termic.dev

Termic vs Paseo

Paseo is real competition. It is not a toy wrapper. It has mobile, web, a daemon, schedules, voice, relay access and a lot of providers.

Termic is the smaller shape on purpose: a local desktop app that runs the real terminal agents in worktrees, shows you the diff, and can put a macOS sandbox around the task.

01

Paseo is remote-first

Daemon on a machine. Clients on your desktop, phone, browser or CLI. Great if your agents live on a dev box or you want to poke them from the couch.

02

Termic is desk-first

One local app. Real PTYs. Real git worktrees. The workflow is closer to iTerm plus a diff viewer plus project memory, not a remote control plane.

03

The sandbox is the sharp edge

Paseo documents relay and daemon security. Termic puts the agent itself in a per-task macOS Seatbelt profile with network allowlisting.

feature by feature

What changes in practice

Short version: Paseo wins when you need remote control. Termic wins when the work is local and you care about the process boundary.

Best fit

Termic Local desktop work: real terminals, worktrees, diffs and sandboxing in one app.
Paseo Remote and mobile control: run agents on your machines, drive them from other clients.

Product shape

Termic Native local desktop app. No Termic backend.
Paseo Daemon plus desktop, mobile, web and CLI clients.

Install path

Termic Install the app, open a local repo, spawn an agent.
Paseo Desktop app bundles the daemon; headless installs use npm install -g @getpaseo/cli.

Agent support

Termic Built-in claude, codex, Grok, Antigravity, Copilot and opencode. Any PTY command can be registered.
Paseo Native Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Pi, plus an ACP catalog with Cursor, Gemini, Copilot, Amp and more.

Runs the actual CLI

Termic Yes. Termic spawns the binary in a PTY and stays out of the agent loop.
Paseo Yes. Paseo launches installed provider CLIs as subprocesses.

Git worktrees

Termic Yes. One task per worktree, with setup/run scripts and diff review.
Paseo Yes. Worktrees, setup hooks, scripts, services and per-branch local URLs.

Main checkout / any-directory work

Termic Yes. Open the main checkout when a branch would be overkill.
Paseo Yes. Paseo says worktrees are optional and agents can run in any directory.

Mobile and web control

Termic No. Termic is intentionally a local desktop app.
Paseo Yes. Desktop, web, mobile and CLI clients, with direct or relay connections.

Scheduled jobs

Termic Completion-triggered message queues and bounded repeats. Good for supervised follow-ups, not cron.
Paseo Interval and cron schedules. New agent, existing agent, or the same agent as target.

Ralph-style loops

Termic Bounded repeated messages until the task list drains or you stop it. Visible terminal, visible diff.
Paseo Paseo documents loops, schedules, heartbeats and a /paseo-loop skill.

Security boundary

Termic Optional per-task macOS Seatbelt sandbox plus network allowlist.
Paseo Strong client-daemon story: E2E relay, direct mode, host allowlist and password auth. I did not find an equivalent per-agent OS sandbox in the public docs.

Data path

Termic Terminal -> local CLI -> provider. No Termic server.
Paseo Agents run on your machine. Remote access can use direct connection or an end-to-end encrypted relay.

Voice

Termic No voice mode.
Paseo First-class voice with local speech by default and optional OpenAI speech providers.

License

Termic Open source, AGPL-3.0.
Paseo Open source, AGPL-3.0.

Platforms

Termic macOS and Linux release builds; Windows builds from source today.
Paseo Desktop, web, CLI, iOS and Android, with a daemon that can run headless.

Last reviewed: 2026-06-09. Paseo claims are based on the public sources linked below. If something changed, file an issue.

pick paseo

Use Paseo when the phone matters

Paseo is strong when the agent is not tied to the laptop in front of you. Run the daemon on a dev server, pair a phone, use the relay, schedule a job, attach from the CLI. That is a coherent product.

It also has first-class cron and interval schedules. If you want an agent to wake up every morning, check CI, babysit a build, or keep a heartbeat going from a server, Paseo is built for that.

pick termic

Use Termic when the boundary matters

Termic is the boring local option. That is a feature. Open the repo. Spawn claude, codex or grok. Watch the terminal. Review the diff. Send the work back to main when it is good.

The non-boring part is the sandbox. A remote control layer protects access to the daemon. Termic's sandbox protects the rest of your machine from the agent process. Those are not the same problem.

If your failure mode is "a prompt-injected agent reads ~/.ssh and posts it somewhere", a phone app does not help. A filesystem sandbox and network allowlist do.

queues

About scheduled messages and Ralph loops

Paseo has daemon schedules. Termic has a supervised queue inside the agent tab.

Queue the next prompt. Repeat it N times. Tell the agent to read TASKS.md, do the next unchecked item, run checks, mark it done, then wait for the next turn. It is a Ralph-style loop without pretending an infinite hidden daemon is always a good idea.

Read the docs: scheduled messages, repeated messages and Ralph-style loops.

questions

Comparison FAQ

Is Termic a Paseo alternative?

Yes, but not a clone. Paseo is a self-hosted agent control plane with mobile, web, desktop and CLI clients. Termic is a local desktop workbench for the same class of terminal agents. If you searched for "Paseo alternative" because you want less daemon/client machinery and more local desktop control, Termic is the cleaner fit.

When should I pick Paseo?

Pick Paseo if you want to run agents on a dev box, VM or homelab and control them from your phone, browser or terminal. It is also ahead if you need cron-like schedules, local voice, or the broad ACP provider catalog.

When should I pick Termic?

Pick Termic if the job is mostly at your desk: several real CLI agents, git worktrees, main checkout, diffs, scripts, file search and a per-task sandbox. No relay. No daemon to bind to a port. No separate server to think about.

Does Termic have Paseo-style mobile or remote access?

No. That is the point where Paseo wins. Termic is deliberately local-first in the boring literal sense: desktop app, local PTYs, local repos. If you want to check in from a phone while walking around, use Paseo.

Does Termic have schedules like Paseo?

Termic has scheduled messages, repeated messages and Ralph-style loops, but they are completion-triggered inside a visible agent session. Paseo has real interval and cron schedules through its daemon. Different shape.

Can both run Claude Code and Codex?

Yes. Both launch installed provider tools instead of replacing them. Termic focuses on PTY-based CLIs. Paseo has native providers plus ACP catalog support.

Does Paseo have a sandbox like Termic?

Paseo's public security docs focus on daemon access: relay encryption, direct connections, host allowlists and password auth. I did not find a documented equivalent to Termic's per-task macOS Seatbelt filesystem sandbox and network allowlist. If they add one, this page should change.

Can I use both?

Yes. They do not fight each other. Use Paseo for remote/mobile orchestration. Use Termic when you want a local desktop window with terminals, worktrees, diffs and a sandbox around the agent.

sources

What I checked

Public Paseo docs and repo, reviewed on 2026-06-09. No anonymous forum lore. No vibes.

Paseo homepage Getting started Providers Git worktrees Schedules Security CLI Voice GitHub repo

Install Termic

Free. AGPL-3.0. macOS and Linux releases now.

Direct .dmg download / Linux .AppImage / More comparisons