Byobu vs muxterm

Byobu is a free, GPLv3-licensed text-based window manager and terminal multiplexer for Linux, BSD, and macOS. It runs over tmux or GNU Screen and adds function-key controls, status notifications, profiles, and split-pane layouts. Users can create, rename, reorder, split, zoom, and synchronize windows and panes, then save layouts for restoration or define repeatable window sets in configuration files. Detaching and reattaching preserves windows, processes, and history, with up to 10,000 lines of scrollback per window. A two-line status bar can display CPU, memory, disk, network, battery, load, time, and other indicators, each independently toggleable. The interactive F9 menu changes notifications, keybinding sets, profiles, and backend selection. Byobu defaults to tmux when available but supports GNU Screen and switching through byobu-select-backend. The project requires tmux 1.5 or later and/or GNU Screen. Support is largely volunteer-led through GitHub Issues and StackExchange.

Muxterm is a free, self-hosted terminal multiplexer with a browser interface and a Go session daemon. Users can split panes, group them into named workspaces and switch workspaces from a bar. The daemon runs separately from the HTTP server, allowing shells to persist across server restarts, deployments and reboots. Server-side VT emulation retains a live screen snapshot that can restore full-screen applications after reconnecting. Its installable PWA supports desktop and mobile use, with service-worker offline support. For MCP-compatible agents, the server provides 25 tools across seven categories for managing workspaces, panes, terminals and other functions. Documented integrations include Claude Code, OpenCode and Amplifier; lifecycle reporting is available for Claude, Codex and Amplifier wrappers. Authentication uses HMAC tokens, with a localhost bypass for local use. A file-publishing tool can expose one local file at an unguessable public URL, with a 24-hour default expiry, a seven-day maximum and revocation for future reads. The project is MIT licensed and self-hosted as a single binary. Windows support is listed as coming soon.