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A coding agent, a monitor and an orchestrator do different jobs
By the Perch team · Published · 2 min read
Tools around coding agents can look similar while doing very different work. It helps to separate who executes a task, who shows its state, and who coordinates several tasks together.
The coding agent does the task
A coding agent is the tool you ask to inspect a project, propose a change or carry out work. You interact with that agent in its supported terminal or editor workflow. Its capabilities, access and service usage belong to that product.
Perch does not supply an agent or replace one. You continue using Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, and their subscriptions or API usage remain separate.
The monitor helps you notice the handoff
A monitor answers a narrower set of questions: which session is working, which turn has ended, and which supported event needs your attention. Perch brings those states into a local shelf and screen-edge tab.
With answering enabled, Perch can also pass along actions you choose. The supported actions differ by provider. It does not decide what an agent should do or generate a response for you.
Orchestration coordinates the work
Task assignment, dependencies, isolated working copies, scheduling and merging are coordination problems. A workflow that handles those problems needs more than a list of session states.
Perch does not assign work or resolve edit conflicts. If you run sessions in parallel, keep ownership and verification in your development process. A monitor can sit alongside that process without becoming its coordinator.
Choose around the gap in your current setup
If you need an agent, start with its own product and capabilities. If your agents already work well but you keep checking whether they need you, local visibility may be the gap. If you need a shared remote queue or team coordination, identify those requirements explicitly.
Our comparisons discuss manual terminal checking, notifications and shared dashboards as approaches. They do not rank products from different categories as if they all solve the same problem.
Your agents, one glance away.
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