Medley vs. Gastown
Gastown is a powerful open-source terminal workspace for developers running four or more concurrent agents across multi-week projects. Medley brings a Mac-native mission layer with cross-domain work and an attention queue for founders.
Paste into Claude Code
Gastown is open source and runs entirely on your machine, managing multiple CLI agents — Claude Code, Copilot CLI, Codex CLI, Gemini — with Git worktrees, multi-day persistence, and a TUI dashboard. Witness and Refinery roles structure human-in-the-loop review for serious parallel agent work.
Medley shares the project-level ambition but targets a different user: AI-native founders orchestrating Claude Code across coding and company-building missions — with a graphical mission board, centralized attention queue, and cross-domain decomposition.
What Gastown does well
Gastown is free, open-source, and cross-platform — Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD. It solves real pain for developers managing many concurrent coding agents over weeks, with worktree isolation and explicit human roles in the loop.
Full control of CLI runtimes you configure. The TUI dashboard and Witness/Refinery pattern give structure to review without leaving the terminal-centric workflow power users prefer.
Where Gastown stops
Gastown is coding-only and terminal-first. There is no mission layer for adjacent company-building work alongside code — and the UX assumes comfort with TUI workflows and self-hosted setup.
Routing is manual across CLI runtimes you configure. There is no dynamic model routing optimized per sub-task type, cost-per-task accounting, or decision memory that learns your approval patterns over time.
What Medley does differently
Medley is a local-first Mac app built for founders — not only terminal power users — with missions that span coding and adjacent company-building work. Decomposition, routing, and sign-off gates are designed to be productized rather than assembled from TUI conventions.
A single attention queue across projects is designed to replace checking multiple agent workspaces. Cost per finished task and decision memory that aims to earn autonomy over time target operators delegating company-building work, not only multi-week refactors.
Key differences
Cross-domain missions
Medley runs adjacent company-building work alongside code. Gastown is coding-focused.
Founder UX vs. TUI
Medley is a graphical mission app. Gastown is terminal workspace management.
Open source
Gastown is open source. Medley is a productized orchestration layer (not open source).
Both offer project persistence
Gastown uses worktrees across days. Medley uses mission state with DAG decomposition.
Full product comparison
| Medley | Gastown | |
|---|---|---|
| Product type | Project orchestrator | Terminal multi-agent workspace manager |
| Coding vs. non-coding work | Both — coding and adjacent company-building work | Coding only |
| Project layer | Project-level — task decomposition across the project | Project-level — Git worktrees, multi-day persistence |
| Attention queue / human-in-the-loop | Centralized queue — humans pulled in only when needed | TUI dashboard + Witness/Refinery roles |
| Model access | Uses models you already have in Claude Code | Yes — user brings own CLI runtimes + keys |
| Local vs. cloud | Local — Claude Code plugin | Local — runs entirely on your machine |
| Model support | Models you bring into Claude Code (Claude, GPT, Gemini, and more) | Claude Code CLI, Copilot CLI, Codex CLI, Gemini |
| Platform / OS | Mac — desktop app | Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD |
| Pricing & business model | Free — models you already have in Claude Code | Free ($0 software) |
| Target user / ICP | Founders & power users of Claude Code | Developers managing 4+ concurrent agents, multi-week projects |
Data as of June 2026. Sources: web research, medley.sh.
Which should you choose?
Choose Gastown if
- You want open-source, self-hosted multi-agent terminal management
- You run 4+ concurrent coding agents on multi-week projects
- TUI dashboards and Witness/Refinery roles fit your review workflow
- Cross-platform Linux/FreeBSD support is required
Choose Medley if
- You are a founder delegating coding plus adjacent company-building work
- You want a Mac-native mission board and attention queue
- You need dynamic routing and cost per task without assembling a TUI stack
- Graphical UX and sign-off gates matter more than terminal purity
Medley vs. Gastown FAQ
- Gastown is open source — why choose Medley?
- Choose Gastown if you want to self-host and hack on orchestration infrastructure. Choose Medley if you want a finished Mac product for founder missions spanning code and business work.
- Do both support long-running parallel work?
- Yes — both address multi-day agent work. Gastown via Git worktrees and TUI roles; Medley via persistent missions, DAGs, and an attention queue.
- Which agents do they support?
- Gastown wires CLI runtimes you configure (Claude Code CLI, Codex CLI, etc.). Medley routes dynamically across Claude Code and others with mission-level context.
Mission orchestration without the TUI assembly project.
Install Medley — Mac-native missions for founders running Claude Code.
Install MedleyI