Warp shows your agents side by side. Synapse lets them talk. Warp detects Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Amp, Copilot CLI and more, runs them in panes, and shows their status in vertical tabs. But its docs describe no context sharing or messaging between those third-party agents. Its cloud platform, Oz, can orchestrate Claude Code and Codex, but only with Warp Agent as the parent. Synapse links local agents directly, so one reads another's recent conversation on every prompt and any two linked agents can message each other. Synapse is MIT, free and needs no account. The natural setup is both: run agents in Warp, link them with Synapse.
At a glance
| Synapse | Warp | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Canvas and messaging layer for every agent on your machine | Terminal and agentic development environment, plus the Oz cloud platform |
| Third-party CLI agents | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Cursor Agent, Amp, Copilot CLI | 10 supported and 6 more recognized, 16 in total |
| Local context sharing between agents | Yes, directional links, every prompt | Not described in the docs |
| Local agent to agent messaging | Yes, across CLIs | Not described in the docs |
| Cross-vendor orchestration | Peer links, local | Oz cloud, Warp Agent as the only parent |
| Where agents must run | Any terminal, editor or app | Inside Warp for the integration |
| Status, notifications, rich input | Canvas pulse and terminal lines | Vertical tabs, notifications, input editor, review comments |
| Account | None | Not required for the terminal, used for AI and cloud features |
| License | MIT | Client AGPL-3.0 since April 2026; Oz not stated as open |
| Price | Free | Free, Build $20 a month, Max $200, Business $50 per user |
Warp facts are from the Warp CLI agents docs, its pricing page, blog and GitHub repo, checked on 16 October 2026.
What Warp is
Warp started as a modern terminal and now calls itself an agentic development environment. It has its own Warp Agent with many model choices, and since April 2026 universal support for third-party CLI agents.
Supported agents are Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Amp, Auggie, Copilot CLI, Cursor CLI, Gemini CLI, Droid and Pi. Warp also recognizes Goose, Antigravity's agy, Hermes, Mistral Vibe, Grok Build and Kiro CLI. Detected agents get an "agent toolbelt": a rich input editor (Ctrl-G), code review comments, attaching code as context, and vertical tabs that show whether each agent is in progress, done, blocked or awaiting approval. Notifications work for Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode.
Beyond the terminal there is Oz, launched on 11 February 2026, for cloud agents in parallel. Since a 20 May 2026 update it runs Claude Code, Codex and Warp Agent side by side, with orchestration, per-agent permissions, audit logs and a cross-harness memory in research preview. Warp Factories, in closed beta since 18 August 2026, chains specialized agents into pipelines with human checkpoints.
The Warp client was open sourced on 28 April 2026. The GitHub repo reports AGPL-3.0.
What Synapse is
Synapse puts every live coding agent on your machine on one canvas, grouped by git repo. It reads Claude Code's session registry and scans processes for every other CLI, so agents in Warp panes, plain terminals or tmux all show up.
Drag from agent A to agent B and B gets A's context. On each prompt a hook injects what A said since last time, up to 8,000 characters per link. Linked agents can message each other through six MCP tools, a CLI and a skill.
How agents talk to each other in Warp, and in Synapse
This is the core difference, so precisely:
Warp, locally. Warp runs many vendors' agents next to each other, but each one stays isolated in its pane. The docs describe no way for a Claude Code pane to read a Codex pane's conversation or send it a message. The only context feature is attaching code to a session. Third-party agents also "do not appear in the Conversation Panel or Agent Management Panel", which are for Warp Agent conversations.
Warp, in the cloud (Oz). Oz does cross-vendor work, but hub and spoke. The docs say "Warp Agent is the only harness that can spawn cross-harness subagents" and "Other harnesses cannot act as parents." The parent "collects results, resolves conflicts, and returns a single final output." There is no documented direct Claude Code to Codex messaging; everything routes through Warp Agent. As far as we can tell, Oz runs its own cloud agents rather than the sessions already open on your laptop, though we could not confirm that either way.
Synapse, locally.
- Links are peer to peer and directional. Any agent can link to any other. Draw Claude Code to Codex and Codex sees Claude's recent work on every prompt. Draw both ways for a pair.
- Any two linked agents can message each other, Claude Code to Codex included, with no parent agent in the middle.
- It works with the sessions you already have open, wherever they run.
- Limits: messages are pulled, so an idle agent does not wake up on its own. Context is readable for Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI. OpenCode, Cursor Agent, Amp and Copilot CLI show up and can message, but their conversations are not readable yet. Synapse does not discover
agy, which Warp recognizes.
Accounts, privacy and license
Warp announced in November 2024 that "Warp no longer requires login" for the terminal. AI and cloud features use a Warp account and usage balance. We could not confirm whether the third-party agent integrations work fully logged out. Some Hacker News commenters on the open-source announcement still raised login and telemetry as concerns.
Pricing, from the pricing page: Free with pay-as-you-go agent usage and bring-your-own inference, Build at $20 a month ($18 annually) with $20 of agent usage, Max at $200 a month, and Business at $50 per user per month with your own API keys. Factories are billed separately.
Synapse has no account and no credits. Links and messages live in ~/.synapse, transcripts are read from disk, and it makes no network calls. Its MIT license is more permissive than the AGPL on Warp's client.
Where Warp is ahead
- A real terminal. Warp is a polished, popular terminal (about 65,000 GitHub stars) with rich input, review comments and remote control. Synapse is not a terminal.
- Broader agent detection. 16 CLIs, including
agy, Auggie, Droid and Goose. Synapse lists fewer. - Status and notifications for agents in vertical tabs.
- Cloud orchestration across Claude Code and Codex with governance, audit logs, self-hosting for enterprise, and Factories pipelines. Synapse has no cloud, and its multiplayer is in development.
- Maturity. Synapse is new, built in October 2026, macOS first, and its desktop app is not released.
Using Synapse with Warp
- Install Synapse: clone the repo, run
node install.mjs && npm start. It wires an MCP server and a prompt hook into Claude Code and Codex, backing up each config first. - Open Warp and start Claude Code in one pane and Codex in another. Restart any that were already running so they pick up the hook. Codex asks once to trust it.
- Keep Warp's vertical tabs and notifications for status.
- Open the Synapse canvas at localhost:4747. Both Warp panes show up as nodes in the same repo frame.
- Drag a link from Claude Code to Codex, and back. Each agent now sees the other's recent conversation on every prompt, and Claude Code and Codex each print a line in the pane when new context or messages arrive.
- Ask either agent to message the other, for example
synapse send codex-api "I'm changing the auth middleware, hold off on routes.ts". - Use Oz for unattended cloud fan-out. Use Synapse for interactive local sessions that need to share context.
Who should pick which
- Pick Warp if you want one modern terminal for every CLI agent, with status, notifications and an optional cloud platform.
- Add Synapse if your Warp panes need to know about each other: what one agent changed, what another is about to touch.
- Use both. They do different jobs and Synapse finds Warp's agents without setup.
FAQ
Does Warp support Claude Code and Codex?
Yes. Warp auto-detects Claude Code and Codex along with Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Amp, Copilot CLI and others, 16 CLI agents in total, with status in vertical tabs and notifications.
Can Claude Code and Codex share context in Warp?
Not locally, according to Warp's docs. Each third-party agent runs isolated in its own pane. Synapse adds this: link the two agents on its canvas and each gets the other's recent conversation on every prompt.
What is Warp Oz multi-harness?
Oz is Warp's cloud platform. Since May 2026 it runs Claude Code, Codex and Warp Agent side by side. Warp Agent is the only harness that can spawn cross-harness subagents, and it collects their results into one output.
Can I orchestrate Claude Code and Codex without the cloud?
Yes, with Synapse. It links Claude Code and Codex sessions running locally, in Warp or any other terminal, so they share context and message each other directly. It has no account and makes no network calls.
Does Synapse see agents running in Warp?
Yes. Synapse finds agents by scanning processes and their working folders, so Claude Code, Codex and other agents started in Warp panes appear on the canvas without extra setup.
Is Warp open source?
Warp open sourced its client on 28 April 2026, and its GitHub repo reports the AGPL-3.0 license. Oz and Warp's server side are not stated as open source. Synapse is MIT licensed.