Catenary

What is Catenary?

Catenary is a local-first spatial canvas IDE for AI coding agents. It runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok, OpenCode and Pi as terminals on one infinite canvas with a Monaco editor, browser previews, isolated git worktrees and directed context wires, without an account and without sending your code to Catenary.

Key features

• Infinite canvas holding agent terminals, Monaco editors, browser previews and git worktrees you can pan, zoom and drag
• 1-click New Task worktrees: isolated branch + working directory + agent, color-coded, without touching the current working tree
• Context wires: a directed line from one panel to an agent that relays context automatically or only on request
• Maestro mode (off by default) lets one agent recruit, brief and wire a team of helpers; every action opens an editable approval card first; free plan caps helpers at 2, Pro at 5 adjustable 2–10
• Multi-project: each open project keeps its own canvas and isolated worktrees so one agent cannot write into another's tree
• Local-first privacy: the site lists two outbound hosts only — GitHub Releases latest.yml for updates, and license/trial endpoints when you paste a key or claim a trial. Source, prompts, keys and terminal output are listed as 0 bytes out
• Downloads for Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) and Linux (AppImage, deb, tar.gz). First-run blocker is expected: the installer is not code-signed yet
• Pricing: Free $0 with 1 project and 2 parallel tasks; Pro lifetime US$19 at launch (US$29 after) for unlimited projects/tasks and up to 2 personal computers; 7-day Pro trial, no card

Who it's for

• A developer running Claude Code and Codex in parallel who wants each agent on its own worktree, visible on one canvas instead of a stack of terminal tabs
• Someone who wants to pass context from a lead agent to a specialist agent over a wire, without copy-pasting transcripts
• A privacy-sensitive workflow that must not proxy source or prompts through a cloud IDE; Catenary talks to Anthropic/OpenAI/Google only with the key you brought, or to local Ollama/LM Studio
• Trying Maestro to recruit a small helper squad, with a human click on every recruit and wire

When not to use it

Not a hosted multiplayer workspace and not a self-hosted OSS IDE: there is no account, and Pro is a local lifetime key. Not for unattended CI. The installer is unsigned, so Gatekeeper/SmartScreen will warn on first run. Free plan is capped at 1 open project and 2 parallel tasks.

FAQ