Kota

Kota is a macOS desktop application that lets you run multiple AI agents in the same project space. Instead of switching between Claude in one tab, ChatGPT in another, and a local model in a terminal, you bring them all into a single room where they can share context, see each other's work, and communicate directly. Up to eight agents from different providers can participate in the same project with a unified timeline tracking everything that happens. The app positions itself as a home for your agents and projects, a workspace where orchestration happens visually rather than through manual copying and pasting between windows.

The problem it addresses is the fragmentation of AI tooling. Power users juggle multiple models because each has strengths. Claude handles long documents well, GPT-4 excels at certain coding tasks, Gemini has its own advantages, and local models offer privacy and cost savings for certain workloads. But coordinating them means manually copying context between windows, losing track of which agent said what, and missing the potential for agents to collaborate rather than work in isolation. Kota tries to collapse that into one interface where you can see everything in one place and let agents talk to each other without you mediating every exchange.

The core concept is multi-agent rooms. You create a room for a project, add agents from your connected providers, and they all operate within the same context. Agents can message each other and humans through a shared chat, and the timeline logs every interaction with timestamps. This visibility matters when you are debugging a complex task and need to understand who did what and when. If an agent made a mistake three steps back, you can trace it in the history. The timeline is searchable and summarized automatically, so you do not have to scroll through walls of text to find the moment something went wrong.

Agent creation is template-based. You can start from predefined agent templates or create your own, customizing the persona, capabilities, and behavior for each agent. This means you might have a coding agent that is allowed to run terminal commands, a writing agent that focuses on documentation, and a research agent that queries external sources, all working in the same room but with different permissions and personalities. The skill management system controls which capabilities each agent can access, keeping your setup organized and secure.

CLI integration means Kota works alongside your existing terminal tools without requiring an SDK. The app uses pure PTY, so agents interact with your local development environment through the command line just like you would. They can run builds, execute tests, manage files, and perform other shell operations within the limits you set. Parallel worktrees let you multitask with auto or manual sync options, which is useful when multiple agents are working on different branches or subtasks simultaneously.

Project rules let you set guardrails at both the account and project level. You might have global rules about output formatting or safety constraints that apply everywhere, plus project-specific rules about which directories an agent can touch or which APIs it can call. This tiered approach keeps agents consistent across your work without requiring you to redefine everything for each new project. Memory management converts raw logs into searchable history with automatic summarization, so you can recall what happened in past sessions without wading through transcripts.

A Telegram integration enables remote control from your phone. If you step away from your desk, you can still monitor agent activity and intervene when needed. The app also includes collaborative tools like a diff viewer for code changes with co-editing capabilities and a shared Excalidraw whiteboard for visual collaboration. A cross-project discussion board lets you maintain context across different projects. Timed and recurring task management is built in, so you can schedule agents to perform actions at specific times without manual triggering.

The target user is someone already working with multiple AI agents who has felt the friction of managing them separately. Developers building agentic workflows, researchers comparing model outputs, or anyone orchestrating complex AI-assisted projects would find the unified interface valuable. If you only use one model occasionally, this is probably more tooling than you need, but if you are the kind of person who has Claude, GPT, Gemini, and maybe a local model all running at once, Kota aims to make that setup manageable.

Kota is macOS only, specifically Apple Silicon, and distributed as a signed and notarized download. Compatible providers include Claude, OpenAI, Google Gemini, GitHub Copilot, Pi, and others. Pricing is not disclosed on the site, though the download appears to be free. The product launched publicly in mid-2026, so it is early-stage with active development ongoing via GitHub. If you are looking for a way to unify your multi-agent setup on a Mac, this is a purpose-built option worth trying.