Custard vs. Conductor
Short answer: both are Mac apps for running coding agents side by side. Conductor gives each agent its own workspace; Custard puts them in one thread, as a team.
Side by side.
| Question | Conductor | Custard |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | ConductorA Mac app for running Claude Code and Codex agents in parallel. | CustardA Mac app where the coding agents you already have work as a team. |
| Agents it runs | ConductorClaude Code and Codex. | CustardClaude Code, Codex, OpenCode and Antigravity. Pick one per job, or mix them. |
| Remembers who's who | ConductorA workspace per task, each on its own branch. | CustardNamed Agents with a job and a face, who remember your decisions across Threads. |
| Several on one job | ConductorMany agents at once, each on its own copy of the repo. | CustardGroupies: agents from different makers split the work and check each other. |
| Where it runs | ConductorYour Mac, with a cloud option. | CustardOn your Mac, next to your code. No Custard cloud in the middle. |
| Sign-in | ConductorYour Claude or ChatGPT plan. | CustardNo new account. Codex, OpenCode and Antigravity keep their sign-ins; Claude Code uses your Anthropic API key. |
Checked against each product's own pages in November 2026.
Where Conductor is ahead today.
- It can run in the cloud. Custard runs only on your Mac.
- It's out now. Custard hasn't launched yet.
Which one's for you?
Pick Conductor if…
you want lots of separate tasks running at once, each on its own branch, and you'll merge them yourself.
Add Custard if…
you want several agents on the same task, checking each other's work, and agents that remember who they are between jobs.
They don't connect. The Codex sign-in you use in Conductor works in Custard too; Claude Code in Custard needs an Anthropic API key.
Custard isn't for you yet if you're on Windows or Linux, want AI typing beside you in your editor, or need agents running in the cloud while your Mac is off.
Bring your agents.
Made for the Mac.