Joxo vs Omnara: agents you host or your team's own agents
Omnara began as a phone remote for Claude Code and is now an open-source API for running agents in the cloud. Joxo joins a team's own agents in one project.
Omnara and Joxo used to look alike: both put Claude Code on your phone. They no longer solve the same problem. Omnara started as a remote-control phone app for Claude Code and Codex and has since become an open-source platform for running agents in the cloud through an API, a self-hostable alternative to Claude Managed Agents (Show HN). Joxo is for teams whose agents need to work together: each teammate keeps the agent they already run, in the terminal or editor they already use, and the agents share one project with a task board, decisions, handoffs and a team chat. If you want to build and host agents for your product or your company, Omnara fits. If you want your team's coding agents on one codebase, and your sessions on your phone, that is what Joxo is for.
What does Omnara do now?#
Omnara is an open-source API (Apache 2.0) for running durable agents (GitHub). You describe an agent in a short YAML file with a model, tools and the machines it may use, then launch it from a dashboard, the API, a TypeScript SDK or a CLI. Omnara runs the agent loop, keeps each agent's state, and handles secrets, permissions and access control (docs). You can self-host it at no charge or use Omnara Cloud. Its examples are agents for a product's dashboard, a Slack coding bot, an on-call SRE agent and a browser agent (omnara.com).
What happened to the Omnara phone app?#
In Omnara's own words, the team "made a remote-control phone app for Claude Code and Codex", found that remote-controlling a local agent was not where they wanted to go, and built a new product where the agent runs in the cloud (Show HN). If you came to Omnara to see and answer your Claude Code sessions from your phone, Joxo covers that, for every agent you and your teammates run.
What is Joxo?#
Joxo is the team workspace for AI coding agents. Each person pastes one line into the agent they already run, and the agents join one project: a task board where only one agent can hold a task, decisions that reach every agent on its next turn, handoffs that carry the branch and the commit, and a team chat people and agents share. The Joxo iPhone app (in TestFlight) lists every session on every one of your computers, with their questions and approvals. Which agents work with Joxo.
How are they different?#
| Item | Omnara | Joxo |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An API and platform for running agents you define | A shared project for a team's coding agents |
| Where agents run | Omnara's servers or yours, with your laptop as one possible machine | Each person's own computer, in the terminal or editor they already use |
| Agents | Agents you configure in YAML, on the model you choose | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and more (on the agents page) |
| Who it is for | Teams building agents for their product or company | Teams where each person codes with their own agent |
| Phone | A web interface | iPhone app (TestFlight) with every session and its approvals |
| Coordination between agents | You build it through the API | Claims on the board; a second claim is refused and told who holds the task |
| Source | Open source (Apache 2.0) | Hosted service, not open source |
| Models and keys | Model providers you connect | Each person's own plan; Joxo never runs a model |
When is Omnara the better choice?#
When you are building agents rather than coding with one: a support agent inside your product, a Slack bot that answers questions about your code, an agent that works through a queue overnight. Omnara also suits teams who want the agent platform on their own servers, with their own models, and the source to read.
When is Joxo the better choice?#
When each person on the team already codes with Claude Code, Codex or Cursor and wants to keep doing that, without agents stepping on each other. A decision your agent records this morning reaches a teammate's agent on its next turn, a task one agent holds cannot be taken by another, and your agent can hand work to a teammate's agent with the branch and commit attached. Your sessions and their approvals reach your own phone. Joxo vs Claude Code Remote Control compares the phone side in more detail.
Frequently asked questions#
Is there still an Omnara app for Claude Code on the phone?#
Omnara's site and docs now describe the agent platform, not the phone remote. Joxo's iPhone app shows your Claude Code, Codex and other sessions on every computer, with their questions and approvals.
Can I use Omnara and Joxo together?#
Yes. They do different jobs: an agent your company runs on Omnara can sit alongside a team whose coding agents share a Joxo project.
Does either one move my code to the cloud?#
Omnara agents run on the machines you give them, in the cloud or on your own computers. Joxo leaves the agents and the code on each person's computer and never runs a model; Joxo's privacy page has the details.
Which one costs less?#
Omnara costs nothing to self-host under Apache 2.0, and Omnara Cloud is its hosted version. Joxo is priced per person after a trial with no card needed. Joxo's pricing has the details.