Most days I use more than one coding agent: Codex for one job, Gemini CLI for another, Claude for a third. Each lives in its own terminal, asks permission its own way, and leaves no shared record of what it was allowed to do.
So I built Bellows: a free desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux that runs them all side by side, under one set of rules.
Every agent, one window
Run Codex, Gemini CLI and Claude sessions in tabs, in the same project. Gemini CLI, Codex and Qwen Code have presets, and Bellows is an Agent Client Protocol (ACP) client, so any agent that speaks ACP is one command away. If Ollama or LM Studio is running, one click starts a session on a local model.
One set of rules, one record
Permission prompts are buttons, and they look the same whichever agent asks. Save an answer as a rule and it applies to every agent. Every allow and deny goes into a hash-linked audit trail, so an edit or a gap shows.
Codex runs through its own app-server, the one mode in which it asks before commands and edits. The few commands it treats as safe still run unasked, and Bellows records each one as having run.
Pair on a live session
Send a colleague a link to your running session. Their link carries one role: watch, suggest or type. Suggestions wait for you to accept them, and answering permission prompts is a separate switch, off by default. Everything stays on your machine. On your own network it's free.
Keep what worked
When an agent gets a file job right, press Keep as a tool. It becomes a small app with a Run button: next month, pick next month's files and press Run, with no agent and no AI charge. Kept tools run sealed off (no network, no shell), can be sent to a colleague as one file, and Check proves they still work.
Room to experiment
Start any agent in its own git worktree and review what it changed before you keep it. Resume or fork old sessions, and rewind files in Claude sessions.
What it doesn't do (yet)
- No model included: each agent signs in its own way, and Claude runs on your Anthropic API key.
- The Windows download isn't code-signed yet (SmartScreen: More info, then Run anyway). Mac needs Apple silicon.
- Several agents on one job at once, with a side-by-side review, is what I'm building next.
The desktop app is free, all of it. A paid Team plan adds one policy for every machine and a shared audit trail.
Running agents side by side: https://bellowsai.app/guides/run-several-coding-agents-side-by-side
Which agents do you use together, and what would get you out of the terminal?
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