Task Machine vs Herdr
Herdr gives you a desktop app for coding-agent terminals on your machines. Task Machine organizes work as Tasks, Goals and Workflows with plans and decisions to review.
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Built from each company's public pages. Every answer links to its source and shows when we last checked it. The oldest check on this page was November 13, 2026.
| What you compare | Task Machine | Herdr |
|---|---|---|
| Goals |
Task Machine
Yes
Give a Goal an agent lead and link Metrics, such as weekly signups or open pipeline value. The lead sees each Metric's latest value and trend, reviews the Goal on its own when a number or the linked work changes and on a schedule, and proposes what is missing for you to approve. |
Herdr
Partly
A community Claude goal mod writes a /goal for your current Claude Code session. Its listing does not describe tracking a measurable target and reviewing progress against it, and Herdr does not review gallery mods. |
| Leads |
Task Machine
Yes
Goals, Projects and Teams each have a lead, a person or an agent. A Goal lead checks that the work can still reach the outcome. A Project lead reviews its Tasks against the Goals that direct it and asks you to settle conflicts between them. A Team lead triages the queue. Every gap becomes a proposal you approve. |
Herdr
Partly
A parent agent starts helpers, gives them work and receives their reports. Its docs do not describe a project, goal or team lead role that reviews and coordinates the work. |
| Tasks |
Task Machine
Yes
Every job is a Task that a person or an agent owns. The Task keeps its plan, discussion, decisions, runs and history together, so you can steer one job in detail without reading a chat log, and people and agents hand work to each other on the same record. |
Herdr
Partly
Herdr suggests a tab per task and can start an agent in a worktree for an issue. Its docs do not describe shared work records that both people and agents can own with their own discussion or history. |
| Recurring work |
Task Machine
Yes
Start a Task or Workflow once, on a schedule in your timezone, or when a service event arrives, such as a paid invoice or a pull request review. A recurring job keeps one stable root Task and gives each occurrence its own status and history, so repeated work does not flood your board. |
Herdr
Partly
Custom mods can repeat code on an interval with cx.timer.every. Its docs do not describe an outside-event or webhook setup that starts recurring work. |
| Workflows |
Task Machine
Yes
A Workflow repeats your steps in the same order every time, with branches, human questions and approvals, and verifier checks that judge each result against its requirements and send weak work back with feedback. Every run keeps a step-by-step history you can read afterwards. |
Herdr
Partly
Templates save an agent command and role, and agents can start helpers, wait and read their results. Its docs do not describe a defined multi-step process that runs the same way each time. |
| Autonomy |
Task Machine
Yes
Consequential decisions land in your Inbox with their context. You set what each agent may do on its own: every action is either Ask first or Automatic, per agent, and you can change that whenever the work or the stakes change. |
Herdr
Partly
The mobile Inbox lists agents needing you and lets you answer their terminal prompts. Core explicitly is not a permission broker for agents, and its docs do not describe configurable action approvals in Herdr itself. |
| Learned autonomy |
Task Machine
Yes
Task Machine studies the approvals and corrections you already make. When an agent does well it proposes giving it more freedom, and when it needs closer supervision it proposes tighter review, each with the evidence. A short lucky streak is not enough, and nothing changes until you accept. |
Herdr
Not published
Its public app and runtime docs do not describe proposing changes to an agent's permissions from your approval history. |
| Memory |
Task Machine
Yes
Agents keep lessons from your corrections, such as an accepted example or a mistake to avoid, and carry the relevant notes into later work. Memory is kept per agent, project, goal, team and workspace, and you can read, correct and restore any note. |
Herdr
Not published
Core retains terminal history and opaque API documents. Its docs do not describe agent memories that improve later work and can be inspected or corrected. |
| Planning |
Task Machine
Yes
Plan in Chat with your agents, and the plan becomes Tasks or Library documents instead of staying in a chat log. Before an agent starts, you review its plan and the acceptance criteria its work will be judged against. |
Herdr
Partly
The community Plans layout displays repository plan files, tickets and the agents working on them. Its listing does not establish planning in conversation before execution, and Herdr does not review gallery layouts. |
| Intake |
Task Machine
Yes
Send work in over HTTP with a project token. It lands in the project as a Task, or in your Inbox as a proposal first. A team lead agent triages it to the right owner and asks you only when the decision is yours. |
Herdr
Yes
Custom clients can use core's API to start or message agent terminals. The caller selects the terminal or agent template that receives the work, rather than sending it to a shared business-request queue. |
| Connectors |
Task Machine
Yes
Install services from a catalog as MCP servers, APIs or command-line tools, or add your own custom Connector for any of the three. Events Connectors receive webhooks from a service, such as a paid invoice, and start Workflows or wake a waiting Task. |
Herdr
Partly
Mods can fetch URLs, and the guide shows a custom ntfy notification. Its docs do not describe MCP connectors or outside-event triggers alongside custom HTTP access. |
| Models |
Task Machine
Yes
Auto is the default. For each stage of the work it chooses a model from the task, current model capabilities, pricing and your applicable budgets, and you can fix a specific model on an agent when you want to. |
Herdr
Partly
Agent templates put model choices in the command that launches your installed agent. Its docs do not describe Herdr selecting a model automatically per task or step. |
| Cloud or your own computer |
Task Machine
Yes
Run agents in Managed Cloud with nothing to install, or connect a Local Worker, a computer you control, for local files, tools and accounts. You choose where each agent runs. |
Herdr
Partly
Agents run on your computer or machines you connect over SSH, including servers, virtual machines and cloud sandboxes. Its current app and runtime docs do not describe a Herdr-hosted execution option. |
| Your own subscription |
Task Machine
Yes
Sign in to your ChatGPT (Codex), Claude or GitHub Copilot subscription on a Local Worker, and the agents there use it instead of Task Machine's models. |
Herdr
Yes
Herdr runs your existing terminal agents unchanged, including Claude Code. You use those programs' own model access and accounts rather than a Herdr model subscription. |
| Pricing |
Task Machine
Yes
Usage based. From $29 a month before tax, the whole payment becomes usage that your workspace shares across people and agents, with no base fee and no trial. Larger monthly amounts lower the AI and Cloud rates. |
Herdr
Partly
The app and herdr-core are free and open source, and the official mobile app is free too. Its pages do not publish usage-credit pricing or an included model allowance. |
| Correctness |
Task Machine
Yes
Every Task carries acceptance requirements, and each one gets a Pass, Fail or Uncertain check against the delivered work before a person reviews it. Workflow steps can add a verifier check that sends failed work back with feedback. You review the plan first, so the criteria exist before work starts. |
Herdr
Yes
Core runs test commands such as cargo test, and an agent can delegate a test run and read its result. These are checks you arrange through terminal programs rather than a Herdr acceptance-review gate. |
For software work
| What you compare | Task Machine | Herdr |
|---|---|---|
| Code review rules |
Task Machine
Yes
Internal code review checks completed changes against the enabled rules of your repository. Rule discovery reads the repository and proposes rules, each screened against violating and valid examples first, and Task Machine suggests turning off a rule that agents keep dismissing. |
Herdr
Partly
A saved reviewer template instructs an agent to read code and report bugs with file paths, lines and reasons. Its docs do not describe reviewing code against configured repository rules. |
| Adversarial review |
Task Machine
Yes
When an approved plan has high sensitivity or a Critical review level, the change also gets an adversarial review. Two independent reviewers examine the changed files together for defects such as a broken caller or a duplicate charge on retry. Findings keep their reproduction steps, and a skipped or failed review never counts as a pass. |
Herdr
Partly
An agent can hand a diff to a separate reviewer, and the guide shows a reviewer reporting back. Its docs do not establish a distinct independent review for risky changes. |
| Risk rating |
Task Machine
Yes
Before final review, Merge risk rates the exact revision Low, Moderate or High, with notes on alignment, impact, verification, rollback cost and error detection, plus file references. It informs your decision and never merges for you. |
Herdr
Not published
Its public app and runtime docs do not describe rating the risk of a code change before merge. |
| Pull requests |
Task Machine
Yes
Agents deliver against the exact reported revision, address review feedback and update the branch under your repository rules. Task Machine records its own approval of the exact commit before an agent may merge. |
Herdr
Partly
The community PR Reviews mod checks out a selected pull request in a worktree and starts your agent with a configured prompt. Its listing does not establish agents addressing review feedback, and Herdr does not review gallery mods. |
A fact we cannot find or cannot check is left out, and prices can change after the date shown. Task Machine publishes this comparison and is an interested party. Herdr is named only to identify it, and there is no relationship between the two companies. Has something changed? Tell us.
Who each one suits
Herdr suits you if you want to run coding agents in real terminals, see which need attention and reshape the desktop interface through editable layouts and mods.
Task Machine suits you if you want people and agents to own Tasks, work toward Goals with linked Metrics and bring decisions into your Inbox.
You may stay with Herdr if direct control of local and remote terminals is what you need. Its free app lets an agent delegate a review or test run to a helper and receive the report.
Terminals and shared work records
Herdr organizes work in spaces, tabs and terminals. Its guide suggests a space per repository and a tab per task, with an agent started in a worktree for an issue. The current desktop app uses herdr-core. The older Herdr TUI has its own server and does not share agents with the desktop app or official mobile clients.
Task Machine gives each job a Task owned by a person or an agent, with its plan, discussion and run history together. A Goal links Metrics to an owner who reviews progress. Workflows define repeatable steps, branches, questions and verification checks.
Answering agents on your machines
Herdr runs terminals on your machines and connects to remote machines over SSH. Its mobile Inbox sorts agents by whether they need you, are done, working or idle. Open one and you can answer in its real terminal. Core can run tests and separate reviewer agents, so Herdr users can arrange checks as part of their coding work. Community gallery additions also display plan files and open pull requests in worktrees for agent review. Herdr says it does not review gallery mods or layouts.
Task Machine runs agents in Managed Cloud or on a Local Worker you control. You review the plan before execution, and acceptance checks compare delivered work with its requirements before a person reviews it.
What the prices cover
Herdr's desktop app and runtime are free and open source under Apache 2.0, and its official mobile app is free. You supply the terminal agents and machines, so free software should not be read as an included model or hosting allowance.
Task Machine is usage based, from $29 a month before tax, and the whole payment becomes usage shared by your workspace with no base fee. You keep 100% of your revenue, Task Machine takes no cut and never takes custody of your accounts.
Common questions
Does this comparison cover the older Herdr terminal app?
The capability answers cover the current desktop app and herdr-core. Herdr TUI is a separate program with its own server, and the official mobile app does not support it.
Can Herdr agents coordinate and review code?
Yes. An agent can start a helper, send it instructions and receive its report. The guide includes starting a reviewer on a branch, and core can run test commands.
Can I use Herdr from my phone?
Yes. Its official mobile app connects to herdr-core over SSH and lets you inspect and answer agents in their real terminals.
Which should I choose for recurring team work?
Choose Task Machine when you want shared Task ownership, schedules and event-triggered Workflows with explicit review points. Herdr suits direct terminal supervision and a desktop interface you can change through layouts and mods.