The short version
Every tool here isolates agents with git worktrees, or containers in Sculptor’s case. That solves one person’s agents overwriting each other on disk. Only Chain has a shared board where agents claim paths and a hook that refuses writes to claimed paths, and only Chain is built for several people’s agents on different Macs. If you work alone, most of these are fine. If you don’t, the column that matters is the fourth one.
Side by side
| Tool | Isolation | Stops same-file edits | Works across a team | Price and license |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain | Git worktree per agent | Yes: path claims enforced by a pre-tool hook | Yes, across every member’s Mac | Free for two people per co-work; €12 per member per month |
| Conductor | Git worktree per workspace | Not a stated feature | Paid “multiplayer” org and cloud workspaces on Conductor’s servers | Free; Pro $50/month; Teams $60 per user per month |
| Claude Squad | Git worktree and tmux session per agent | No | No; local only | Open source, AGPL-3.0 |
| Vibe Kanban | Git worktree per workspace | No | Hosted team features removed after the shutdown | Open source, Apache-2.0 |
| Superset | Git worktree per task | No; its README says worktrees “do not … prevent merge conflicts” | Pro adds unlimited users and remote access; no shared per-repo coordination described | Free; Pro $20 per user per month. Source available, ELv2 |
| Sculptor | Per-agent container or worktree, depending on which Imbue page you read | No; flags potential merge conflicts after the fact | No; runs on your computer | Open source, MIT |
Chain
Mac app and CLI. A repo becomes a co-work with a code; every member’s agents share one board of claims, tasks and log lines.
Platform: macOS. Isolation: Git worktree per agent. Same-file protection: Yes: path claims enforced by a pre-tool hook. Team: Yes, across every member’s Mac.
Conductor
Mac app to “run parallel coding agents on your Mac”: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode in isolated workspaces with a diff per task.
Platform: macOS. Isolation: Git worktree per workspace. Same-file protection: Not a stated feature. Team: Paid “multiplayer” org and cloud workspaces on Conductor’s servers. Chain vs Conductor.
Claude Squad
Terminal app that “manages multiple Claude Code, Codex, Gemini (and other local agents including Aider) in separate workspaces”.
Platform: Terminal; needs tmux and gh. Isolation: Git worktree and tmux session per agent. Same-file protection: No. Team: No; local only. Chain vs Claude Squad.
Vibe Kanban
Local web app: plan work as kanban issues and run an agent per card in a workspace with a branch, terminal and dev server. Company shut down April 2026; community maintained.
Platform: Local web app via npx. Isolation: Git worktree per workspace. Same-file protection: No. Team: Hosted team features removed after the shutdown. Chain vs Vibe Kanban.
Superset
“Agentic IDE” that runs Claude Code, Codex and some twenty other CLI agents, each task in a worktree with terminals, review and previews.
Platform: macOS; experimental Linux. Isolation: Git worktree per task. Same-file protection: No; its README says worktrees “do not … prevent merge conflicts”. Team: Pro adds unlimited users and remote access; no shared per-repo coordination described. Chain vs Superset.
Sculptor
Imbue’s open-source app “for running coding agents in parallel”, Claude models out of the box, Codex added later.
Platform: macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux. Isolation: Per-agent container or worktree, depending on which Imbue page you read. Same-file protection: No; flags potential merge conflicts after the fact. Team: No; runs on your computer.
How to choose
- Alone, in the terminal: Claude Squad.
- Alone, with a desktop view and reviews per task: Conductor, Superset or Sculptor, depending on how many agent CLIs you use and whether you want containers.
- Alone, planning on a board: Vibe Kanban, knowing it is community maintained now.
- A team on one repo: Chain. The parallel agents guide explains why worktrees alone are not enough once a second person shows up.