Codecast vs Amp
Amp is a hosted coding agent: its own harness, threads stored on its servers, and cloud machines it starts for each thread. Codecast records and steers the agents you already run, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and five more, on machines you control, and builds search, attribution, automation and a team layer on that record.
Codecast is a workspace for your coding agents. A daemon watches the history files your agents already write, so every session on Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, OpenCode, pi, Grok or Muse Spark syncs live from every machine you use, including sessions started before you installed it. From web, desktop or phone you read, search, message and fork them and answer their permission prompts; triggers, workflows and cloud hosts keep work going while you are away; and a team layer (shared feed, chat, calls, tasks, docs, decisions) sits on the same record. It is MIT licensed with a backend you can host yourself.
Amp, from Amp Frontier Corporation (spun out of Sourcegraph in December 2025), is a coding agent with its own harness. Threads run in orbs, cloud machines Amp creates for each thread, or on runners, machines of your own; you reach them from the web, macOS and iOS apps and a terminal CLI. Amp chooses the model behind each mode of its Dial, adds subagents such as Oracle and Librarian, and offers Puck, an assistant that starts and coordinates agents, in Slack and over MCP. Threads live on Amp's servers, shared with your workspace by default. It is closed source. Amp’s site.
Bottom line
The choice is about who owns the agent. Amp is the agent: you adopt its harness, its model choices and its servers, and in return you get managed cloud machines per thread, curated modes and a polished hosted product. Codecast owns no agent: you keep Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or whatever comes next, on your own subscriptions and machines, and Codecast gives all of them one record with search, line attribution, forks, permission prompts you answer from your phone, automation and a team layer. Pick Amp if you want one vendor to run the agent and the compute. Pick Codecast if you want to keep your agents and own the record of what they did.
Side by side
| Codecast | Amp | |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | Records and steers the agents you already run, from the transcripts they write on your machines | Is the agent: its own harness, with threads stored on Amp's servers |
| Agents supported | Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, OpenCode, pi, Grok and Muse Spark, plus Cursor and Codex cloud agents | Amp's own agent, with models Amp assigns to each mode; a Claude Code mode runs the Claude Agent SDK on your Claude plan inside an Amp thread |
| Sessions you already have | Every session on a supported agent syncs live, whether it started in a terminal, an IDE or another app, and history already on disk is picked up | No import or view of sessions from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or other agents; history starts with your first Amp thread |
| Models | Whatever your agents run, on your own subscriptions; pick model and effort at launch or change them mid session, and switch a session to another agent with its history | Four modes (low, medium, high, ultra) with models chosen by Amp; Tune Modes pins a model and effort per mode, Oracle and subagents |
| Where code runs | Your machines and your own cloud hosts: start a session on a host from your checkout as it stands, and move live sessions between laptop and host mid turn | Orbs, a managed cloud machine per thread that pauses when idle and is billed by the hour, or runners on your own machines, shareable with the workspace |
| Where history lives | A backend you can host yourself; transcripts stay on disk where your agents wrote them | Amp's servers on Google Cloud, encrypted at rest; no self hosting |
| Search & memory | Full-text search across all past sessions; agents query team history themselves (cast search / cast ask) | An activity feed and thread search by keyword, file, author, label or date; agents read other threads when you mention them |
| Line-level attribution | cast blame traces any line of code to the conversation that wrote it | Not offered |
| Branching and handoff | Fork from any message in several directions at once; spawn workers on any agent that report back; cast handoff writes context for a fresh session | Handoff starts a fresh thread with the context that matters; fork was removed in January 2026 |
| Permissions | The agent's own permission prompts stay in force, answered from web, desktop or phone | Does not ask before running tools by default; gating needs a policy plugin; orbs isolate each thread |
| Remote steering | Web, macOS desktop and iOS apps; send messages into a live terminal session and answer permission prompts from any device | Web, macOS and iOS apps; a running CLI thread can be opened and messaged from another device; orb threads keep running with the laptop closed |
| Automation | Triggers on a delay, a schedule or an event, workflows with approval gates, plans run in waves across agents, a decisions queue, and resume on another account at a usage limit | A plain language schedule per thread, event driven orbs, threads that follow their PR's comments and checks, amp -x for CI, and SDKs for TypeScript and Python |
| Coordinating agents | Sessions message each other; cast spawn, fork and plan orchestrate run work in parallel; org roles keep standing sessions on an area | Agents spawn and message each other; Puck starts, monitors and splits work across agents, by voice, in Slack or over MCP |
| Pull requests and review | The session that opened a PR owns it and wakes for reviews and failing checks; batched line reviews; every PR and commit linked to its sessions | A GitHub App that pushes as you and subscribes threads to PR comments and checks (github.com only); amp review with checks you define; Restack |
| Team visibility | Every teammate's sessions in one feed and inbox, with per-directory privacy controls | One workspace per user, threads shared with it by default and admins able to read private ones; multiplayer threads; a call inside each thread; spend by model and member |
| Around the sessions | Team chat, calls, tasks, plans, docs, decisions and published pages, with agents taking part in each | Slack through Puck, a voice and video Space in each thread |
| Enterprise controls | Per conversation privacy levels, hashed project paths, optional encryption the server cannot read, self hosting | SSO, SCIM, groups, allowed model lists, an MCP allowlist, audit logs, IP allowlisting and SOC 2 Type II |
| Open source | MIT, with a backend you can host yourself | Closed source |
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Keeps the agents you have: eleven agent clients, local and cloud, on your own subscriptions, and no new harness to learn.
- Every session you have run is in the record, including history from before you installed it, in full with tool calls.
- cast blame traces any line of code to the conversation and message that wrote it; agents search and ask across the whole history before they start.
- Fork any conversation from any message, in several directions, and switch a live session to another agent or model.
- Permission prompts stay on and can be answered from a phone.
- MIT licensed, self hostable, with per conversation privacy and optional encryption the server cannot read.
- Tasks, plans, docs, decisions, triggers, workflows, published pages, browser and macOS app control all on the same record.
Weaknesses
- No managed cloud compute: cloud sessions run on a host you provide.
- No curated model modes or built in Oracle and Librarian style subagents; you get what your agents ship.
- No in house harness, so a capability your agent lacks (for example permission prompts on OpenCode launched from the web) is missing in Codecast too.
- Fewer enterprise controls today: no SCIM, audit log export or IP allowlisting.
- A fork branches the conversation, not the files.
- The desktop app is macOS only and the phone app is iOS only.
Strengths
- Orbs: a cloud machine per thread that keeps working with the laptop closed and pauses when idle, with a shared terminal and desktop view.
- Curated modes with models picked and tuned by Amp, plus Oracle, Librarian and Search subagents.
- Thread references and handoff are first class: mention a thread and the agent reads it.
- Puck coordinates agents by voice, from Slack, or from Claude and ChatGPT over MCP.
- A full enterprise package: SSO, SCIM, audit logs, allowed models, SOC 2 Type II, and spend broken down by model and member.
- Free with your own runners and keys; model use billed at provider prices.
Weaknesses
- Only Amp's agent. Sessions from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others are not imported or shown, and your history starts at your first Amp thread.
- Closed source and hosted only: threads live on Amp's servers with no self hosting.
- Does not ask before running tools by default.
- No line attribution, and fork, public threads, the editor extensions and custom commands have all been removed during 2026.
- One workspace per user, and admins can read members' private threads.
- GitHub integration covers github.com only, not GitHub Enterprise Server.
Owning the agent versus owning the record
Amp's view is that the agent is the product. It ships its own harness, decides which model sits behind each mode, runs threads on machines it manages, and keeps every thread on its servers. That is how it can offer orbs, curated modes and a coordinator like Puck: it controls every piece.
Codecast's view is that people should keep choosing their agents, and that the lasting value is the record of what those agents did. So it owns no agent. It reads the transcripts that Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, OpenCode, pi, Grok and Muse Spark write on your machines, syncs them live, and builds everything else on top: steering, search, attribution, forks, automation and the team layer. When a better agent ships next month, it joins the same record instead of starting a new silo.
The tradeoff is real in both directions. Amp can do things only a harness owner can, such as pausing a whole machine with its thread. Codecast keeps working the day you change agents, and keeps the history you already have.
Your existing sessions
Amp has no way to bring in the work you did in other agents. Its closest feature, Claude Code mode, runs the Claude Agent SDK on your Claude plan inside a new Amp thread; it does not import the sessions already in your Claude Code history.
Codecast starts from that history. The first time the daemon runs it picks up the sessions already on disk for every supported agent, and from then on each new session syncs live with its tool calls, diffs and permission prompts, whether you started it in a terminal, Cursor, T3 Code, a script or a trigger.
What Amp has that codecast does not
- 1
Managed cloud machines
Each orb is a cloud machine created for a thread, with a shared terminal and desktop view, that keeps working when you close the laptop and resumes intact after it pauses. Codecast runs cloud sessions on hosts you provide.
- 2
Curated modes and specialist subagents
Amp tunes the model and effort behind each of its four modes and adds Oracle for hard reasoning, Librarian for reading other codebases, and a Search subagent.
- 3
Puck
An assistant that starts, monitors and messages agents, splits work across them, takes voice, works in Slack, and is exposed over MCP to Claude and ChatGPT.
- 4
Enterprise administration
SCIM, groups, allowed model lists, an MCP registry allowlist, audit logs, IP allowlisting, SOC 2 Type II, and spend reporting by model, mode and member with CSV export.
- 5
Code review checks
amp review runs checks you define in your repository, and Restack tidies a branch's commits.
- 6
A native app for iPad and macOS that runs threads
The Mac app can act as a runner itself. Codecast's macOS app and iOS app steer sessions that run in your terminals and hosts.
What codecast has that Amp does not
- 1
Any agent, and the history you already have
Eleven agent clients including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and the Cursor and Codex cloud agents, with sessions from before you installed codecast included.
- 2
Line attribution
cast blame resolves any line of code to the conversation and message that wrote it, in the terminal, the web repo view, VS Code, Cursor and vim, and agent commits carry a trailer that leads back to the session.
- 3
Forks
Branch a conversation from any message, in several directions at once, locally or on a cloud host. Amp removed its fork in January 2026 in favor of handoff.
- 4
Permission prompts from anywhere
Your agent's own permission model stays in force and you approve or deny from web, desktop or phone. Amp runs tools without asking unless a policy plugin intervenes.
- 5
Open source and your own backend
MIT licensed and documented for self hosting, with per conversation privacy and optional encryption the server cannot read. Amp is closed source and hosted only.
- 6
Work tracking on the same record
Tasks assigned to agents, plans run in parallel waves, docs, a decisions queue, team chat, transcribed calls whose action items become tasks, and Linear and GitHub issue sync.
- 7
Agents that reach past the code
Drive your own signed in Chrome in a background tab, operate native macOS apps, use iOS simulators, and publish reports at a link with versions and comments.
- 8
Usage limits are a pause
Save several Claude Code logins; a session that hits a limit parks and resumes at the reset or on the account with the most headroom.
Teams and privacy
Amp puts each user in one workspace. Threads in workspace projects are shared with the workspace by default, workspace admins can read members' private threads, and credits are pooled. Enterprise adds groups and visibility controls.
Codecast keeps sessions private by default. You map a project directory to a team and its sessions are shared from then on, at the level each member chooses: hidden, a summary, or the full conversation. You can switch between a personal workspace and several teams, and the data can live on a backend you run.
Choose Amp when
- You want one vendor to provide the agent, the model choices and the cloud machines, and you are happy to move your work into its threads.
- You want a managed cloud machine for each thread that keeps going with your laptop closed.
- You need SCIM, audit logs, allowed model lists and IP allowlisting today.
- You like the idea of a coordinator you can talk to, from Slack or by voice.
Choose Codecast when
- You use Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or several agents and want to keep them, on your own subscriptions.
- You want every session you have run, including history from before today, in one searchable record you can host yourself.
- You want to trace code to the conversation that wrote it, fork conversations, and keep permission prompts on while you steer from your phone.
- You want tasks, plans, docs, decisions, triggers and team chat built on the same record as the sessions.
They do not overlap today. Amp threads run in Amp's harness and live on Amp's servers, so there is no transcript on disk for a codecast daemon to read. If your team runs Amp beside Claude Code or Codex, codecast records the Claude Code and Codex sessions as usual and Amp keeps its own threads.
Amp facts read from its public docs on 2026-10-14. Tell us if something changed.