Armadai vs Conductor: which agent app fits your work

Conductor and Armadai are both Mac apps for running Claude Code and Codex in parallel, but they are organised around different units. Conductor is built around the task: each one gets its own Git worktree, branch and pull request, listed in a sidebar, with a free plan for local work and, on Pro and above, cloud workspaces that keep running after you close your laptop. Armadai is built around the project: several project folders sit side by side on one infinite canvas, each with its own agents, terminals, editor, browser, notes and task board, and it is a paid subscription with no free plan.

The comparison in one table

How Conductor organises parallel work

In Conductor, a project is one repository, and a repository holds many workspaces. Creating a workspace creates a Git worktree, usually under ~/conductor/workspaces/<repo name>/<workspace name>, and checks out a new branch based on your configured base branch, fetched fresh from origin. The agent edits files there, setup and run scripts execute there, and the branch becomes the thing you review and merge. You can start a workspace from a branch, a pull request, a GitHub issue or a Linear issue.

Conductor builds the review path into the app. The Diff Viewer lets you comment on changed lines and send those comments back to the agent. The Checks tab gathers git status, CI, deployments, comments and todos before you merge, and once a pull request is open Conductor follows its GitHub checks. When the work lands, you archive the workspace and can restore it later with its chat history.

Conductor's docs recommend a separate workspace for anything that should ship on its own, and several agents in one workspace when they need the same branch, such as one agent implementing while another reviews. It runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode, and bundles its own copies of Claude Code and Codex for compatibility while using the logins already on your machine.

On the Pro plan, Conductor Cloud runs agents in hosted Linux sandboxes that keep working after you close your laptop, shares workspaces and chats with your organization, and is reachable from the Conductor API and the iOS app. Local workspaces stop when you quit the app. Conductor says it does not access your chats in local workspaces, while cloud session inputs and outputs are stored on its servers.

How Armadai organises parallel work

Armadai starts from the folder rather than the branch. Each project folder you open becomes a workspace, and workspaces live together on an infinite canvas, or one per tab if you turn on Tab View. Inside a workspace you add tiles: Claude Code or Codex in a terminal, a chat-style Codex Agent tile, plain terminals, a full IDE, a multi-tab browser, scratchpad notes and a task board. You zoom out to see every project at once and zoom in to work on one.

Because several projects share one screen, knowing which agent needs you matters more. A sidebar lists every Claude Code and Codex session as working, idle or waiting for approval, and you can answer many approval requests from there without moving the canvas. A master agent, which is Claude Code or Codex, can open and create workspaces, launch and message agents, read their replies and arrange the canvas from one conversation.

Worktrees are part of the task hand-off flow rather than the whole model. When you choose Run with Claude or Run with Codex on a task board card, Armadai starts an agent if needed, gives that run its own Git worktree, tracks it on the board and returns successful work as a draft pull request for you to review. Coordinate lets Claude Code and Codex in the same project exchange plans and reviews under a message budget you set.

Canvas layouts, notes and task boards are stored on your Mac, and with the background session helper enabled, terminals and CLI agents keep running after you quit Armadai, though not after you log out or shut down. Armadai for iPhone has not shipped yet.

Where the difference shows up day to day

One repository, many branches

If most of your parallel work is several tasks in the same repository, each becoming its own pull request, Conductor's model fits it directly. Every workspace gets its own branch and worktree, the diff and CI state sit beside the chat, and merge and archive are built in. Armadai can do this through task board hand-offs, which give each run its own worktree and end at a draft pull request for your review.

Several projects at once

If your problem is a product, client work and a side project all moving at the same time, Armadai's canvas is designed for that: each project keeps its own agents, browser preview, notes and plan in a saved layout, and one sidebar shows which session across all of them is waiting. Conductor handles several repositories as separate projects, but its unit is still the task workspace on a branch.

Leaving agents running

Conductor Cloud keeps agents working in a hosted sandbox after you close your laptop. Armadai can keep terminals and CLI agents running after you quit, if you enable its background session helper and choose Keep Running and Quit, but they run on your Mac and do not survive logging out or shutting down. Codex Agent and IDE tiles close with the app.

Cost

Conductor's Free plan covers local parallel agents at no cost, and Pro costs $50 a month for cloud, collaboration, the API and mobile. Armadai costs $20 a month or $120 a year, with every feature on either plan. In both cases your Claude Code and Codex subscriptions are paid separately.

Which one to choose

Choose Conductor if you work mainly in one or two repositories, want each task on its own branch and worktree by default, and value a review path that runs from diff comments through CI to merge. It also runs Cursor and OpenCode. Its free plan makes it the cheaper place to start, and Pro is the option if you want agents to keep running in the cloud or share workspaces with teammates.

Choose Armadai if you are juggling several projects and losing track of which agent is waiting, want each project's browser, notes and task board laid out beside its agents, and would rather direct the whole canvas from a master agent. It is a subscription after the trial, with plan details under pricing.

If neither fits, Conductor alternatives covers six other apps, including free, open-source and cross-platform ones, and running Claude Code across multiple projects shows how to do it with no app at all.