What Do You Need to Switch: AI Models, Conversations, or Coding Tasks?

Based on official documentation checked on 21 October 2026 UTC. This is a documentation comparison, not a hands-on product test.

Before choosing an app for “switching between AI agents,” name the thing you want to change. Getting another model's opinion, returning to an existing conversation, and moving between two code changes require different workflows.

For another answer, look at model selection. For parallel coding work, look at task context, files and review paths. For several command-line tools, terminal navigation may be enough. If your existing app already handles the job, another dashboard may add little.

The eight tools below address different parts of that decision. Some span several categories; the useful comparison is what each one lets you select and what still needs your attention.

Name what needs to stay with the work

A model is the system generating a response. A conversation contains the messages and context supplied to that interaction. A coding task also involves working files, an execution environment and a result someone needs to review.

That distinction gives you a practical question: when you switch, what must come with you?

For a second opinion on a paragraph, a deliberate copy of the paragraph and your question may be sufficient. For an unfinished code change, you may also need the branch, changed files, current instructions, verification evidence and unresolved decisions. A different item in a selector does not establish that all of those moved together.

Choose the job first

This decision table is our editorial framework. The situations are illustrative, not reported customer results.

Use the product sections below to check the documented scope behind each candidate. Being listed here is not a recommendation for every operating system, account or project.

Eight tools, eight scopes to understand

Codex: parallel chats and worktrees

OpenAI documents independent Codex chats in Git worktrees, with a handoff between Local and Worktree. The worktree route requires a Git repository; the repository and commands remain on the connected computer or development environment. This is a native route to examine when your work already lives in Codex. Official worktree documentation

There is a naming detail to watch: the former Codex app documentation URL redirected to ChatGPT desktop app documentation when checked. That page lists macOS, Windows and Linux downloads. The broader app download list does not establish equal availability of every Codex feature, worktree workflow or third-party integration on those platforms. Current desktop-app documentation

Conductor: workspaces with several coding agents

Conductor documents parallel work with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and OpenCode, organized around task workspaces and a review path. Its installation guide describes a macOS desktop app and requires GitHub plus at least one agent provider. The homepage also describes cloud workspaces and iOS/API access. Introduction, installation, cloud and access routes

Its workspace choice matters as much as its agent list. Separate workspaces support independent changes; agents sharing one workspace can edit the same files. Consider that distinction before assigning overlapping work. Support for several agents does not, by itself, establish lossless transfer of an existing session between them. Parallel-agent guidance

Cursor: agent tasks, environments and model choices

Cursor's Agents Window documents parallel agents, multiple workspaces, isolated Git checkouts and handoff between cloud and local work. Its agent documentation separately describes choosing a model for a task. Those are two useful but distinct controls: where a coding task runs, and which model powers Cursor's agent. Agents Window, agent overview

Cursor lists desktop downloads for macOS, Windows and Linux. Check the relevant feature and environment requirements rather than treating that list as a promise of identical behavior everywhere. These sources do not establish control of an already-running session in another vendor's coding tool. Desktop downloads

Zed External Agents: choose an agent for a thread

Zed hosts external agents through the Agent Client Protocol, or ACP. Its documentation describes choosing an installed external agent from the new-thread menu and viewing work through the Agent Panel and Threads Sidebar. The external agent usually retains its own runtime, authentication, model selection and native configuration. External-agent documentation

This fits a reader who wants an editor interface for different coding agents. Check the particular integration: Zed's model-provider settings do not automatically configure every external agent. Zed lists macOS, Windows and Linux downloads, but each agent's compatibility needs its own check. Editor downloads

Chatbox: provider selection, with a separate Work Mode

Chatbox documents configuring multiple providers and switching between them, including connections to local model runtimes. That is relevant when you want access to different models through one client. Provider configuration

It also documents Work Mode, which adds code execution, file operations and tools for compatible models. Calling Chatbox a chat-only app would miss that scope. Work Mode is documented as desktop only; the Working Directory feature is marked as not yet available on Windows. Mobile and web availability therefore should not be read as equivalent tool access. These capabilities do not establish management of another coding tool's existing live session. Work Mode and platform limits

LM Studio: choose local model weights and manage chats

LM Studio's model loader lets you select downloaded model weights and load them into memory. Its chat interface supports conversation organization and split views; the wider product also documents local endpoints and MCP tools. This makes it relevant to local model use as well as conversation management. Model loading, chat management, product documentation

Hardware is part of the choice. The detailed requirements list Apple Silicon Macs with macOS 14 or later, Windows x64/ARM and Linux x64/ARM64; Intel Macs are listed as unsupported. A model endpoint or tool connection is a different layer from managing a coding agent's task state. System requirements

tmux: switch terminal destinations

tmux manages terminal sessions, windows and panes. It supports detaching and later reattaching while programs continue on their host. If your coding tools already run in terminals, that may address the navigation problem you actually have. Its README lists Linux, macOS, several BSD systems and Solaris. Getting started, supported platforms

Our practical distinction is that selecting a pane selects a terminal destination. It does not establish shared conversation context, separate code checkouts or approval of the program's result. Those remain questions for the tools and workflow inside the terminal.

CueSpec: view Codex tasks and prepare reviewed replies

CueSpec's current public documentation describes a compact view of Codex tasks, opening the original conversation context and preparing a reviewable reply with explicit send. Its support matrix describes a Mac speech-to-draft route and lists version 0.4.5 build 66, a Universal ZIP and macOS 15 or later. Task overview, support matrix

This is a companion workflow to consider when returning to Codex tasks and preparing replies is your specific need. Broader agent/model support and additional platforms remain planned in those documents. We have not tested compatibility with the latest upstream desktop app here. If the native route already gives you the context and return path you need, keep that route.

Two requests that sound similar but need different setups

The following examples are fictional and illustrate the decision process.

“I want another AI to review this explanation”

You have a short design explanation and want a second opinion before making a decision. You are not asking the second model to edit the repository or continue an unfinished implementation.

Start by preparing the explanation, the relevant constraints and the question you want answered. A provider/model client may fit that job. If you want local inference, examine the local model route and its hardware requirements instead.

Your handoff can be small: the text, what should be evaluated and what remains undecided. Review the second answer against that request. Opening a new model does not make the answer correct, and this example does not establish that any particular tool preserves context automatically.

“I want two coding tasks to run while I move between them”

You want one task to adjust a settings screen and another to investigate a separate parser issue. Each needs its own instructions, changes and review decision.

First decide whether the tasks can proceed independently. If they can, examine the worktree or separate-workspace routes documented above. If they must share the same changing files, define who may edit each file and when another agent can review it. Conductor's documentation explicitly describes the tradeoff between independent and shared workspaces. Workspace decision guidance

When you return, inspect the task identity and latest answer before replying. Then inspect the actual changes and verification evidence before accepting the result. A conversation view, a workspace and a completion label answer different questions.

This example calls for a coding-workflow decision. A second model selector alone does not establish the file, context and review boundaries it needs.

Fill in one sentence before choosing

Write:

I need to switch between ___ while keeping ___, and I will review the result by ___.

For example: “I need to switch between two coding tasks while keeping their branches and instructions separate, and I will review each diff against its request.”

Or: “I need to switch between models while keeping the same explanation and evaluation question, and I will compare their reasoning myself.”

Then check the proposed tool against that sentence:

• Can you identify the selected conversation, task, model or terminal?
• Is it clear where the files run and which context the next interaction receives?
• Are login, permissions and any shared workspace handled by the intended tool?
• Can you return to the original work and inspect the result?

Choose the workflow that answers those questions for your task. Leave speed, accuracy and productivity comparisons open until you have evidence from your own use; this guide supplies documented scope rather than a performance ranking.

Related CueSpec documentation

• Understand the desktop task overview
• Confirm the right Codex conversation before sending
• Software support matrix