quil
Quil vs Agent of Empires
A Rust TUI + React web dashboard that manages AI coding agents on top of tmux, with git worktrees, Docker sandboxing, a mobile-first 'structured view', and remote phone access. Backed by the Mozilla.ai community.
Reach and isolation.
Reach and isolation. A real browser dashboard (installable PWA) with a native structured view of agent state, remote phone access via Tailscale/Cloudflare with QR + passphrase pairing and Web Push, git worktree-per-session and multi-repo workspaces, an in-TUI diff viewer, and Docker/Podman/Apple-Container sandboxing with shared auth volumes.
Native Windows. MCP-native. No tmux dependency.
It depends on tmux, so native Windows is out (WSL2 only). It has no MCP server (external control is a bespoke HTTP API), no pane-notes editor, and no per-pane memory reporting — and its large surface area is a heavier install than Quil's two binaries.
Agent of Empires and Quil solve the same problem from opposite ends. AoE wraps tmux and invests everything above it — a browser dashboard, an Agent-Client-Protocol structured view, container sandboxing, and phone access over a tunnel. Quil builds its own multiplexer and invests in the terminal itself — native Windows, an MCP server, pane notes, and a remote mode that puts the panes on a server while the TUI stays on your laptop. On a phone or in a browser AoE is still far ahead; from a terminal, Quil now reaches a remote host without any of that stack.
Feature by feature
| capability | quil | Agent of Empires |
|---|---|---|
| Runs natively on Windows (no WSL / no tmux) | yes | no |
| └── AoE requires tmux, so Windows is WSL2-only. Quil is native on Windows. | ||
| Survives a full host reboot | yes | yes |
| └── AoE via tmux; Quil via its own snapshot + ghost buffers. | ||
| AI session auto-resume | yes | yes |
| MCP server for AI agents | yes | no |
| └── AoE exposes a bespoke HTTP REST API; Quil speaks MCP natively. | ||
| Pane notes editor | yes | no |
| Per-pane memory reporting | yes | no |
| Remote attach from a native terminal client | yes | no |
| └── `quil --remote <host>` runs the TUI locally against a daemon on the server, opens no port, reconnects on its own, and installs itself on a bare machine. AoE's remote surface is the browser dashboard — for a terminal you ssh in and attach tmux by hand. | ||
| Web dashboard (browser terminal + diffs, PWA) | no | yes |
| Remote phone access (tunnel + QR/passphrase + Web Push) | no | yes |
| ACP structured view (plan / tool / approve cards) | no | yes |
| Git worktree-per-session | yes | yes |
| └── Was a genuine gap until recently. A Quil tab can now open straight onto a new worktree, showing a placeholder pane with a spinner while git worktree add runs so a slow checkout is never mistaken for an agent started in the main tree, and closing the tab or pane offers to remove the worktree — naming what it holds, and refusing to call a dirty one clean. | ||
| Multi-repo workspaces | yes | yes |
| └── Was a genuine gap until v1.47. Quil projects each own a root directory and their own tabs, so several repositories sit side by side in one window — and a project can belong to a different machine, which AoE's workspaces do not span. | ||
| Built-in diff viewer (review + edit) | no | yes |
| Container sandboxing (Docker/Podman/Apple) | partial | yes |
| └── Quil sandboxes an AI pane in Docker — one container per pane, an image you build yourself, and the mount set as the whole boundary. It can also run the pane in a Docker Sandboxes (sbx) microVM with a default-deny network allowlist. Podman and Apple Containers are untested. AoE also offers shared auth volumes; Quil's sandbox panes are per-pane by default, because one shared agent config directory merges every sandbox pane into one trust domain. | ||
| Screen-content agent detection (no hooks) | partial | yes |
| Breadth of agents supported | partial | yes |
| └── Quil: 3 deep (Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex) + tools. AoE: ~13 terminal + 7 ACP. | ||
| Session fork / import from disk | no | yes |
| Sound + push notifications | partial | yes |
| └── Quil raises real Windows toasts when an agent parks on a prompt or finishes a turn, and clicking one routes you to the pane that sent it. Still missing: sound, macOS/Linux, and anything that reaches a phone — AoE's Web Push does, which is the point of its browser surface. | ||
| Session lifecycle mgmt (auto-stop idle, groups, archive) | partial | yes |
| └── Quil groups projects, not single sessions: named sidebar groups that collapse to one row and still show their agents' state. It has no auto-stop for idle sessions and no archive. | ||
Coming from Agent of Empires?
AoE keeps every agent in a tmux session, so you can `tmux attach` to any of them directly, and its dashboard runs in the browser. Quil is a native TUI with its own daemon — no tmux, Docker, or Node required — and runs natively on Windows. If you want the browser/mobile surface today, AoE leads; if you want a lightweight native terminal and an MCP server, Quil is the closer fit.
Questions
Does Agent of Empires work on Windows?
Only through WSL2 — it depends on tmux and POSIX process handling. Quil runs natively on Windows with bundled ConPTY/OpenConsole, so if you're a Windows developer it's the more direct fit.
AoE has a web dashboard — does Quil?
Not today. AoE's browser dashboard and remote phone access are genuinely ahead here, and both are on Quil's roadmap. Quil's current bet is the native terminal experience plus an MCP server that lets an AI assistant drive the multiplexer directly.
Which is lighter to run?
Quil ships two Go binaries and needs no tmux, no Node, and no Docker unless you opt a pane into a sandbox container. AoE is a larger stack (tmux + a React app + optional Node ACP workers and containers) in exchange for its web features.
Can I sandbox agents in containers with Quil?
Yes, in Docker. Tick 'Run in a Docker container' in the pane setup dialog and a Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode pane runs inside its own container, with its checkout bind-mounted in so its edits and commits are real. The mount set is the whole boundary — no --privileged, no --cap-add, no --network flag — and new git objects go to a per-pane store with your repository's own mounted read-only, so no commit on any branch can be deleted from inside. You supply the image; Quil publishes none and pulls none, and scripts/sandbox-image.sh builds and verifies one locally. AoE still leads here: it also covers Podman and Apple Containers, which Quil has not tested, and offers shared auth volumes where Quil's panes authenticate per pane by default.
Other comparisons
▸ install quil every capability →
Quil installs side by side with Agent of Empires. Nothing to uninstall first.