Pairbar vs Crystal (now Nimbalyst)

At a glance

If you used Crystal

Crystal's GitHub repository says the project is deprecated and replaced by Nimbalyst. If you're looking for what Crystal did (parallel Claude Code and Codex sessions in worktrees, in a desktop app of its own), Nimbalyst is its successor from the same authors. Pairbar is a different kind of tool, an overlay sidebar rather than a workspace: you keep chatting in the official Claude and Codex desktop apps, with their own features and updates, and Pairbar organises those chats in one list without hosting any sessions itself.

Where Nimbalyst is stronger

• Free and open source (MIT) for individuals.
• Cross-platform: macOS on Apple silicon and Intel, Windows and Linux, plus an iOS app. Pairbar is macOS 26 on Apple silicon only.
• A visual workspace: a kanban board of sessions, editors for Markdown, CSV, diagrams and mockups, and inline diff review.
• Multiplayer editing, and more agents through ACP (alpha).
• Optional worktree per session built into how you start work.

Where Pairbar is stronger

• It keeps the official apps. Your chats stay in the Claude and Codex desktop apps, which Pairbar never modifies. Click any row and it opens there, with the other app's window swapped into the same spot.
• Live status from both apps: needs you (with the question), working (with the current action), unread, subagents and PR badges, plus optional hooks that show approval requests the moment they happen.
• Tasks and a basket: the Tasks view groups chats by branch or worktree with PR checks and suggestions you approve first, and the basket docks Claude and Codex side by side.
• Both plans' limits as two usage rings.
• Anthropic and OpenAI cloud chats in the same list. See cloud chats.
• Search inside conversations, handoff and fork across apps, and scheduled workflows.
• Agent requests you approve: a chat can ask for a second opinion or a review from the other app, a helper chat or a workflow run, which waits for your approval in Pairbar unless you've allowed that kind. See agent actions.

Pairbar's limits

Pairbar is paid ($49/year ($39 first year with LAUNCH), $9/month or $129 lifetime (first 200 buyers), after a 7-day trial), needs macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon, and reads undocumented local files of the Claude and Codex apps that an app update can change. It has no diff viewer or visual editors.

Can you use both?

You can run Nimbalyst and Pairbar side by side; they don't share a window. Pairbar lists chats from the Claude and Codex desktop apps. Whether sessions that Nimbalyst starts appear in Pairbar's list isn't documented or tested.

Who each is best for

• Pairbar: People who want to keep using the official Claude and Codex desktop apps on macOS 26 and need one list, limits, search and workflows across both.
• Nimbalyst: Former Crystal users, and anyone who wants a free, open-source, cross-platform workspace with a kanban board, visual editors and diff review.
• Crystal: No longer recommended by its authors: it's deprecated in favour of Nimbalyst.

Sources

Facts about other products come from their public pages, checked September 2026. Products change quickly: check the source before deciding.

• Crystal on GitHub (deprecation notice)
• Nimbalyst website
• Nimbalyst on GitHub