Herdr
With Herdr, you let Claude control panes, tabs and workspaces in the Herdr terminal multiplexer, start other coding agents and check their status.
What is Herdr?
Herdr is a Claude Code skill that lets Claude operate Herdr, a terminal multiplexer built for coding agents. Herdr groups your terminals by workspace, tab and pane, detects which agents run in each pane and makes the live session available through its own command line tool. With the skill, Claude uses that tool to look at work in other panes, set up layouts, launch commands and agents and read what they print.
Before any control command, Claude checks that it is itself running in a pane managed by Herdr. If HERDR_ENV is not set to 1, the skill stops. Claude takes command syntax from 'herdr --help' and the individual command groups of the installed version. Most responses arrive as JSON, and Claude reads IDs and states such as idle, working, blocked, done or unknown from them.
The skill suits developers who run several coding agents side by side in the terminal and want to coordinate them from Claude. You need a working Herdr installation, and the skill only activates when you mention Herdr by name. Saved SSH profiles let Claude reach Herdr sessions on other machines as well.
Who it is for
Developers who use Herdr as their terminal multiplexer and want to start and watch several coding agents from within Claude.
Use cases
- You build a feature with Claude and keep a second agent running as a reviewer in a neighboring pane.
- You want to know which agents in your Herdr workspaces are currently working, waiting or blocked on an approval.
- You run tests or a server in a separate pane and let Claude read the output.
What Herdr does
Environment check before every command
Claude only controls Herdr when HERDR_ENV is set to 1. Outside a Herdr pane, it reports this and halts without touching any other session.
Start agents in sibling panes
With 'herdr agent start', Claude launches a named agent, for example of kind codex, in a free shell pane. It prefers to place new panes next to the current one in the same tab.
Read agent lifecycle states
Herdr maps recognized agents to the states idle, working, blocked, done and unknown. Claude uses this to see whether an agent is waiting for input or needs an approval.
Query live state as JSON
Commands such as 'herdr workspace list', 'herdr pane list' and 'herdr agent list' return current workspaces, panes and agents. Claude takes the IDs from these responses.
Remote machines over SSH
With 'herdr --machine', Claude sends commands to a saved SSH profile. The remote Herdr server must already be running and compatible, nothing gets installed there.
Say this to activate the skill
"Use Herdr to start a Codex agent called reviewer in a pane to the right.""Show me with Herdr which agents are running right now.""Use Herdr to open a pane below for the tests.""Ask the reviewer agent in Herdr for its status." Install
npx skills add herdrdev/herdr --skill herdr
The command installs the original version from the author's repository (Vercel skills CLI, needs Node.js), add -g for all projects. We do not host a copy: updates come straight from the author. Need help with setup? How to install skills →
Figures with source and date
- GitHub stars
- ≈ 49,100
- Installs
- 80,024
- On skills.sh since
- 7 Apr 2026
- Last change in the repository
- 29 Oct 2026
- Licence
- Apache-2.0
As of 8 Nov 2026. Sources: GitHub, skills.sh. The figures change daily; we show the state of our last lookup.
Checked automatically
- Automated check on 2026-11-08 (revision ee5bfb5): 1 files in the skill folder read by pattern search. It found no hidden characters, no instructions to override rules, no download-and-run and no access to credentials.
Independent checks on skills.sh, as of 8 Nov 2026
| Gen Agent Trust Hub | Pass |
|---|---|
| Socket | Pass |
| Snyk | Pass |
Good to know
- The skill only works inside a pane managed by Herdr. Outside of one, Claude reports this and runs no control commands.
- Commands such as 'herdr workspace create' run with default values even without arguments. The skill tells Claude not to call such commands just to explore them.
- Remote machines require a Herdr version with machine API forwarding on both sides. You complete the SSH login for 'herdr machine reconnect' yourself.
- Agents such as Antigravity or Grok can still run background tasks while idle. A settled state therefore does not prove that all work is finished.
- The check is an automated pattern search, not a security guarantee, and reads the skill folder only. The command always installs the author's current version; later versions have not been reviewed by us.
Frequently asked questions about Herdr
What is Herdr?
Herdr is a Claude Code skill that lets Claude control the Herdr terminal multiplexer. Claude can use it to create workspaces, tabs and panes, launch commands and coding agents, read their output and wait for state changes.
How do I install Herdr?
You install the Herdr skill with 'npx skills add herdrdev/herdr --skill herdr'. For it to work, Claude has to run inside a pane managed by Herdr, which is signaled by the environment variable HERDR_ENV having the value 1.
Is Herdr free?
The Herdr skill is released under the open source license Apache-2.0. The skill's source text says nothing about costs for the Herdr terminal multiplexer itself.
Who is Herdr for?
Herdr is for developers who already use Herdr and run several coding agents in terminal panes side by side. Without a running Herdr session, the skill stops.
What data does Herdr send?
The Herdr skill talks to the current local session through the Herdr program. If you use saved SSH profiles via 'herdr --machine', commands and input go to the remote Herdr server. The source text names no other external services.
When does Herdr activate?
Herdr only activates when you mention Herdr by name or ask Claude to use Herdr for panes, tabs, workspaces, commands or agents. Simply needing a background terminal or parallel work is not enough to trigger it.
Share this skill
About this skill
Herdr comes from herdrdev and is an open-source project maintained by its author and community.
Author: herdrdev / github.com. Source: github.com/herdrdev/herdr/tree/master/skills/herdr. Licence: Apache-2.0.
Curated by Collective Brain, an AI and automation digital agency from Hamburg, together with WhiteFox Automations. More vetted skills in the skills catalog.
Working in Germany, Austria or Switzerland? We help teams roll out Claude, in English or German.
Want this skill tailored to your team?
Herdr is a strong starting point. A skill gets really powerful once it knows your workflows, templates and tone of voice. We build custom skills for teams, from analysis to rollout, and connect them to our work in AI consulting.
Request a custom skill →