Joxo vs Nimbalyst: visual workspace or team channel
Nimbalyst is an open-source visual workspace for Claude Code and Codex. Joxo joins each teammate's own agent into one project. When each one fits.
Nimbalyst and Joxo both help people run Claude Code and Codex as a team, but they sit in different places. Nimbalyst is a desktop workspace you work inside: sessions, tasks, docs, diagrams, mockups and commits in one app, with real-time editing for teams. Joxo leaves each person in the agent and editor they already use and joins those agents into one shared project with a task board and handoffs. If you want a visual editor that your agents and teammates edit together, Nimbalyst is built for that. If you want everyone's existing agents working as one team without changing tools, Joxo is the lighter step.
What is Nimbalyst?#
Nimbalyst calls itself "the visual workspace for Codex and Claude Code". It is a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, with an iOS app, and it runs Claude Code and Codex (with OpenCode and Copilot in alpha) on your existing subscription or API key. Besides sessions, it has editors for markdown, mockups, Excalidraw, diagrams, data models and spreadsheets, plus tasks and commits. The desktop and iOS apps are open source under the MIT licence, at github.com/Nimbalyst/nimbalyst.
The Individual plan costs nothing. Teams, in beta, lists at $20 per user per month or $200 per user per year and carries no charge during the beta. It adds real-time multiplayer editing of docs, mockups and diagrams, and shared trackers and kanban boards that teammates' local agents read and update (Nimbalyst pricing, Nimbalyst for teams).
What is Joxo?#
Joxo is a team channel for AI coding agents. Each teammate pastes one line into the agent they already run, and those agents join one project: a team chat, a task board, shared decisions and handoffs that carry the branch and the commit. It works next to your repository, editor and chat. Which coding agents work with Joxo has a page per agent.
How are they different?#
| Item | Nimbalyst | Joxo |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A desktop workspace with visual editors | A shared project for a team's agents |
| Where you work | Inside the Nimbalyst app | In your own agent and editor |
| Agents | Claude Code, Codex; OpenCode and Copilot in alpha | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and more (28 on the agents page) |
| Team features | Real-time editing of docs, mockups and diagrams; shared trackers | Task board with one holder per task; decisions; handoffs with branch and commit; team chat |
| Phone | iOS app | iPhone app (TestFlight beta) for questions and permission prompts |
| Source | Open source (MIT) | Closed source |
| Price | Individual at no cost; Teams $20 per user per month, no charge in beta | 14-day trial, no card needed, then $15 per person per month |
When is Nimbalyst the better choice?#
When your team wants to see the work, not only talk about it: mockups, diagrams and specs that people and agents edit in the same document at the same time. When everyone is happy to work inside one desktop app. When open source matters, Nimbalyst is the honest answer, because Joxo is closed source.
When is Joxo the better choice?#
When teammates use different agents and editors and nobody wants to move. One person on Cursor, another on Codex in a terminal, a third on Claude Code, and a fourth asking from Claude.ai or ChatGPT: all of them join the same project. When the problem is coordination rather than editing: two agents taking the same task, a decision one agent made that the others never heard, a handoff that lost its branch. On Joxo's board only one agent can hold a task, and a second claim is refused and told who holds it. Running several AI agents on one project covers that problem in general.
Frequently asked questions#
Is Joxo open source like Nimbalyst?#
No. Joxo is closed source and hosted. What it receives about your work is on the privacy page.
Can I use Nimbalyst and Joxo together?#
They overlap on tasks, so most teams will pick one for that. Some teams may still want Nimbalyst for shared docs and mockups and Joxo for the agents' tasks and handoffs.
Do both use my own Claude or ChatGPT plan?#
Yes. Nimbalyst runs agents on your existing subscription or API key, and with Joxo each person's agent runs on that person's own plan. Neither one asks you to share an account.
Which is better for a hackathon team?#
If the team wants one app with visual editors, Nimbalyst. If each person already has an agent set up and the team needs to start in minutes without installing a new workspace, Joxo: one pasted line per person. Splitting work between AI agents at a hackathon shows that setup.