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.
Free · Mac OS
Gastown (Apache 2.0) runs entirely on your machine and manages 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 and Codex 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 BYOK: you bring your own CLI runtimes and API keys. 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 GTM, content, ads, or CRO 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 Mac desktop app built for founders — not only terminal power users — with missions that span code and non-code work. Decomposition, routing, and sign-off gates are productized rather than assembled from TUI conventions.
A single attention queue across projects replaces checking multiple agent workspaces. Cost per finished task and earned autonomy from decision memory target operators delegating company-building work, not only multi-week refactors.
Key differences
Cross-domain missions
Medley runs GTM and content 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 Apache 2.0. 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 + GTM, content, ads, CRO | 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 |
| BYOK (bring your own key) | Yes — fully BYOK | Yes — user brings own CLI runtimes + keys |
| Local vs. cloud | Local — desktop app | Local — runs entirely on your machine |
| Model support | Claude Code, Codex — dynamic routing | Claude Code CLI, Copilot CLI, Codex CLI, Gemini |
| Platform / OS | Mac — desktop app | Linux, macOS, Windows, FreeBSD |
| Pricing & business model | Free — BYOK, pay your own API costs | Free & open-source |
| Target user / ICP | Founders & power users of Claude Code / Codex | Developers managing 4+ concurrent agents, multi-week projects |
| Open source | No | Yes — Apache 2.0 |
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 GTM, content, and ops
- 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, Codex, and others with mission-level context.
Mission orchestration without the TUI assembly project.
Join the waitlist for Medley — Mac-native missions for founders running Claude Code and Codex.
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