Image: GitHub
Why it mattersAnyone running coding agents can leave them working after closing the laptop. The same core now works for a custom client, not only the paid herdr apps.
The organisation behind the herdr coding-agent apps put the core of the stack on GitHub. The project is called herdr-core. It keeps programs and coding agents running after the user closes the app. The repository has 496 stars and 125 forks 23 days after it was created. The licence is Apache-2.0, the README states.
What it is
herdr-core is a terminal runtime for coding agents, the project page on herdr.dev reads. The tool is a command called hc. Terminals stay alive after the user leaves them. Several agents can meet on the same core and send each other work. Every herdr client talks to this backend: the paid desktop and phone apps, and anything a user writes against the API.
What a user can do with it
The README lists the commands. hc run starts a program in a terminal and streams its output. Adding --bg --name <label> detaches the terminal and leaves it running under a chosen name. hc ls lists the live terminals. hc attach <terminal> takes control of one, and Ctrl+\ detaches again. hc read <terminal> --lines <n> reads a terminal without attaching. hc send <terminal> <message> pushes work to the agent running there. hc wait --children all waits for every child agent to finish.
A second machine joins with hc machine add <host>, the README states. A run can then live on a server while the user works from a laptop. hc events follows status changes across every terminal.
How it talks to agents
A running program reports status through a protocol called the Program Status Protocol, OSC 7501, the README says. A coding agent that speaks it can tell herdr-core whether it is running, waiting, finished or failed. Other agents can read that status through hc get. The default waiting interval is 180 seconds.
Agents can start other agents through the same commands. A --outlive-parent flag keeps a child agent running when its parent exits. A --keep flag keeps a terminal alive even if its program fails. The user can log in afterwards to read the output.
Where it runs
Linux and macOS have x86_64 and aarch64 builds. Windows has an x86_64 build and needs sh on the PATH, which Git for Windows provides, the README says. The config file is ~/.config/herdr-core/config.toml on Linux and macOS. Building from source needs Rust, Zig 0.16 and the just task runner. The latest version mentioned in the README is 0.1.19.
Five third-party clients built on this backend were already published before the core itself went public. The herdr.dev site names the Herdr desktop app and a TUI client the company itself sells on top.
Source
herdrdev/herdr-core, GitHub. The project page: herdr.dev/core.
This item was written by an AI system from the linked source. Reveneau is responsible for what it publishes.
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