# How to exit, close, and detach from Herdr > Learn the difference between detaching, closing a pane, stopping a session, and exiting Herdr without accidentally killing running work. Author: [Flavio Copes](https://flaviocopes.com/about/) | Published: 2026-08-26 | Topics: [AI](https://flaviocopes.com/tags/ai/) | Canonical: https://flaviocopes.com/exit-herdr/ The safe way to leave Herdr is to detach. Press `ctrl+b`, release the keys, then press `q`. Your terminal returns to the shell while the Herdr server, panes, coding agents, tests, and development servers keep running. Reattach later with: ~~~bash herdr ~~~ This is different from closing a pane, closing a workspace, or stopping the Herdr server. The commands sound similar, but they have very different effects. ## The quick answer | What you want | Action | | --- | --- | | Leave Herdr and keep everything running | `ctrl+b`, then `q` | | Return to the default session | `herdr` | | Close one shell pane | Run `exit` in that shell | | Close a pane by ID | `herdr pane close PANE_ID` | | Close one tab and its panes | `herdr tab close TAB_ID` | | Close one workspace and its tabs | `herdr workspace close WORKSPACE_ID` | | Stop the default session and all pane processes | `herdr server stop` | | Stop one named session | `herdr session stop NAME` | | Delete a stopped named session | `herdr session delete NAME` | If you are unsure, detach. ## Detach without stopping the work Herdr uses a server and client model. The server owns the pseudo-terminals and processes. The client is the interface you see inside the current terminal window. Detaching closes the client connection. It does not stop the server. Press: ~~~text ctrl+b, then q ~~~ The two keys are sequential. Hold Control and press `b`. Release them. Then press `q`. Later, run: ~~~bash herdr ~~~ You return to the exact live panes. A coding agent can still be working. A server can still be listening. A test can still be running. This is the command I use at the end of the day or before closing an SSH connection. ## What if I close the terminal window? Herdr’s server owns the work, not the outer terminal window. If you close Windows Terminal, Ghostty, iTerm2, Kitty, or another terminal while attached, the client disappears and the server continues running. The same applies when an SSH connection drops. Open a new terminal and run: ~~~bash herdr ~~~ An explicit detach is still better when possible. It makes the action intentional and returns you to the shell cleanly. ## Exit one shell Inside a normal shell pane, run: ~~~bash exit ~~~ Or press `ctrl+d` at an empty shell prompt. This exits that shell process. Herdr then closes the pane that owned it. If another foreground program is running, `exit` is text sent to that program, not a command executed by the shell. Stop or quit the program first. For a development server, that often means `ctrl+c`. For an editor or interactive agent, use its own exit command. Be careful with `ctrl+d`. It sends an end-of-file signal to the foreground program. Different programs handle it differently. ## Close a pane from the CLI First list the panes: ~~~bash herdr pane list ~~~ Then close the one you intend: ~~~bash herdr pane close w1:p2 ~~~ Herdr stops the process in that pane and removes the pane from the layout. The pane ID is only an example. Read the live ID from `herdr pane list`. If the pane contains unsaved editor work, a coding agent, or a development server, closing it ends that process. Read the pane before closing it: ~~~bash herdr pane read w1:p2 \ --source recent-unwrapped \ --lines 80 ~~~ For scripts and agents, explicit IDs are safer than relying on the currently focused pane. ## Close a tab List the tabs: ~~~bash herdr tab list ~~~ Close one: ~~~bash herdr tab close w1:t2 ~~~ Closing a tab closes every pane inside it. That can stop several unrelated processes at once: an agent, test watcher, server, and log tail. Inspect the tab and its panes first: ~~~bash herdr pane list --workspace w1 ~~~ If you only want to remove one pane, use `herdr pane close` instead. ## Close a workspace List the workspaces: ~~~bash herdr workspace list ~~~ Close one: ~~~bash herdr workspace close w2 ~~~ A workspace contains tabs, and the tabs contain panes. Closing the workspace stops all processes under that workspace. Use this when a project context is genuinely finished, not when you only want to switch to another project. To switch without closing: ~~~bash herdr workspace focus w1 ~~~ Or press `ctrl+b`, then `w` and choose a workspace from the interface. ## Stop the default Herdr session This is the destructive option: ~~~bash herdr server stop ~~~ It stops the default Herdr server and exits the pane processes it owns. Use it when you deliberately want to end the session, restart the server after an update, or troubleshoot a server problem. Do not use it as a substitute for detach. Before stopping the server: - save editor changes - finish or stop tests - shut down development servers cleanly - let coding agents finish or record their session state - check every workspace for important processes After a full stop, running `herdr` restores the saved workspace shape: workspaces, tabs, panes, directories, layout, and focus. It does not revive arbitrary old processes. Normal panes return as new shells. Supported coding agents can resume their own conversations when an official Herdr integration previously recorded their native session IDs. ## Stop and delete a named session Named sessions are independent Herdr servers. List them: ~~~bash herdr session list ~~~ Stop one: ~~~bash herdr session stop work ~~~ This exits the pane processes in that named session. Attach again: ~~~bash herdr session attach work ~~~ Herdr restores the saved session shape. Delete a stopped session when you no longer want its saved state: ~~~bash herdr session delete work ~~~ Stop and delete are separate on purpose. Stopping ends the live runtime. Deleting removes the stopped named session from the list and discards its saved session state. ## Detach from a remote session The same binding works when you first SSH to a server and run Herdr: ~~~bash ssh you@server herdr ~~~ Press `ctrl+b`, then `q`. You return to the remote shell. You can then exit SSH: ~~~bash exit ~~~ The remote Herdr server and its panes continue running. Reconnect later: ~~~bash ssh you@server herdr ~~~ This is also the workflow I use when [connecting to Herdr from a phone](https://flaviocopes.com/herdr-phone/). ## Detach from direct terminal attach Herdr can attach the current terminal directly to one agent or pane on supported Unix systems: ~~~bash herdr agent attach reviewer ~~~ Detach from that direct stream with the same sequence: ~~~text ctrl+b, then q ~~~ If you need to send a literal `ctrl+b` to the program inside the direct attachment, press: ~~~text ctrl+b, then ctrl+b ~~~ Direct terminal attach is not currently supported on native Windows. ## Detach does not survive every kind of failure Detach is the strongest persistence path because the original server and processes keep running. It does not make a process immortal. The work stops if: - the Herdr server is stopped - the machine reboots - the operating system kills the process - the user logs out in an environment that terminates user services - the process exits on its own After a server restart, Herdr can restore layout and optionally recent screen history. Screen history restores what you can see, not the old process that produced it. This distinction matters when someone says a terminal session is “persistent.” ## I pressed the wrong keys ### ctrl+b q does nothing Press `ctrl+b`, release it, then press `q`. Do not press all three keys together. Open the active keybinding list with: ~~~text ctrl+b, then ? ~~~ Your configuration may use a different prefix or detach key. ### I stopped the server Run: ~~~bash herdr ~~~ Herdr restores the saved layout. Check which coding agents resumed and which panes returned as new shells. Restart development servers and tests manually. ### A pane disappeared If the shell or foreground program exited, the pane can close with it. A closed pane ID is not reused. Create a new pane and restart the command. ### I only wanted to hide a pane Use another tab or workspace, or zoom a different pane. Closing is not hiding. It ends the pane process. ## The rule to remember Detach removes the client. Close removes a pane, tab, or workspace and ends the processes inside it. Stop ends the Herdr server and all of its pane processes. Delete removes the saved state of a stopped named session. When you want to leave Herdr and come back later, press `ctrl+b`, then `q`. The official state table is in [Herdr’s session state and restore guide](https://herdr.dev/docs/session-state/).