Paperclip runs an “AI company” on a server you host: agents wake on heartbeats and work tickets headless. NeuroSquad is a desktop app where every agent is a real, live terminal on a canvas — you watch it, answer it and steer it. 19 CLIs, native on Windows, nothing to host.
Compared on 27 September 2026, from Paperclip’s public site, docs, source code and issue tracker.
agent CLIs integrated in depth. Paperclip: 9 built-in adapters, Gemini experimental
servers, databases or ports to run. Install the app and open a folder
idle wake-ups: an agent spends tokens only when you or a lead agent prompt it
The real cost is what comes after the download: the hours you spend on infrastructure and the tokens your agents spend when nobody asked.
Paperclip’s own blog calls it “unnecessary overhead for a solo developer who only wants to watch a few Claude sessions”. That developer is exactly who NeuroSquad is built for.
All of them come from one choice: the human stays at the keyboard, with every agent live in front of them.
Each card is the CLI’s own interactive interface. Watch the diff appear, interrupt with Escape, type a correction mid-turn.
When Claude Code asks before a risky command, you answer in its own terminal. The card tells you exactly what it is asking. Dangerous mode is your explicit choice per card.
Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Qwen, Copilot CLI, Kilo, Goose, Cline, Crush, aider, Amp, Auggie, omp and more — each resumes its session and reports its exact status.
Built and tested on Windows first: a native installer, winget and Scoop, hardened ConPTY terminals, Git Bash, PATH read from the registry.
No server to keep alive, no database to back up before an upgrade, no ports or tunnels to configure. Updates install themselves.
An agent works when you or its lead agent send a prompt. A quiet weekend costs exactly nothing.
Draw an arrow from an agent to a browser, a terminal or another agent — only then does it get those tools. Every call lights up its arrow.
Switch an agent to canvas mode and its own shell and web tools are removed or denied at the CLI level — and stay off even in dangerous mode.
Tokens and cost are read from each CLI’s logs — subscriptions included — to the last token and picodollar, cross-checked by an independent recount.
A real Chrome card that any MCP-capable agent can control, and local speech-to-text (Parakeet, Whisper) that never leaves your machine.
Scan a QR code: the whole app opens in the phone browser over Wi-Fi or over the internet through a tunnel. The desktop always shows who is connected.
The app, the site and the docs in three languages, switched live without a restart.
Including the rows where Paperclip is ahead — they are real, and they matter for some teams.
Everyday moments of working with agents, and what each tool gives you in them.
The card turns “needs you” and says “permission for Bash — rm -rf dist”. You read it and answer in Claude’s own terminal.
The question is asked, not skipped.
Install, open the project folder, add Claude Code, Codex and three helpers. No WSL, no bash wrappers, no server to start.
Working in minutes, not after an afternoon of setup.
Qwen writes tests, Copilot CLI reviews, Kilo refactors, Goose runs the docs — each with resume, statuses and MCP tools.
None of these four is a built-in Paperclip adapter.
You are away, nobody prompts the agents, and nothing wakes them up to “check in”.
Zero tokens spent on Monday’s bill.
You see the agent open the wrong file. Escape, one line of correction, and it carries on — in the same session.
Steer in seconds instead of waiting for the next run.
An agent needs you. The whole canvas opens in the phone browser over the internet — no Tailscale, no VPN, no public server.
One QR scan, done.
The two tools solve different problems. Pick by the job, not the logo.
You want agents to run unattended as a “company”: on schedules and webhooks, with approval gates and an audit log per ticket.
Several people manage the same agents, with roles and per-user secrets.
You need open source you can self-host without any account, on Linux or macOS, or agents in sandboxes on remote machines.
If you are the one at the keyboard with five to twenty agent sessions — and want to see, answer and steer each of them — NeuroSquad is built for you.
19 agent CLIs as real terminals on one canvas, with arrows as permissions and nothing to host.
Compared on 27 September 2026, from Paperclip’s public site, docs, source code and issue tracker.
Paperclip’s public site, docs, source and issues, read on 27 September 2026. Paperclip is a trademark of its owner; NeuroSquad is not affiliated with it.
