--- title: "Cork vs Conductor: running parallel agents vs keeping them from colliding · Cork" description: "Cork vs Conductor: Conductor runs parallel coding agents in isolated Mac workspaces; Cork coordinates the agents so their work does not collide." canonical: "https://corkcli.com/blog/cork-vs-conductor" last_updated: "2026-11-14" published: "2026-10-03" author: "Kevin Vera" --- # Cork vs Conductor: running parallel agents vs keeping them from colliding Cork vs Conductor: Conductor runs parallel coding agents in isolated Mac workspaces; Cork coordinates the agents so their work does not collide. By Kevin Vera · October 3, 2026 · [Comparisons](https://corkcli.com/blog/c/comparisons) · 7 min read How is Cork different from Conductor? Conductor is a Mac app that runs parallel Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode agents, each in its own isolated workspace, and gives you a place to review and merge what they produce. Cork does not run agents at all: it is the [coordination layer](https://corkcli.com/blog/coordination-layer-ai-coding-agents) underneath them, so parallel AI coding agents (and the people running them) do not overwrite each other on one codebase, and each agent starts with what the others already learned. Put simply: Conductor separates agents so they can work at once; Cork makes sure the work still fits together. ## Cork vs Conductor at a glance | Topic | Cork | Conductor (as of October 2026) | |---|---|---| | What it is | Coordination layer for multiple AI coding agents and the people running them | Mac app to run coding agents in parallel | | Where agents run | Wherever they already run (your machine, your terminal, your editor) | Local workspaces on your Mac; cloud workspaces on paid plans | | Agents covered | Claude Code, Codex and Cursor via hooks; any MCP client via the MCP server | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode | | Isolation model | Agents can share one working copy; Cork coordinates edits | One workspace per task, built on [git worktrees](https://corkcli.com/blog/git-worktrees-parallel-ai-coding-agents), one branch per workspace | | What is shared | Briefings (signatures, callers, recent changes), live change notices, notes, messages | Diffs, review, pull requests; live collaboration on Pro and Teams | | Conflict handling | Write gate holds edits against code another agent is changing; [semantic lint](https://corkcli.com/blog/semantic-lint); landing rebases and reruns tests | Separation by worktree and branch; you review and merge | | Install | `curl -fsSL https://corkcli.com/install.sh \| sh` | Download the Mac app | | Pricing | Free (local, and 10 agent hours a month in the cloud); $20 a month per 100 agent hours, pooled | Free; Pro $50/mo; Teams $60/user/mo; Enterprise custom | ## What is Conductor? Conductor (conductor.build) describes itself as a way to "run parallel coding agents on your Mac." Its docs say it "lets you run Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode in parallel," and that each task gets "its own workspace, branch, files, terminal, diff, and review path." Workspaces are built on git worktrees: "1 workspace maps to 1 branch," and "a branch can only be checked out in one workspace at a time." The workflow is to run the agent, "review the diff, open a pull request, merge, and archive the workspace." Conductor's parallel agents guide is candid about the trade off: you can give agents separate workspaces, or put several in one workspace, where "agents in the same workspace can edit the same files." The Free plan includes local workspaces on your Mac and bring your own keys. Paid plans add Conductor Cloud workspace hours, "Multiplayer," live collaboration, an API and a mobile app. All of this is as of October 2026. ## What is Cork? Cork (corkcli.com, by Lithometric) keeps several AI coding agents, and the people running them, from overwriting each other on one codebase, and hands each agent what the others already learned. It does not run agents or host machines: Claude Code, Codex and Cursor keep running where they already run, and Cork coordinates them. Hooks in Claude Code, Codex and Cursor run the protocol with no extra model calls, and an MCP server (https://mcp.corkcli.com) works with any MCP client. In practice: - **Briefing:** when an agent starts or gets a prompt, it receives the exact signatures, callers and recent changes of the code it is about to touch, so it searches less. - **Live awareness:** when another agent renames something or changes a signature your agent depends on, your agent hears about it on its next step. - **[Write gate](https://corkcli.com/blog/write-gate):** an edit against code another agent is changing right now is held until your agent has their version. - **Semantic lint:** a teammate's rename or signature change becomes a lint rule your agents are checked against. - **Landing:** `git push` becomes one step that rebases onto teammates' commits, reruns the tests and pushes. In Cork's benchmark (12 Claude Code agents at once on one repository, hard tasks), agents with Cork used 53% fewer tokens than the same agents without it. ## Where Conductor stands out - **A real app for running agents.** Conductor gives each task a workspace, terminal, diff viewer and review path in one window. Cork has no UI for launching or watching agents. - **Clean isolation by default.** Worktree per task and branch per workspace is easy to reason about and keeps half finished work out of your main checkout. - **Review to merge in one place.** Diff, pull request, merge and archive are part of the workflow. - **Cloud workspaces.** Paid plans include Conductor Cloud workspace hours. Cork does not provide cloud VMs or sandboxes. ## Where Cork wins - **Agents know about each other while they work.** Worktrees keep files apart, but two agents can still rename the same function in different ways. Cork tells each agent about the other's change on its next step, before it becomes an [agent merge conflict](https://corkcli.com/blog/agent-merge-conflict). - **Edits against live work are held.** The write gate stops an agent from writing over code another agent is changing right now. - **Landing is checked.** Cork rebases onto teammates' commits and reruns the tests as part of `git push`, and semantic lint catches uses of renamed or re-signatured symbols. - **Agents arrive informed.** Briefings hand over signatures, callers and recent changes, so agents search less. In Cork's benchmark, agents with Cork used 53% fewer tokens. - **Not tied to one app or one OS.** Cork works with agents launched from any terminal or editor, and across teammates' machines on the paid plan. ## Can you use both? Yes, and it is a natural pairing. Conductor runs your multiple Claude Code agents (or Codex and Cursor agents) in separate worktrees; Cork runs underneath through its hooks and MCP server. Worktrees delay conflicts until merge time; Cork closes that gap by telling each agent what the others are changing, holding edits against live work, and rebasing and retesting on landing. If you use Conductor's single shared workspace mode, where agents can edit the same files, Cork's write gate is directly relevant. Cork's hooks are installed for your user account, so they apply to the Claude Code, Codex and Cursor sessions an app like this starts, unless the app replaces your user settings; try it on one repo first. ## Pricing compared **Conductor (as of October 2026):** Free at $0/month (parallel agents, local workspaces, bring your own keys). Pro at $50/month adds cloud workspace hours, multiplayer, live collaboration with up to 5 Pro users, API access and the mobile app. Teams is $60/month per user. Enterprise is custom. **Cork:** Cork Free is unlimited agents and repos on one machine, with no account and all data on the machine. Cloud Free (with an account) is 10 agent hours a month per account (30 bonus hours the first month) with a 30-day history window. Beyond that you pay for agent hours, not seats: $20 a month per unit of 100 hours, pooled across the workspace, graduated to $17 (units 11 to 50) and $15 (51 and up), with 15% off a year. Every member is a player, with teammates' machines, prompts matched to code by meaning, shared knowledge and 90-day history. Enterprise starts from about 100 units. ## Bottom line Choose Conductor if you want a polished Mac app to launch, watch and merge parallel coding agents. Choose Cork if your problem is agents (or teammates) stepping on each other's code and re-reading the same files. For multi-agent coding at any real scale, the best answer is usually both: Conductor to run the agents, Cork to keep them coordinated. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Cork an alternative to Conductor? Not a direct one. Conductor runs agents; Cork coordinates agents that something else runs. If you want an app to launch agents, Cork does not replace Conductor. If you want parallel agents to stop colliding, Cork adds what worktrees alone do not. ### Does Conductor stop agents from overwriting each other? Conductor isolates each workspace on its own branch and worktree, so agents in separate workspaces do not touch each other's files. Their changes can still conflict when you merge. Agents sharing one workspace can edit the same files, as Conductor's docs note. ### Does Cork work with Conductor? Cork's hooks work with Claude Code, Codex and Cursor wherever they run, and any MCP client can use its MCP server. Cork installs with one command for every repo on the machine, so the Claude Code, Codex and Cursor agents you run there, including from another app, are what it coordinates. ### Does Cork provide cloud workspaces like Conductor? No. Cork does not provide cloud VMs, sandboxes, a code editor, live terminal sharing or app previews. It is the coordination layer alongside those tools. ## Sources Checked October 2026: - - - - - - ## Related reading - [Cork vs Sculptor: an app for parallel agents, or a layer that keeps them from colliding](https://corkcli.com/blog/cork-vs-sculptor): Cork vs Sculptor: Imbue's Sculptor runs coding agents in parallel in isolated workspaces. Cork coordinates parallel agents and teammates on shared code. - [Cork vs Cursor cloud agents: run agents in VMs, or keep them from colliding](https://corkcli.com/blog/cork-vs-cursor-cloud-agents): Cork vs Cursor cloud agents: Cursor runs agents in isolated cloud VMs that open PRs; Cork keeps parallel agents from overwriting shared code. - [Cork vs Hoplite: cloud agents vs coordinating the agents you have](https://corkcli.com/blog/cork-vs-hoplite): Cork vs Hoplite: Hoplite runs coding agents in isolated cloud environments that open PRs. Cork keeps your local parallel agents from colliding. - [Cork vs GitButler: sorting agents' changes, or keeping agents from colliding](https://corkcli.com/blog/cork-vs-gitbutler): Cork vs GitButler for parallel AI coding agents: GitButler sorts each agent's work into branches, Cork keeps agents from overwriting each other's code. [All articles](https://corkcli.com/blog.md) · [Cork in Markdown](https://corkcli.com/index.md) · [llms.txt](https://corkcli.com/llms.txt) This page in HTML: https://corkcli.com/blog/cork-vs-conductor