Claude Code GUI for Mac: the options compared (2026)
The official Claude Code desktop app, Conductor, Nimbalyst, Superset, Sculptor, Claude Squad, and CmdBrief — what each one is for, what it lacks, and how to choose, verified against each vendor’s own docs.
The short answer
The default Claude Code GUI for a Mac is Anthropic’s own desktop app: a sessions sidebar, a worktree per session, diff review, a terminal pane, and a browser pane, included with a Pro or Max plan. If you only run Claude Code, start there and stop reading.
Third-party apps earn their place in three situations: you run Codex or other CLIs alongside Claude and want one view of all of them; you want parallel-agent features the official app lacks (team multiplayer, container isolation, open-source extensibility); or you supervise several products and need attention and usage rolled up across them rather than sessions listed inside one project. The table below is built from each vendor’s own documentation; a dash means the vendor does not document it, not that it is missing.
Selection table
| Tool | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code desktop appIncluded with Pro/Max | Yes | No | No | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| ConductorFree · Pro $50/mo | Yes | Yes | Partial | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | Yes | Not documented | No |
| NimbalystFree | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Not documented | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SupersetFree · Pro $20 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | Yes | Not documented | Partial |
| SculptorFree (beta) | Yes | Yes | No | Not documented | Not documented | Not documented | Yes | Partial | No |
| Claude SquadFree | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CmdBrief€29.99/mo · 14-day refund | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Pick a capability heading to read that column across every tool.
Claude Code desktop app (Anthropic)
Included with Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. Cmd+N opens a new session in its own git worktree; the sidebar filters sessions by status and groups them by project; two sessions sit side by side; there is a diff view with inline comments, an integrated terminal, a file editor, and a browser pane that previews your dev server. Sessions run locally by default, with a cloud environment for work that should outlive your laptop. Windows and a Linux beta exist too.
What it lacks: everything outside Claude. A Codex thread in the same repo is invisible, and the usage ring covers your Anthropic plan only. Per-project state is a grouping in the sidebar, not a persistent workspace with tasks and notes attached.
Conductor
"Run parallel coding agents on your Mac." Free for local workspaces with your own subscriptions and keys; Pro at $50 a month adds Conductor Cloud workspaces, multiplayer with up to five Pro users, an API, and a mobile app; Teams at $60 per user adds admin and billing. Supports Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, with review-and-merge of each agent’s changes. It is the funded, polished option for teams that want cloud workspaces.
What its site does not document: a terminal, usage windows, or session history. Grok, Kimi, and OpenCode are not supported.
Nimbalyst (formerly Crystal)
"The extensible visual workspace for you, your team, Codex, and Claude Code." Crystal, the MIT-licensed Electron app for parallel worktree sessions, was deprecated in February 2026 in favour of Nimbalyst. It is free for individuals with no limits, MIT-licensed, local-first with open file formats, runs on macOS (Apple silicon and Intel), Windows, Linux, and iOS, and organises sessions on a kanban board with full history, one-click worktrees, and inline diff review. OpenCode and Copilot support are in alpha.
It is deliberately not a terminal: the workspace is visual editors. Usage windows are not documented.
Superset
Agent-agnostic: Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and custom agents, with review, an in-app browser, and MCP. Free tier plus Pro at $20 per seat; source-available under ELv2; macOS today with Windows and Linux announced. It also publishes its own comparison pages, which is how many people find it.
Status states, usage windows, session resume, and terminal are not documented on the pages we could verify.
Sculptor (Imbue)
"The missing UI for parallel coding agents." Each Claude Code or Codex agent runs in an isolated container, with Pairing Mode syncing results into your local repo and automatic merge-conflict detection between agents. Sessions reopen with their plans, chats, and tool calls. Free in beta, macOS Apple silicon and Linux.
Two vendors only, and no documented usage windows. If isolation is your main worry, it is the most thorough answer on this list.
Claude Squad (terminal, not a GUI)
Included because it is what many people actually want when they search for a GUI: a list of sessions with status and a diff tab, without leaving the terminal. Free, AGPL, installs with Homebrew, creates a tmux session and a worktree per agent, and supports Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Aider, OpenCode, and Amp.
brew install claude-squad
cs
CmdBrief
Ours, so read the others first. CmdBrief is a native Rust macOS app for the founder running several products: each product gets a persistent workspace with agents, tasks, terminals, files, a diff viewer, and browser panes, and the sidebar rolls attention up across all of them. It supervises Claude Code, Codex, Grok CLI, Kimi CLI, OpenCode, and Cursor CLI with the same working / needs-input / completed / failed states, and shows each vendor’s usage windows side by side — the one capability on this page no other tool documents. The terminal is a hand-written VT emulator with a GPU text path, not a chat box with a shell bolted on.
It is €29.99 a month (or annual) with a 14-day money-back guarantee, Apple silicon on macOS 26 or later, local-first, and it does not automate worktrees — pair it with claude --worktree if you need isolated checkouts. If you run one product on one vendor, the official app is the better deal. See features and pricing. Also compare the workspace: CmdBrief vs Claude Desktop, or start at the comparison hub.
How to choose
- One product, Claude only → the official desktop app, plus
claude agentsfor a dashboard. Free with your plan. - Claude and Codex, one product, want free and open source → Nimbalyst (GUI) or Claude Squad (terminal).
- A team that wants cloud workspaces and multiplayer → Conductor Pro.
- Isolation is the worry → Sculptor’s containers.
- Several products, several vendors, usage windows on one screen → CmdBrief.
- Still unsure → you probably need
claude --resumeand a worktree, not a new app. See managing multiple Claude Code sessions.
Yes. The Claude Code desktop app from Anthropic is included with Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans, with parallel worktree-backed sessions, diff review, a terminal, and a browser pane.
The official desktop app is included with a paid Claude plan. Among third parties, Nimbalyst (MIT, GUI) and Claude Squad (AGPL, terminal) are free and open source; Conductor and Superset have free tiers.
Conductor, Nimbalyst, Superset, Sculptor, Claude Squad, and CmdBrief. The official Claude desktop app and the official Codex app are each single-vendor.
On the pages we could verify on 2026-08-20, only CmdBrief documents showing usage windows from several vendors side by side. The official apps show their own plan only; the others do not document it.
Primary sources
Provider terms and product behavior can change. Confirm plan, pricing, model, and permission details in the current official documentation.