Omnara runs agents as a service. Synapse connects the agents on your machine. Since its 2 September 2026 relaunch, Omnara is an Apache-2.0 managed agent platform: its own agent loop on any model, durable state, subagents, shared memory stores, schedules and integrations, in its cloud or self-hosted. It no longer presents itself as a wrapper for Claude Code or Codex. Synapse links the Claude Code, Codex, Gemini and other CLI sessions you already run, sharing recent conversation and messages locally with no login.
At a glance
| Synapse | Omnara | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Canvas and messaging layer for CLI agents on your machine | Open-source managed agent platform (API, SDK, CLI, MCP, dashboard) |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Price | Free | Self-host free; Cloud has no platform or seat fee, pay as you go for managed models and sandboxes |
| Login | None | Yes, for Cloud and for self-hosted instances |
| Where agents run | Your Mac, in your own terminals | Omnara workers on laptops, VMs, containers or cloud sandboxes |
| Which agents | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor Agent, Amp, Copilot CLI | Omnara's own agent loop on any compatible model |
| Claude Code and Codex | Linked as peers | Clients that launch Omnara agents over MCP |
| Live context between CLI sessions | Yes, up to 8,000 characters per link | No |
| Subagents and shared memory | No | Yes |
| Schedules, Slack, GitHub, RBAC | No | Yes |
Omnara facts are from omnara.com, its pricing, changelog and GitHub repo, checked on 16 October 2026.
What Omnara is now
Omnara (YC S25) is two products in sequence, and search results still mix them up.
From August 2025, Omnara was "Run Claude Code and Codex from anywhere": a web and mobile app for driving agent sessions on your own machine. Its Show HN drew 310 points. In February 2026 it relaunched as a web and mobile agentic IDE built on the Claude Agent SDK. At that point the founder said you could no longer see a one-to-one real-time Claude Code CLI session in Omnara, though CLI sessions could be imported.
On 2 September 2026 Omnara relaunched again as "the open-source managed agent platform", described as a self-hostable alternative to Claude Managed Agents and OpenAI's Agents API. It now runs its own agent loop on any OpenAI or Anthropic compatible model, through providers such as OpenRouter, Bedrock, LiteLLM and Ollama. Since then it has added an MCP server (14 September), subagents (18 September), event webhooks (24 September), and Slack, Discord and GitHub integrations plus memory stores (7 October).
The homepage and changelog do not say what happened to the earlier remote-control app. We could not confirm whether it still works for existing users.
What Synapse is
Synapse puts every live coding agent on your Mac on one canvas. Drag a line from agent A to agent B, and on every prompt B gets what A has said since last time, up to 8,000 characters per link. Linked agents can message each other through six MCP tools, a CLI or a skill. It discovers agents by process scan, so there is nothing to wrap or relaunch.
How Omnara and Synapse handle agents talking to each other
Omnara:
- Subagents. An agent can start subagents with a fresh context, check their progress and send them new instructions. This is parent to child, inside Omnara's runtime.
- Memory stores. Shared files mounted at
/memory/<store-name>/, with read or read-write access configured per agent. Agents pull from them. - Messaging an agent. Through the API, CLI, Slack or Discord threads, or cron triggers.
- Not supported: connecting independently running Claude Code, Codex or Gemini CLI sessions to each other, or sharing one CLI session's conversation with another.
Synapse:
- Peers, not parent and child. Any two linked agents can message each other, whichever CLI each runs in.
- Automatic context. A link carries the source agent's recent conversation on each prompt, labelled as coming from a peer.
- Pull delivery. Claude Code and Codex see messages on their next prompt; other CLIs call
synapse_inbox. An idle agent does not wake up. - Which agents: Claude Code and Codex fully, Gemini CLI with readable context, and OpenCode, Cursor Agent, Amp and Copilot CLI for messages.
Open source, accounts and privacy
Omnara is Apache-2.0 and free to self-host with Docker Compose, Postgres, Redis and blob storage. Omnara Cloud has no platform or seat fee: bring your own model keys and machines for free, or pay as you go for Omnara-managed models and sandboxes. Cloud needs a browser sign-in, and self-hosted instances also need a sign-up. Earlier, for the remote-control product, the team said it did not have end-to-end encryption yet and that history was encrypted at rest on its servers, and some users chose other tools for that reason.
Synapse is MIT, has no account, keeps links and messages in ~/.synapse, and makes no network calls.
Where Omnara is ahead
- Agents as a service. Durable state in Postgres, so any worker can resume an agent after a crash. Schedules, webhooks, Slack, Discord and GitHub triggers. Synapse runs nothing in the background.
- Permissions and teams. Per-tool run, ask or block rules, RBAC and multi-tenant setups.
- Model freedom. Any compatible model, not just the CLIs you installed.
- A real API and SDK for building products on top.
- Remote execution. Agents on VMs, containers or sandboxes from nine providers. Synapse is local, and its multiplayer is in development.
Using Synapse with Omnara
- Keep interactive work in local Claude Code and Codex sessions, linked with Synapse.
- Connect Claude Code or Codex to Omnara's MCP server to launch background or scheduled Omnara agents.
- A Synapse-linked Claude Code session could then hand a long job to an Omnara agent and tell its Codex peer with
synapse send. We have not tested this combination.
Who should pick which
- Pick Omnara if you want to run agents as hosted or self-hosted services with schedules, integrations, permissions and any model.
- Pick Synapse if you work interactively in Claude Code, Codex or Gemini CLI on your Mac and want those sessions to share context and talk, with no login.
- Use both if you have interactive local work and background jobs.
FAQ
What is Omnara now?
Since its 2 September 2026 relaunch, Omnara is an open-source, self-hostable managed agent platform with an API, SDK, CLI, MCP server and dashboard. It runs its own agent loop on any compatible model. Before that, it was best known as an app for running Claude Code and Codex from your phone.
Is Synapse an Omnara alternative?
For connecting Claude Code, Codex and other CLI agents on your machine, yes, and Omnara no longer does that. For hosted agents with schedules, durable state and integrations, no. That is Omnara's focus and Synapse does not offer it.
Can I still run Claude Code from my phone with Omnara?
We could not confirm it. Omnara's homepage and changelog no longer describe the remote-control app or a sunset date. Claude Code and Codex now connect to Omnara as clients, through its MCP server, to launch Omnara agents.
Is Omnara open source?
Yes. Omnara is Apache-2.0 and can be self-hosted with Docker Compose. Synapse is MIT licensed.
Does Omnara need an account?
Yes. Omnara Cloud uses a browser sign-in, and self-hosted instances also require a sign-up. Synapse has no account at all.
Does Synapse run agents in the cloud?
No. Synapse links agents running on your own machine and makes no network calls. It has no cloud sandboxes or schedules.