[!IMPORTANT] Middleman is being superseded by bb, an agentic IDE that orchestrates Claude Code, Codex, and Pi in long-lived threads you can follow live and steer at any turn. Try it with
npx bb-app@latest, then openhttp://localhost:38886. Requires Node 22.12.0+ on macOS/Linux, or Windows via WSL2.
👔 Middleman
A local-first multi-agent orchestration platform. One manager, many workers, zero tab-juggling.
[!WARNING] Middleman is pre-v1, experimental, and updated constantly. Expect breaking changes.
If you're using agentic coding tools, you've probably hit this wall: you start with one agent, then two, then five. You're branching, worktree-ing, reviewing, merging, context-switching. The agents are cranking out code. But your entire day is spent managing them, sequencing work, checking output, nudging things along.
You're not an IC anymore. You've become a project manager. You need a middle manager.
Middleman gives you one. You talk to a single persistent manager agent per project. You describe what needs to be done, whether it's a feature, a batch of bug fixes, or a refactor, and the manager dispatches workers, parallelizes where it makes sense, and surfaces only the things that need your attention.
Quick Start
npx middleman-app
That's it. Open http://localhost:47187, go to Settings, sign in with your OpenAI or Anthropic key, create a new manager, and start talking.
Development
git clone https://github.com/SawyerHood/middleman.git
cd middleman
pnpm i
pnpm dev
# http://127.0.0.1:47187
Key Features
- Persistent managers. Onboard once, work for days. Managers remember your preferences, workflow, and project context across sessions via compacting memory.
- Worker dispatch. The manager spawns workers (Codex, Pi/Opus, etc.) and routes messages between them. You describe work at a high level; it handles the breakdown.
- Parallel execution. Dump a list of tasks and the manager figures out what can run concurrently.
- Dashboard. A Conductor-style UI for watching agents work, chatting with your manager, and managing settings.
- Skills & automation. Built-in skills for web search, image generation, browser automation, cron scheduling, and more. Extensible via the pi skill system.
Architecture
Middleman is three things running on your machine:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Dashboard UI (TanStack + Vite SPA) │
│ Chat, agent status, settings, artifacts │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
│ WebSocket
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│ Backend Daemon (Node.js) │
│ HTTP + WS server, agent orchestration, │
│ message routing, persistence, scheduler │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
│ spawns & messages
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│ Agents (pi / Codex) │
│ Manager → Workers → Merger │
│ Each in its own worktree │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
apps/backendis the daemon. HTTP + WebSocket server, swarm orchestration runtime, persistence, and scheduler.apps/uiis the dashboard. Real-time agent monitoring, chat interface, and settings management.- The manager agent is built on pi, is event-driven, and never blocks. Always ready for the next message.
How It Works in Practice
- Create a manager for your project from the dashboard.
- Onboard it by chatting. Tell it your preferred workflow, what tools to use, how you want work sequenced.
- Dump tasks on it. A feature spec, a list of bugs, a vague idea.
- The manager spawns workers, assigns tasks, and orchestrates execution in parallel where possible.
- You review when you want, or let it roll.
A Note
This is a vibecoded project. It's here to inspire, not to be a polished product. Fork it, tear it apart, or use it as a starting point to build your own middle manager.
License
Apache-2.0