# Conductor Published January 1, 2026 · Updated August 10, 2026 Claude Code parallelization — run multiple instances simultaneously Category: Developer Tools · Free · Replaces Intent by Augment Code ($20/month) · [Official website](https://conductor.build/) ## Install with Homebrew `brew install --cask conductor` ## Quick take Install Conductor on a Mac when you already pay for Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor and keep burning time on sequential agent sessions. Free local worktrees are enough to learn the review habit; Pro at $50/month buys Conductor Cloud (8-core/16GB us-east-1 Vercel sandboxes) plus multiplayer and API; Teams at $60/user/month adds admin and SSO for 5+ seats. The Melty Labs / YC S24 $22M Series A and changelog through 0.79.0 (Cloud Polish, early August 2026) reduce abandonment risk. Pass if you need a native Windows or Linux desktop client, or if cloud transcript storage on Conductor's servers breaks your policy. Local Free workspaces still keep session data on device. Best for: Mac developers running multiple independent agent tasks daily, Teams that want Free local orchestration now and Pro/Teams cloud + multiplayer later, Shops standardizing on Claude Code and/or Codex and/or Cursor rather than a single vendor UI ## What is Conductor? Conductor (conductor.build) is a Mac desktop app for running parallel coding agents in isolated git worktrees. Unlike older descriptions that framed it as Claude-Code-only, the 2026 product runs Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, and Cursor agents side by side, with experimental OpenCode support. You add a repository, spawn agents into separate worktrees, watch status from a unified dashboard, then review diffs and merge when the work is good. Local parallelism remains free; you bring your own model subscriptions and API keys. Paid tiers unlock Conductor Cloud (Vercel sandboxes), multiplayer, team admin, SSO, and the Conductor API. The problem Conductor solves is sequential agent bottlenecks and messy multi-window setups. One Claude Code session is capable but serial. Manually juggling several terminals, checkouts, and PR tabs does not scale when you have a backlog of independent bugs and features. Conductor makes isolation the default: each workspace is a git worktree, so agents do not overwrite each other's uncommitted files. You see what each agent is doing, steer or interrupt, and collect reviewable branches instead of hoping scrollback tells the truth. Pricing as published on conductor.build/pricing (August 2026): Free at $0 for parallel agents on local Mac workspaces with BYO subscriptions and keys. Pro at $50/month adds Conductor Cloud workspace hours, multiplayer, teams up to 5, the Conductor API, and a mobile app marked as coming soon. Teams at $60/month per user is for organizations of 5+ with admin portal, centralized billing, and SSO. Enterprise is custom with DPA, purchase-order billing, SCIM, custom security controls, SLA, and dedicated support. Model spend is separate, Anthropic Claude Max is commonly recommended when you run heavy Claude Code parallelism; Codex and Cursor costs follow those vendors' plans. Cloud compute is included for now on paid plans, with Conductor noting future usage-based cloud pricing may arrive. Cloud workspaces (Pro/Teams/Enterprise) provision 8-core / 16GB Amazon Linux 2023 sandboxes via Vercel in us-east-1, preloaded with Node.js 24, npm, pnpm, Python 3, git, GitHub CLI, ripgrep, git-lfs, tmux, and vim. Agents keep working after you close the Mac app, unlike local sessions that die when the machine sleeps. Privacy differs: local Conductor sends messages to your model provider and keeps session data on device; cloud sessions store chat inputs and outputs on Conductor's servers because the sandbox is managed. Company context: Conductor is Melty Labs / YC S24, founded by Charlie Holtz and Jackson de Campos, and raised a $22M Series A in 2026. Release release rhythm has been aggressive, changelog entries through 0.79.0 (Cloud Polish, early August 2026) after 0.78.0 introduced Conductor Cloud, with earlier 2026 milestones for Cursor support and Dispatcher, OpenCode, multiplayer/API early access, and current model pickers spanning Claude Opus 5 / Sonnet 5 / Fable 5, GPT-5.6, and Grok 4.5 class stacks. Competitors worth naming: CodexMonitor (open-source Codex-only Tauri command center, maintenance paused), Claude Code alone (same quality, no orchestrator), Cursor background agents (Cursor-native parallelism), and Meta Muse Code (terminal agent narrative rival). Conductor's bet is Mac-native UX plus multi-runtime worktrees, now extended into cloud and multiplayer for teams willing to pay. Honest fit: Solo Mac developers with Claude Max or Codex seats get useful throughput on Free. Agencies and startups that want always-on sandboxes, shared workspaces, and admin controls should evaluate Pro or Teams. Windows/Linux-only shops are out of scope for the desktop app today. Security-conscious teams should read the local-vs-cloud data FAQ carefully before moving secrets into cloud workspaces. Extended guidance for engineering managers: treat Conductor as throughput infrastructure. It does not invent review quality. Parallel agents amplify good tickets and amplify vague ones. Require scoped prompts, acceptance checks, and human review before merge. Budget model spend separately from the $50 Pro seat, four Opus-class agents can burn a Max pool quickly. Prefer local workspaces for proprietary code when policy forbids vendor-stored transcripts; use cloud when laptop lid-close would otherwise kill overnight jobs. Pair with branch protections and CI so agent PRs cannot skip tests. Revisit seat count quarterly as Muse Code, official Codex desktop, and Cursor evolve. Procurement checklist: (1) confirm macOS fleet, (2) map who needs Free vs Pro vs Teams, (3) decide cloud data handling, (4) set Anthropic/OpenAI/Cursor spend caps, (5) standardize worktree cleanup, (6) train on review-before-merge, (7) keep a bake-off against CodexMonitor and vendor-native agents so Conductor stays a deliberate choice. ## Features - **Parallel Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode agents.** Launch parallel agents from the Mac app using the Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor tools you already pay for. Conductor bundles or integrates Claude Code and Codex for compatibility and supports Cursor (API key) plus experimental OpenCode. Pick the right agent per task instead of forcing one vendor on every ticket. - **Isolated git worktrees.** Every workspace is a git worktree so agents edit isolated checkouts of the same repository. Merge conflicts become review problems instead of silent clobbering. Discard a bad run by dropping the worktree without wrecking your main working tree. - **Unified dashboard, dispatcher, and review.** See agent status, pending reviews, diffs, and PR-oriented workflows in one place. Dispatcher-style routing helps assign work; built-in review surfaces reduce the alt-tab tax of many terminals and IDE windows. - **Conductor Cloud (Vercel sandboxes).** On Pro and above, create cloud workspaces that keep running after you quit the Mac app. Each sandbox is an 8-core / 16GB Amazon Linux 2023 machine in us-east-1 via Vercel, with a practical toolchain preinstalled. Bring the same subscriptions/keys pattern as local; understand that cloud session data is stored by Conductor. - **Multiplayer, Teams admin, and Conductor API.** Paid plans add live collaboration in shared org workspaces, team seats (Pro up to 5; Teams 5+), admin portal, centralized billing, SSO on Teams, and a Conductor API for automation. Mobile client is listed as coming soon on Pro. - **Rapid model and toolchain updates.** Near-weekly changelog releases track frontier coding models and DX polish, recent lines include Claude Opus 5 / Sonnet 5 / Fable 5 support waves, GPT-5.6, Grok 4.5, OpenCode, Cursor support, and cloud polish through 0.79.0. The app stays current so your orchestrator does not lag the agents it runs. ## How to Install Conductor on Mac Conductor is a macOS app. Install the desktop build from conductor.build, then connect the agent agent CLIs you already use (Claude Code, Codex, and/or Cursor). 1. **Install agent prerequisites.** Install and sign into Claude Code and/or Codex CLI as needed. For Cursor agents, have the required API key ready. Confirm each agent runtime works alone in a terminal or editor before orchestrating. 2. **Download Conductor.** Get the Mac app from https://conductor.build/ (current line ~0.79.0 per changelog). Open the app and complete first-run permissions for git and local repositories. 3. **Add a repository workspace.** Point Conductor at a git repo, create an isolated worktree workspace, and launch a single low-risk agent task to verify diffs and review UI. 4. **Optional: upgrade for Cloud.** If you need sandboxes that survive lid close, multiplayer, or API access, choose Pro ($50/mo) or Teams ($60/mo/user) on https://www.conductor.build/pricing and create a cloud workspace. ## Pros - True parallel agents across Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor with git worktree isolation - Local Free tier remains useful, pay only when you need cloud, multiplayer, or team controls - Conductor Cloud offers 8-core/16GB us-east-1 sandboxes that keep working after you close the laptop - YC S24 + $22M Series A and near-weekly releases through 0.79.0 reduce abandonment risk - Teams/Enterprise path with SSO, admin, and DPA for growing organizations ## Cons - Desktop app is Mac-only, no native Windows/Linux Conductor client - Cloud sessions store inputs/outputs on Conductor servers (privacy model differs from local) - Model costs scale with parallelism; heavy Claude Code fleets often need Max-class spend - Agents inherit broad local permissions unless you isolate via dedicated machine/VM practices ## Closer look: From local worktrees to Conductor Cloud Conductor's arc tracks the broader agent market: first make parallel local agents safe with git worktrees, then productize always-on compute and multiplayer once usage patterns prove themselves. Free local remains the wedge; Pro cloud is the monetization and retention layer for teams that refuse to keep laptops awake. Operators should budget Anthropic, OpenAI, and Cursor spend separately from the Conductor seat price, enforce branch protections on every agent PR, and document when cloud transcript storage is allowed versus when proprietary repos must stay on local Free workspaces. Treat 0.79.x cloud polish as the August 2026 baseline when comparing Conductor against CodexMonitor or vendor-native background agents. ## FAQ ### Does Conductor only support Claude Code? No. Conductor runs parallel Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor agents in isolated worktrees, with experimental OpenCode support. Older Claude-only descriptions are outdated. ### Is Conductor free? Local parallel agents on your Mac are free ($0) with bring-your-own subscriptions and keys. Pro is $50/month for cloud, multiplayer, API, and related features. Teams is $60/month per user. Enterprise is custom. Model usage is billed by Anthropic, OpenAI, Cursor, etc. ### What are Conductor Cloud specs? Cloud workspaces use Vercel sandboxes in us-east-1: 8-core CPU, 16GB RAM, Amazon Linux 2023 with Node 24, npm, pnpm, Python 3, git, GitHub CLI, ripgrep, git-lfs, tmux, and vim preinstalled. Available on Pro, Teams, and Enterprise. ### Does Conductor store my code chats? Local sessions keep data on your device and talk to your model provider directly. Cloud sessions store chat inputs and outputs on Conductor's servers because work runs in managed sandboxes. ### How is Conductor funded and how current is the app? Conductor is a YC S24 company (Melty Labs) that raised a $22M Series A in 2026. The changelog lists 0.79.0 (Cloud Polish) around early August 2026 after 0.78.0 introduced Conductor Cloud. ### What are good alternatives? CodexMonitor for open-source Codex-only orchestration, Claude Code or Cursor alone for single-runtime work, Cursor background agents for Cursor-native parallelism, and Meta Muse Code as another agent option. Conductor wins when you want multi-runtime Mac worktrees plus optional cloud/multiplayer. ### Do I need Claude Max? Not strictly, but heavy parallel Claude Code usage is where Max-class rate limits and spend make sense. Free Conductor does not remove Anthropic limits, it multiplies how fast you can hit them. ### Can agents keep working after I close my MacBook? Only on Conductor Cloud (Pro/Teams/Enterprise). Local workspaces stop when the machine sleeps or the app quits. Cloud sandboxes continue in us-east-1 until the task finishes or you cancel, the main reason many power users upgrade from Free. ### How should teams review Conductor output before merge? Treat every agent branch like an external contributor PR: require CI, skim the diff for unintended files, verify acceptance criteria, and reject vague prompts that produce large drive-by refactors. Conductor accelerates checkout isolation; it does not replace code owners or branch protections. ## Sources - [Conductor, official site](https://conductor.build/) - [Conductor Pricing](https://www.conductor.build/pricing) - [Conductor Changelog](https://www.conductor.build/changelog) - [Conductor, Ry Walker Research](https://rywalker.com/research/conductor) - [Conductor on AI IDE List](https://aiidelist.com/ide/conductor) - [Conductor.build intro guide, Codepick](https://codepick.dev/en/guides/conductor-build-intro/) - [Conductor Docs](https://www.conductor.build/docs) ## Related - [Cursor](https://bundl.run/apps/cursor) - [Claude Code](https://bundl.run/apps/claude-code) - [ChatGPT](https://bundl.run/apps/chatgpt) - [Claude](https://bundl.run/apps/claude) - [Codex](https://bundl.run/apps/codex) - [Windsurf](https://bundl.run/apps/windsurf) - [Free alternative to Intent by Augment Code](https://conductor.build/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://bundl.run/og-image.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, "description": "The Ninite for Mac. 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