A single session can span multiple repositories, and every pane of the interface is a Lua file you can edit, turn off or replace. Agents are defined as data, so any CLI works with no recompile. See the comparison for the full breakdown.

Which coding agents does Thurbox support?

Thurbox is agent-neutral. It ships built-in definitions for Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, opencode, aider, GitHub Copilot CLI, Vibe, pi, and Oh My Pi, and you can add any other CLI by editing agents.toml — no recompile required. Thurbox only knows how to launch each CLI with the right command and arguments; it never touches the agent's model, prompts, or permissions.

How do I install Thurbox?

On Linux or macOS, run curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Thurbeen/thurbox/main/scripts/install.sh | sh. It is also available via Homebrew (brew install thurbeen/thurbox/thurbox), the AUR (thurbox or thurbox-bin), Nix (nix profile install github:Thurbeen/thurbox), and on Windows via winget (winget install Thurbeen.thurbox) or Chocolatey (choco install thurbox). Both of those channels are moderated and lag behind the newest release — Chocolatey by up to 30 days, winget by however long its manifest PR waits for review — so the PowerShell installer (irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Thurbeen/thurbox/main/scripts/install.ps1 | iex) is the recommended route on Windows. You can also build from source with cargo build --release. See installation for details.

Which platforms does Thurbox run on? Does it support remote machines?

Thurbox runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows. It defaults to tmux 3.2+ on Linux/macOS and psmux 3.3.8+ on Windows. RMUX 0.10.0+ is an opt-in alternative tested locally on Linux; other RMUX platforms and transports remain unverified. It can also run sessions on a remote host over SSH while the TUI runs locally — remote hosts are declared in hosts.toml.

Why is RMUX missing or refusing to start?

Check rmux -V where sessions run: locally, on the SSH host, or inside the WSL distro. The picker offers RMUX only where its binary is found (on PATH locally, by the host probe on a host), and thurbox rejects versions below 0.10.0. An old 0.9.x daemon is incompatible with a 0.10.0 client. Finish or save agents' work before stopping that server for an upgrade. See the upgrade procedure and known limits.

Do my sessions survive a crash or restart?

Yes. Each session runs inside a persistent multiplexer session, so the agent processes keep running even if Thurbox crashes or you close and reopen it. Session state is stored in SQLite and re-adopted on restart.

Why is a tmux server still running that tmux -L thurbox ls cannot see?

tmux's default socket directory is /tmp, which macOS sweeps, and a server whose socket file is gone keeps running with no way in. Thurbox now keeps its socket under its data dir (~/.local/share/thurbox/tmux/) and, if a socket is lost anyway, recreates it with SIGUSR1 instead of starting a second server. An older thurbox started a second one, leaving the first orphaned. Find it with ps -axo pid,args | grep '[t]mux -L thurbox': a server whose socket file is missing is the orphan. Once a second server owns the path, killing the orphan (kill <pid>) is the only option. See docs/CONFIG.md → An orphaned tmux server.

Is Thurbox free and open source?

Yes. Thurbox is open source under the MIT license and free to use.

Can I use Thurbox without the TUI, headlessly?

Yes. A second binary, thurbox-cli, drives the same SQLite-backed, multiplexer-hosted sessions headlessly — create, list, send to, capture, restart, and delete sessions, plus automations and tasks — sharing the database with the TUI. This makes Thurbox scriptable for automation and CI.