Community poll: native Herdr integration in cmux (tmux counterpart)

[RaviTharuma]

cmux already has a deep native tmux path (__tmux-compat, ssh-tmux mirrors, sidebar sessions, pane surfaces). Herdr is the agent-native multiplexer counterpart: workspaces → tabs → panes → agents, with a local socket API.

Today, when Herdr runs inside a cmux terminal, cmux still sees one surface. Inner agents are invisible to the sidebar, system.tree, unread/attention, and restore — unless a user-space plugin flattens them into status pills.

What “native” would mean

Same shape as tmux integration where it is practical:

1. Discover / attach a nested Herdr session from a host cmux surface (opt-in, local Unix socket).
2. Observe topology (snapshot + events) instead of polling a CLI.
3. Surface the inner tree in the sidebar / control socket.
4. Capability-gated actions (focus first; mutations later).
5. Restore attachment intent, not a copy of inner PTYs.

v1 nested topology is provider-owned virtual descendants under the host surface (not stealing Herdr PTYs into Bonsplit). Full ssh-tmux-style pane mirroring is a later / separate track.

Current paths

Path	Role
Plugin stopgap	This repo — status pills, CLI, optional sidebar. Works without any cmux merge.
Hidden compat dispatcher	cmux __herdr-compat — manaflow-ai/cmux#8736 (tmux’s __tmux-compat analogue).
Native nested topology	Design manaflow-ai/cmux#8737; foundation PR #9363; packaged v1 PR #10045.
ssh-tmux-parity mirror	Plugin cmux-herdr#14; native engine RaviTharuma/cmux#8.

Tmux counterpart

• tmux control panel integration #560 — tmux control panel integration
• Native tmux control mode (tmux -CC) support #2474 — native tmux control mode (tmux -CC)
• Native tmux control mode: render local tmux in a real Ghostty surface (P1) #5745 — native tmux control mode P1 (Ghostty surface)
• Add local tmux support to the remote-tmux mirror with two-way sync #8421 — local tmux on the remote-tmux mirror
• remote tmux (ssh-tmux): beta -> GA readiness #8382 — remote tmux (ssh-tmux) beta → GA

All related Herdr ↔ cmux issues and PRs

manaflow-ai/cmux — Herdr native track

• Native nested topology for Herdr-hosted agents #8737 — Native nested topology for Herdr-hosted agents
• Add Herdr CLI compatibility shim (Step toward native Herdr ) #8736 — Hidden __herdr-compat dispatcher
• Foundation: provider-neutral nested topology model #9363 — Foundation: provider-neutral nested topology model
• Add native Herdr integration (counterpart to native nest. TMUX) #10045 — Nested topology providers (Herdr v1)
• CLI PATH resolver treats directories as executables (isExecutableFile) #8743 — PATH resolver treats directories as executables (closed; fixed via Skip directories when resolving provider executables on PATH #9476)
• CLI hygiene: provider launch errors should not leak paths/strerror; new strings need full locale catalog + missing-PATH tests #8744 — CLI hygiene for provider launch / locales / missing-PATH tests
• Reject directories in provider executable PATH resolution #9439 — Reject directories in provider executable PATH resolution
• Skip directories when resolving provider executables on PATH #9476 — Skip directories when resolving provider executables on PATH (merged)

RaviTharuma/cmux — stacked native PRs (packaged upstream as #10045)

• Add provider-neutral nested topology model (PR1) RaviTharuma/cmux#1 — PR1 provider-neutral model (merged)
• Add read-only Herdr nested topology socket adapter (PR2) RaviTharuma/cmux#2 — PR2 Herdr socket adapter (merged)
• Add secure nested topology attachment lifecycle (PR3) RaviTharuma/cmux#3 — PR3 secure attachment lifecycle (merged)
• Add nested topology read UI and control-socket parity (PR4) RaviTharuma/cmux#4 — PR4 read UI + control-socket (merged)
• Add capability-gated nested topology focus (PR5) RaviTharuma/cmux#5 — PR5 capability-gated focus (merged)
• Add nested topology restore semantics (PR6) RaviTharuma/cmux#6 — PR6 restore semantics (merged)
• Add nested topology providers (Herdr v1) RaviTharuma/cmux#7 — packaged nested topology v1 (closed; upstreamed as Add native Herdr integration (counterpart to native nest. TMUX) #10045)
• Add RemoteHerdrWindowMirror engine (ssh-tmux parity) RaviTharuma/cmux#8 — RemoteHerdrWindowMirror engine (ssh-tmux parity, open)

This plugin repo

• https://github.com/RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr — plugin (v0.1.0)
• Track: native nested topology PR chain (PR2–PR6) RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#11 — Track native nested topology PR chain
• watch is manual only — no LaunchAgent / user-service sample RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#1 — LaunchAgent for watch (closed)
• Parent binding is single-host — multi-window / multi-surface Herdr can collide RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#2 — multi-parent host fingerprint (closed)
• No tagged release / versioned install story for the stopgap plugin RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#3 — tagged release (closed)
• docs/upstream drafts can drift from live issue #8737 / PR #8736 RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#4 — upstream draft drift (closed)
• PR #8736 follow-up: missing-herdr PATH hermetic test still open in native worktree RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#5 — Add Herdr CLI compatibility shim (Step toward native Herdr ) #8736 missing-PATH residual (closed)
• README verification block mentions pytest-style flow but suite is unittest-only RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#6 — unittest vs pytest docs (closed)
• Dual-path work spanned two agent chats — easy to thrash the same PR worktree RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#7 — dual-chat worktree thrash (closed)
• Fix hermetic unit tests for CLI mocks RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#8 — hermetic CLI mock tests (merged)
• Fix Herdr 0.8 pane parsing so sync keeps agent panes RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#9 — Herdr 0.8 pane parsing (merged)
• Prepare first tagged release v0.1.0 RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#10 — v0.1.0 release prep (merged)
• Fix multi-parent host fingerprint bindings (#2) RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#12 — multi-parent fingerprint bindings (merged)
• Add doctor + read/focus CLI for v0.2 RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#13 — doctor + read/focus CLI (merged)
• Maximize ssh-tmux parity on plugin and native paths RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#14 — maximize ssh-tmux parity (open)
• docs: add AGENTS.md with Cursor Cloud dev environment instructions RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr#15 — AGENTS.md / Cloud env docs (open)

herdrdev/herdr

No dedicated cmux integration issue/PR found in herdrdev/herdr at poll time.

[RemiKalbe]

That would be amazing

[RaviTharuma]

meanwhile until the pr is accepted i made plugin for the time being, but it's not as deeply integrated as the PR:
https://github.com/RaviTharuma/cmux-herdr

[RaviTharuma]

and please upvote this discussion please :)