Comparison

HerdrChat vs Shahi

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

HerdrChat

Features
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Your coding agents, away from your desk. HerdrChat is an SSH chat client for Claude Code, Codex and OMP sessions running on a computer you own. Check progress, read conversations and answer an agent without navigating a desktop terminal on a small screen. STAY ON TOP OF YOUR WORK See which conversations need your input, which agents are working and which are idle. Replies read like a document, with code and formatting, and each run of tool activity folds into one line ("Ran 3 commands Β· edited 1 file") you can open. The chat header shows the model and effort level. Reply from the chat composer or use supported numbered choices when an agent asks for approval. Pin the chats you care about to the top, and mute notifications for the ones you don't. SLASH COMMANDS Type / to send Claude Code commands such as /model, /effort, /compact and /context. When a command opens a picker, it appears on your phone: choose a model or effort level and apply it for this session only or as your default. KNOW WHEN AN AGENT NEEDS YOU Turn on notifications and your computer tells you when an agent is waiting for you or has finished, with the chat's name and what the agent said. Tap one to open that chat. SEND A PICTURE Attach screenshots or photos to a message. They are copied to your computer over the same SSH connection and handed to the agent with your prompt. MADE FOR iPHONE AND iPAD On iPhone, move between your chats, hosts and settings. On iPad, keep the conversation list beside the selected chat, with a settings layout designed for the larger screen. Light and dark appearances are included. YOUR MACHINE, YOUR CONNECTION Connect over SSH using your own password or private key. Host-key fingerprints are pinned, and a changed host key stops the connection until you explicitly review it. Tailscale is recommended for reaching your computer privately. Credentials are kept in the device Keychain. Conversation caches stay on your device and can be cleared in Settings. HerdrChat has no account system, developer-operated chat server, advertising or analytics SDK. If you turn on notifications, they pass through a small HerdrChat relay that forwards them to Apple and keeps nothing. TRY THE BUILT-IN DEMO A short welcome on first launch walks through what your computer needs. The local Demo host is available without an account, server or purchase. Explore sample conversations, answer an approval prompt and send a sample message. Demo replies are simulated; nothing is sent to a computer or AI service. WHAT YOU NEED FOR REAL USE A computer you administer, reachable over SSH, with herdr and Claude Code, Codex or OMP installed and configured. Agent accounts and any provider charges are separate and are not supplied by HerdrChat. The agents and their commands run on your computer, not on your iPhone or iPad. HerdrChat does not include an AI subscription. Open source under Apache-2.0: github.com/cobanov/herdrchat

About

Shahi

Features
Read full description

Your coding agents shouldn't stop just because you left your desk. Shahi turns the AI coding agents running on your own computer into a conversation on your phone. Read what they're doing like a chat, answer their questions with one tap, and start new work from anywhere, while your computer keeps going. WHAT YOU CAN DO β€’ See every agent at a glance: which ones are working, which are done, and which are waiting on you. β€’ Answer permission prompts and questions in one tap. Before anything is pressed, the answer is checked against the agent's live screen. β€’ Read conversations as clean messages, including tool activity, instead of a terminal squeezed onto a small screen. β€’ Reply, attach photos and files, and keep the conversation going. β€’ Start a new agent in any project, with the permission mode you choose. β€’ Open the real terminal whenever you need it. β€’ Preview files and PDFs from your computer. WORKS WITH YOUR SETUP Shahi connects to herdr, the open-source terminal workspace for coding agents, on your own Mac or Linux computer. It works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and the other agents herdr runs. Setup takes two commands and one QR scan. PRIVATE BY DESIGN β€’ End-to-end encrypted. The relay that connects your phone to your computer can't read your conversations. β€’ Prefer no third party at all? Connect over your own SSH instead. β€’ Your code and conversations stay on your computer. There's no account to create. β€’ Open source, under the MIT license. WHAT YOU NEED A Mac or Linux computer running herdr with the free Shahi plugin. Get started at getshahi.dev.

Screenshots

HerdrChat4 screens
Shahi4 screens

Verdict

The call

HerdrChat and Shahi are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters β€” price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them β€” neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
HerdrChat versus Shahi: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHerdrChatShahi
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysβ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.016.4 β€” better
Further details β€” not scored
Size48 MB51 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAHMET MERT COBANOGLUYasser Aldosari

In-app purchases

None

HerdrChat

No in-app purchases

None

Shahi

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HerdrChat free?
HerdrChat is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shahi free?
Shahi is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do HerdrChat or Shahi have ads?
Neither HerdrChat nor Shahi shows ads.

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