AI agents keep working after you disconnect: Herdr runs the session on a separate machine

In an interview with Lex Fridman on Aug 26, 2026, he put his limit at 16 parallel workstreams across 4–5 machines. This is his personal limit for working with agents.

Multiple machines together. Herdr manages agents through a terminal interface. Previously, each machine required a separate client. Version 0.9 brought multiple machines into one interface, as Kaan Çelik described on the Herdr blog on Sep 7, 2026.

The laptop connects to the work machine over SSH, including over Tailscale. Tailscale joins devices into a shared network, and MagicDNS, enabled by default, lets you address a machine by name.

How to connect. According to the Herdr and Tailscale documentation as of Oct 4, 2026, setup works as follows:

1. Install the Tailscale client on your laptop and work machine. Sign in on both devices with the same account. 2. Install Herdr on Linux or macOS with `curl -fsSL https://herdr.dev/install.sh | sh`. Alternatively, use Homebrew: `brew install herdr`. 3. Check the SSH connection with `ssh workbox`, where `workbox` is the name of the work machine. Then run `herdr machine add workbox`. If Herdr is not installed on it, the program will offer to install it. 4. To connect directly, run `herdr --remote workbox`. You can specify an address with a username and port like this: `herdr --remote ssh://you@server:2222`.

To disconnect the client and leave agents running, press `Ctrl+B`, then `q`. Running `herdr` again returns you to the session.

Tailscale pricing as of Oct 4, 2026:

- Personal: $0 for noncommercial use, up to 6 users. - Devices on Personal: unlimited user devices and 50 tagged resources. - Standard: $8 per user per month.

The `herdr server stop` command stops the session's processes.