A local-first multi-agent orchestration platform. One manager, many workers, zero tab-juggling.

If you're using agentic coding tools, you've probably hit this wall: you start with one agent, then two, then five. You're branching, worktree-ing, reviewing, merging, context-switching. The agents are cranking out code. But your entire day is spent managing them, sequencing work, checking output, nudging things along.

You're not an IC anymore. You've become a project manager. You need a middle manager.

Middleman gives you one. You talk to a single persistent manager agent per project. You describe what needs to be done, whether it's a feature, a batch of bug fixes, or a refactor, and the manager dispatches workers, parallelizes where it makes sense, and surfaces only the things that need your attention.

git clone https://github.com/SawyerHood/middleman.git
cd middleman
pnpm i
pnpm prod:daemon

Open the UI, go to Settings, and sign in with your OpenAI or Anthropic key. Then create a new manager and start talking.

For development:

pnpm dev
# Backend: http://127.0.0.1:47187
# UI:      http://127.0.0.1:47188

• Persistent managers. Onboard once, work for days. Managers remember your preferences, workflow, and project context across sessions via compacting memory.
• Worker dispatch. The manager spawns workers (Codex, Pi/Opus, etc.) and routes messages between them. You describe work at a high level; it handles the breakdown.
• Parallel execution. Dump a list of tasks and the manager figures out what can run concurrently. Stream-of-thought voice dumps welcome.
• Dashboard. A Conductor-style UI for watching agents work, chatting with your manager, and managing settings.
• Skills & integrations. Built-in skills for web search, image generation, browser automation, cron scheduling, and more. Extensible via the pi skill system.

Middleman is three things running on your machine:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Dashboard UI (TanStack + Vite SPA)         │
│  Chat, agent status, settings, artifacts    │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   │ WebSocket
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│  Backend Daemon (Node.js)                   │
│  HTTP + WS server, agent orchestration,     │
│  message routing, persistence, scheduler    │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────┘
                   │ spawns & messages
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────┐
│  Agents (pi / Codex)                        │
│  Manager → Workers → Merger                 │
│  Each in its own worktree                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• apps/backend is the daemon. HTTP + WebSocket server, swarm orchestration runtime, integrations, and scheduler.
• apps/ui is the dashboard. Real-time agent monitoring, chat interface, and settings management.
• The manager agent is built on pi, is event-driven, and never blocks. Always ready for the next message.

1. Create a manager for your project from the dashboard.
2. Onboard it by chatting. Tell it your preferred workflow, what tools to use, how you want work sequenced.
3. Dump tasks on it. A feature spec, a list of bugs, a vague idea. Voice or text.
4. The manager spawns workers, assigns tasks, and orchestrates execution in parallel where possible.
5. You review when you want, or let it roll.

This is a vibecoded project. It's here to inspire, not to be a polished product. Fork it, tear it apart, or use it as a starting point to build your own middle manager.

Apache-2.0