amux vs n8n

Q: Can I use amux and n8n together?

Yes, they compose well. A common pattern: amux's scheduler triggers an agent every morning to ship a feature or run a code review. That agent posts a result to an amux board issue. A separate n8n workflow polls the board API, reads completed issues, and posts a summary to Slack or Notion. amux handles the coding-agent orchestration side; n8n handles the downstream data routing.

Q: Does amux have visual workflow editing like n8n?

No. amux does not have a visual node editor for connecting APIs. amux is configured via a dashboard and REST API — you register sessions, create schedules (via the Scheduler tab), and define automations as Markdown SOPs in the Automations tab. For visual drag-and-drop API flows, n8n is the right tool.

Q: Does n8n run AI coding agents like Claude Code?

n8n can call AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic) as nodes in a workflow — useful for text summarization, classification, or generating content. But it does not launch and manage persistent AI coding agent sessions (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI) that run interactively in a terminal, write files, run tests, and submit PRs. That is what amux does: orchestrate the full lifecycle of software-writing AI agents.

Q: What is cheaper — amux or n8n?

amux is free and open source (MIT + Commons Clause) for self-hosting with no limits on sessions, board issues, notes, CRM, or schedules. The only paid piece is the tunnel relay (amux cloud, $20/month or $200/year). n8n is also open source and free to self-host. n8n cloud starts at approximately $24/month for 2,500 workflow executions. Both tools are cheap to run locally; both add cost if you want a hosted service.

n8n is the leading open-source workflow automation platform — connect SaaS APIs, webhooks, and data pipelines in a visual editor. amux is an open-source control plane for AI coding agents — run and monitor dozens of Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini CLI sessions from your phone. These tools serve different jobs. Here is the honest comparison. Updated July 2026.

Quick answer: amux and n8n solve different problems. n8n connects APIs and SaaS tools in visual workflows — no AI agents, no coding. amux orchestrates AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI) that write, test, and ship software. If you need to automate SaaS data flows, use n8n. If you need to run and monitor a fleet of coding agents, use amux. The tools compose well together.

What Each Tool Is For

n8n is a visual workflow automation platform. You connect nodes in a drag-and-drop editor — "when a Stripe webhook fires, look up the customer in HubSpot, update their status, and post a Slack message." n8n handles triggers (webhooks, schedules, polling), transformations (code nodes, built-in data manipulation), and destinations (500+ integrations). The target user is often a non-developer who needs to automate repetitive data flows between SaaS tools without writing a full application. n8n is self-hostable and open source (fair-code license); n8n cloud is a hosted version. It has ~90k GitHub stars and strong adoption among operations teams, RevOps, and no-code/low-code practitioners.

amux is a control plane for AI coding agents. You register software projects, start Claude Code (or Codex, Gemini CLI) sessions that write and commit code, monitor their progress from a web dashboard or phone, and let the self-healing watchdog restart agents that get stuck. amux's built-in kanban, notes, CRM, email (Gmail API), browser automation, and scheduler are coordination primitives for a team of AI agents — not a visual pipeline editor. The target user is a developer or engineering team that wants to run multiple AI coding sessions in parallel without babysitting each one. amux is fully open source (MIT + Commons Clause), a single Python file, and zero external dependencies.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	amux	n8n
Primary use case	Orchestrate AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI)	Connect SaaS APIs and webhooks in visual workflows
Who it's for	Developers, engineering teams, indie founders building with AI agents	Operations, RevOps, no-code/low-code practitioners automating data flows
Programming interface	Dashboard, REST API, CLI (`amux start`, `amux board`)	Visual node editor + code nodes (JavaScript/Python)
AI coding agent execution	Yes — full session lifecycle (start, monitor, self-heal, steer)	No — can call AI APIs as nodes, but no persistent coding agent sessions
Self-healing / watchdog	Yes — detects crashes, context exhaustion, stuck agents, auto-restarts	No — workflow errors trigger alerts or retries, not agent restart logic
Web dashboard	Yes — session cards, peek panel, board, CRM, notes, scheduler	Yes — visual workflow editor, execution log, credential manager
Mobile app	Yes — native iOS app (App Store) + PWA, manage agents from phone	No dedicated mobile app (mobile-responsive web UI)
Kanban / task tracking	Yes — built-in board with todo/doing/done, session-tagged issues	No — external integrations to Linear/Notion/Jira via nodes
Scheduling	Yes — natural language + 5-field cron, skip-next, phone monitoring	Yes — cron trigger node, interval, webhook triggers
SaaS integrations	Limited — Gmail API (email), browser automation, REST webhooks	500+ integrations — Slack, Stripe, HubSpot, Airtable, Notion, etc.
AI model support	Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, any tmux-based agent	OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Hugging Face as API call nodes
Pricing	Free (OSS). Tunnel relay: $20/mo or $200/yr	Free (self-host). n8n cloud: ~$24/mo for 2,500 executions
Open source	MIT + Commons Clause — single Python file, zero deps	Sustainable Use License (source available, not OSI-approved)

Use Both Together — They Compose

amux and n8n are not mutually exclusive. They sit at different layers and can be chained into a powerful pipeline:

amux handles the coding work. Your AI agents write features, run tests, and commit code. The amux board tracks what each agent did. The amux scheduler fires agents every morning without you touching a keyboard.
n8n handles the downstream data routing. An n8n workflow polls the amux board API for completed issues, filters the ones tagged ready-for-review, and posts a Slack summary. Another n8n flow reads the amux notes API and pushes research notes into a Notion database.

Concrete example — a daily agent report pipeline:

# amux: agents run all night, board issues accumulate
# n8n: every morning at 9am
GET https://localhost:8822/api/board?status=done&since=yesterday
  → filter issues tagged "shipped"
  → post summary to Slack #dev-daily
  → create Notion page with full issue list

amux's scheduler and automations handle everything on the coding-agent side. n8n handles anything that needs 500+ SaaS connectors and a visual pipeline.

When to Choose amux

You want to run Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Gemini CLI in parallel across multiple projects
You need a self-healing watchdog that restarts stuck AI coding sessions automatically
You want to manage AI agent sessions from your phone (iOS app or mobile PWA)
You need built-in CRM, notes, email, and a kanban board for an AI engineering team
You are an indie founder or small team building software autonomously with AI agents
You want a single Python file you can read, audit, and modify without a complex platform

When to Choose n8n

You need to connect Stripe, HubSpot, Airtable, Slack, Notion, or other SaaS tools without writing a full application
You want a visual drag-and-drop editor for building data flow pipelines
Your automation involves non-technical team members who need to build and manage workflows
You need 500+ pre-built integrations without hand-coding API calls
You are automating data ETL, customer onboarding flows, or RevOps pipelines rather than software development
You need enterprise features like role-based access control, SSO, and audit logging

Frequently Asked Questions

Is amux a replacement for n8n?

No. amux and n8n solve fundamentally different problems. n8n connects SaaS APIs, webhooks, and data pipelines in a visual node editor. amux orchestrates AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI) that write, test, and ship software. If you want to automate SaaS data flows without writing code, n8n is the right tool. If you want to run and monitor a fleet of coding agents from your phone, use amux.

Can I use amux and n8n together?

Yes, they compose well. A common pattern: amux's scheduler fires coding agents every morning. The agents ship features and update board issues. An n8n workflow polls the amux board API, reads completed issues, and posts a summary to Slack or Notion. amux handles the coding side; n8n handles downstream data routing and SaaS notifications.

Does amux have visual workflow editing like n8n?

No. amux does not have a visual node editor. amux is configured via a dashboard, REST API, and CLI — you register sessions, create schedules, and define automations as Markdown SOPs. For visual drag-and-drop API flow editing, n8n is the right choice.

Does n8n run AI coding agents like Claude Code?

n8n can call AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic) as nodes — useful for text summarization, classification, or content generation. But it does not launch and manage persistent AI coding agent sessions (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI) that run interactively in a terminal, write files, run tests, and submit PRs. That is what amux does.

What is cheaper — amux or n8n?

Both are free to self-host. amux's only paid piece is the tunnel relay ($20/month or $200/year). n8n cloud starts at approximately $24/month for 2,500 workflow executions. For pure local use, both cost nothing beyond the machine they run on.

How amux Fits Into the Bigger Picture

amux is an open-source control plane for running an AI engineering team from a single dashboard or your phone. It launches, monitors, and self-heals dozens of parallel Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini CLI sessions, with built-in kanban, notes, CRM, email, browser automation, and a scheduler. Self-healing, single Python file, zero external dependencies, MIT licensed.

If you landed here looking for workflow automation, n8n is probably what you want. If you landed here because you are building software with AI coding agents and need a way to orchestrate, monitor, and steer them at scale, that is amux. Read the getting-started guide or browse the automations guide to see what amux's built-in automation layer can do.

Run your AI engineering team — not just your SaaS flows

amux is an open-source control plane for AI agent teams. Kanban, CRM, email, scheduler, browser automation, and self-healing watchdog — all in a single Python file. Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI. Free to use, MIT licensed.

git clone https://github.com/mixpeek/amux && cd amux && ./install.sh
amux register myproject --dir ~/Dev/myproject --yolo
amux start myproject

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