Can I use herdr instead of tmux?
Yes. herdr is a terminal multiplexer built for AI coding agents. Set Multiplexer to herdr in a host’s Add/Edit Host form, and dotMux renders its workspaces as native tabs and panes the way it does tmux’s, with each agent’s state — blocked, working, done — shown in the tab bar and on the pane. The server needs herdr 0.9.0 or newer; dotMux never installs or upgrades it. If herdr is missing, too old, or won’t start, dotMux says why and opens a plain terminal instead.
herdr has the same architecture as mosh: it runs its own terminal emulator on the server and sends dotMux a redrawn screen, so whatever it doesn’t put on the wire, no client can put back. Inline images are the casualty — herdr doesn’t send images to any remote client, including its own terminal app over SSH. We ship it because that ceiling is one you choose, per host, with the costs stated where you choose it; it is not a silent downgrade. For the images, pick tmux or plain for that host.
What herdr changes
The same list the app shows under What herdr changes:
- History stays on the host. Scrolling back scrolls the pane for everyone watching, and typing snaps it back to the bottom. Nothing is kept on your device, so selecting reaches only what’s on screen; Load History… fetches the last 1000 lines.
- Programs can’t put text on your clipboard. Selecting on screen still works.
- Inline images don’t arrive. herdr doesn’t send images to any remote client, including its own terminal app over SSH.
- Mouse programs need one tap to arm. dotMux is never told a program wants the mouse, so touch-as-mouse is a switch on the pane.
- Typing here resizes the pane there. While you type, the pane is sized to this screen. On the host it draws smaller until you stop, and herdr tells whoever is there nothing.
Watching and taking control
Panes open watching; your first keystroke in a pane takes control of it. Until then a swipe can’t scroll it, and the pane says Scroll · type first. If another client already controls the pane, dotMux shows it read-only and offers Take control. Each streaming pane uses its own SSH channel, so a server with a low MaxSessions streams fewer panes live — the host form says how many.
On your server
Two things happen on your server. If no herdr server is running, dotMux starts one — and never stops one, not even one it started, because it may be shared with herdr on your desktop. And a herdr server contacts herdr.dev over HTTPS when it starts, for agent-detection manifests and an update check — including one dotMux starts. That’s herdr’s own behaviour on your machine; dotMux itself sends nothing there.