Murmell vs Conductor
Conductor is a Mac app that runs several coding agents side by side on your own machine, each in its own workspace. Murmell is a canvas in the browser where the agents run on machines we operate and share one project directory.
The real difference
Conductor describes itself as a way to “run parallel Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor agents in isolated workspaces on your Mac”, and its documentation says each task gets its own workspace, branch, files, terminal, diff and review path. Every agent is separated from every other one, and you bring the results together yourself when you merge.
Murmell keeps one set of files. Agents claim a path before they write to it, the board keeps one holder per path and refuses everyone else until it is released, and a colliding write is snapshotted rather than lost. There is no merge at the end because there was no branch at the start.
Where the work runs matters as much as how it is split. Conductor uses your laptop, so the agents stop when it sleeps. Murmell agents run on cloud machines: close the tab, close the lid, and the terminals carry on. Come back and the output is there, and so is anyone else you gave a link to, with a name and a color on their cursor.
Where Conductor wins
Your code never leaves your machine. There is no upload, no cloud account and no third party in the path between the agent and your files, and everything your local network can reach the agent can reach too. For a lot of teams that ends the security conversation before it starts, and Murmell has no self-hosted option to answer it with.
It is also a native app, so it is quick, it works with the local tools you already have installed, and reviewing several diffs next to each other is the thing it was built to do well.
Which to pick
Pick Conductor when you work alone, the code should stay on your disk, and separate workspaces are the right way to keep agents out of each other’s way.
Pick Murmell when the agents need to be in the same tree, when the work should survive your laptop closing, or when somebody else should be watching it happen. Every project gets a private repository, pushed to as the work goes and once more before a machine is torn down. See how several agents work in one repository.
Side by side
| Conductor | Murmell | |
|---|---|---|
| Where a second agent works | Its own workspace on your Mac, with its own branch, files and terminal | One shared directory, after it claims the paths it is about to touch |
| Who can watch it happen | Whoever is at that Mac | Anybody with the link, live, with a name on every cursor |
| Where the work lands | A branch you merge yourself | A private repository for the project, pushed as the agents go |
Straight answers
What is the difference between Conductor and Murmell?
Conductor runs each agent in its own isolated workspace on your Mac, with its own branch, files, terminal and diff, and you bring the results together when you merge. Murmell runs the agents on machines it operates and puts them in one shared project directory, where a file claim keeps them out of each other's way.
Does my code stay on my own machine with Conductor?
Yes. There is no upload, no cloud account and no third party in the path between the agent and your files, which for many teams ends the security conversation before it starts. Murmell has no self-hosted option to answer that with.
Which should I pick, Conductor or Murmell?
Pick Conductor when you work alone, the code should stay on your disk, and separate workspaces are the right way to keep agents out of each other's way. Pick Murmell when several agents should share one directory and other people need to see it.