termic.dev

Termic vs Xirp

Spotify opened Xirp to public beta in August 2026. Same shape as Termic: run the real agent CLIs in parallel, one git worktree per session, watch them from one window.

The products diverge on who they are for. Xirp is the way into Portal, Spotify's Backstage platform, and it is where the organizational context comes from. Termic is a local app with no account, no backend and a cage you can put around each agent.

01

Xirp is the front of a platform

The app is free. Portal, which supplies the catalog and ownership context every launch post points at, is a per-developer annual subscription. That is the business.

02

Termic is one local app

No sign-in, no daemon to keep healthy, no organization record for your repo. It opens a folder and spawns the CLI you already installed.

03

Only one of them cages the agent

Termic can lock a task to its worktree with macOS Seatbelt and a network allowlist. Xirp adds no isolation of its own.

feature by feature

What changes in practice

Short version: Xirp wins on organizational context, session polish and agent-driven fan-out. Termic wins on license, account, size, platforms, agent count, multi-repo work and the sandbox.

Best fit

Termic One developer who wants parallel agents on their own machine, with a real boundary around each one.
Xirp A large engineering org that already runs Backstage and wants agents to start with the service catalog loaded.

License

Termic Open source, AGPL-3.0. Public repo, public issues.
Xirp Closed. No public repo, no license file, no source.

Price

Termic Free. No account, no plan, no license key.
Xirp The app is free in beta. Portal, which supplies the organizational context, is a per-developer annual subscription sold through sales.

Account required

Termic None. The app has no backend to sign in to.
Xirp A Spotify account, at first launch, before you open a repo.

Platforms

Termic macOS and Linux release builds. Windows builds from source.
Xirp macOS only. Windows and Linux are a waitlist.

Runtime and size

Termic Rust and Tauri against the system WebView. 20 MB universal .dmg.
Xirp Electron. 183 MB arm64 .dmg for version 0.12.0.

Runs the real CLI

Termic Yes. Spawns the binary in a PTY and stays out of the agent loop, so inference bills to the plan you already pay for.
Xirp Yes. Launches the real agents through tmux, so the same holds.

Agents supported

Termic claude, codex, gemini, Antigravity, opencode, Copilot and Grok. Any PTY command can be registered in about 30 seconds.
Xirp Claude Code, Codex and Gemini. No documented way to add your own.

Git worktrees

Termic Yes. One task per worktree, with setup and run scripts.
Xirp Yes. One session per worktree.

Work on the main checkout

Termic Yes. Skip the worktree when a branch would be overkill.
Xirp Yes. Sessions can run on the current branch.

Multi-repo work

Termic Real composition. N member repos in one task, each worktreed, shared instructions, a port per member so parallel dev servers do not collide.
Xirp Point a project at a parent folder holding several repos. Their docs note git controls are limited in that mode.

Sandbox around the agent

Termic Optional per-task macOS Seatbelt cage plus a network allowlist, pinned at task creation so it cannot be switched off mid-session.
Xirp None of its own. You get whatever flags each agent exposes, and their docs say permission and sandbox settings do not translate between agents.

Work-done detection

Termic Reads the progress sequences the agents already emit (OSC 9;4, window titles). No config, works for agents added by hand.
Xirp Installs hooks into your agent config, for Claude and Codex. Their onboarding says badges and notifications do not work without it, and there is no fallback if you decline.

Organizational context

Termic None. Termic gives agents the repo and whatever instructions live in it.
Xirp Real advantage. Portal supplies the service catalog, ownership and dependency graph at session start.

Session transcripts

Termic Stay on your machine. Nothing is uploaded, because there is nowhere to upload to.
Xirp Can be uploaded to a Portal Workspace to share with the team. Their FAQ states transcripts are not scrubbed of credentials or personal data before upload.

Agent-driven orchestration

Termic A control CLI agents can drive to create and steer other tasks. An MCP endpoint is in progress.
Xirp Injects a system prompt teaching each session to spawn sibling sessions, including queueing one behind another.

Context-window meter

Termic Not shown yet.
Xirp Per-session percentage in the sidebar. Useful once you are running dozens.

Auto-named sessions

Termic You name the task.
Xirp Names the session from your prompt.

Grid of live terminals

Termic Splits inside a task, no all-sessions grid.
Xirp Yes, a grid view across sessions.

Background processes

Termic One app. No daemon, no local server.
Xirp A separate daemon on a loopback port, plus tmux sessions that outlive the app.

Last reviewed: 2026-08-11, against Xirp 0.12.0. Claims come from the public sources linked below and from running the app. If something changed, file an issue.

pick xirp

Use Xirp when the catalog is the point

The context argument is a good one and Termic has no answer to it. Most bad agent output is not bad code. It is correct code written by something that had no idea what system it was sitting inside. Starting a session with ownership and dependency data loaded is a real fix for that.

If your company already runs Backstage or Portal, that data exists and Xirp is built to hand it to the agent. Nothing local competes with that.

Two things to know going in. The context lives in Portal, which is a per-developer annual subscription, and a catalog that has drifted will hand agents confident nonsense they cannot detect.

pick termic

Use Termic when it is your machine and your repo

No account to create before you can open a folder. No organization record for a side project. No daemon. 20 MB of native app instead of 183 MB of Electron, which starts to matter when a dozen live terminals are painting at once.

Seven agents built in and any PTY command can become the eighth, so the tool does not decide which vendors you are allowed to try. macOS and Linux. AGPL source you can read, fork or audit.

And a real boundary. Each task can be locked to its worktree with macOS Seatbelt and a network allowlist, pinned at creation. Termic caught Claude Code reaching for ~/.config/gh/hosts.yml and browser profile directories while idle. Inside the cage that read fails. Outside it, it quietly succeeds.

knowing when an agent is done

Hooks versus the terminal

This is the most interesting technical difference and it is invisible until you run twenty sessions.

Xirp writes hooks into your agent's configuration, for Claude and Codex. That is precise where it is installed. Its onboarding is also blunt about the cost: without hooks, status badges and notifications do not work.

Termic reads what the agents already send the terminal. Claude Code emits OSC 9;4 progress states, Gemini and Codex put the state in the window title. It is why iTerm shows a spinner. No config, no file written to your home directory, and it works for an agent added by hand five minutes ago.

It also survives the cases a completion event misses. Interrupt a turn and nothing completion-shaped fires, because the turn did not end, it was cancelled. The terminal signal still flips.

questions

Comparison FAQ

Is Termic an open source alternative to Xirp?

Yes. Both run the real claude, codex and gemini binaries in parallel, each session in its own git worktree. Termic is AGPL-3.0 with a public repo, needs no account, and ships a per-task sandbox. Xirp is closed, macOS only, and asks for a Spotify login before you open a repo.

Is Xirp free?

The app is free during the beta. Portal, the part that supplies the catalog and ownership context every launch post points at, is a per-developer annual subscription quoted by sales. The free app is the way in.

When should I pick Xirp?

If your company already runs Backstage or Spotify Portal, the catalog integration is a real advantage and Termic has no answer to it. An agent that knows who owns the upstream service makes better calls than one that only sees your open file.

When should I pick Termic?

If you want no account, source you can read and fork, Linux as well as macOS, more than three agents plus the ability to add your own, real multi-repo tasks, and an OS-level cage around the agent process.

Do both run the real CLIs?

Yes, and it matters. Neither wraps a vendor SDK, so inference bills to the Pro or Max plan you already pay for and new CLI features work the day they ship. Termic spawns the binary in a PTY. Xirp launches it inside a tmux session.

Does Xirp have a sandbox?

Not of its own. You get whatever each agent's own flags provide, and Xirp's docs state that permission and sandbox settings do not translate between agents. Termic has an optional per-task macOS Seatbelt cage with a network allowlist, pinned at creation so it cannot be toggled off mid-session.

How does each one know an agent has finished?

Xirp installs hooks into your agent config, for Claude and Codex. Its own onboarding says status badges and notifications do not work without them. Termic reads the progress sequences the agents already emit to the terminal, so it needs no config, no file in your home directory, and it works for agents you added yourself.

Does my code leave the machine?

Neither uploads your repo. Xirp can upload a session transcript to a Portal Workspace when you choose to share it, and its FAQ says transcripts are not scrubbed of credentials or personal data first. Termic has no backend, so there is nowhere for anything to go.

Can I use both?

Yes. They install separately and both drive the same agent CLIs against the same repos.

sources

What I checked

Xirp's public site, docs and launch post, reviewed on 2026-08-11. The size and version numbers come from their published release manifest. The rest comes from installing Xirp 0.12.0 on a Mac and using it. No vibes.

Xirp homepage Join the beta Xirp docs Docs: FAQ Docs: sessions Docs: projects Docs: settings Launch post Portal product page Release manifest

Install Termic

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

Direct .dmg download / Linux .AppImage / More comparisons