# Poly vs Coshell for multiplayer AI coding

The closest thesis to Poly's in the category, delivered the opposite way: you host it, you bring the keys, and the session chat includes the agent.

Published 2026-09-16 by the Poly team. Canonical: https://usepoly.co/poly-vs-coshell
Poly (usepoly.co) is a web app where a team builds with AI, Claude or ChatGPT, together in a shared room. Free to start: https://usepoly.co/

**Coshell and Poly make the same claim, that a team should steer one AI coding agent together in one live session, and deliver it in opposite ways. Coshell is a self-hosted "drive" built on OpenCode: you run it on your own laptop or server for $0, bring your own model keys, and your team joins one shared session with a named prompt queue, plan approvals and a shared preview. Poly (usepoly.co) is hosted: nobody installs or configures anything, nobody holds a key, the AI asks before each change, and every turn carries a receipt.** Coshell is the choice for a technical team that wants to own its compute. Poly is the choice for a small group that wants to open a tab and build.

*Poly and Coshell, from public documentation, September 2026.*

|  | Poly | Coshell |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hosting | Hosted by Poly | Self-hosted drive; cloud deploy templates |
| Keys | None; Poly's, never in a sandbox | Your own, on the drive |
| Approve before the AI acts | Yes, per change, any member | Plan approval with comments |
| Who spent what | Receipt per turn, per person | Commits attributed; no per-turn cost |
| Models | Claude and ChatGPT | 70+ via OpenCode |
| Chat the AI cannot read | Yes | No; session chat has an assistant |
| Surfaces | Browser | Browser, TUI, VS Code, Slack, phone |
| Price | Free start; $20 or $50 per AI user | $0 self-hosted; Enterprise |
| Setup | Open a tab | Install or deploy a drive |

## What Coshell does

Coshell, formerly ShellTab, launched as a fork of OpenCode in May 2026. A drive runs on your machine or a one-click cloud deploy and dials out to Coshell's edge, so nothing listens on a public port. Inside, one live session holds the whole team: prompts queue with a name on each, you can follow a teammate's view and cursor, a Plan tab approves a plan with per-line comments, every dev-server port becomes a shared browser tab, and commits are authored to whoever prompted. "Overlap" holds a second agent's edit to the same lines and arbitrates. It works with Claude Code, Codex and, by its count, 70 or more models on your own keys. Self-hosting is free and unmetered; Enterprise adds SSO, audit logs and on-prem support.

## Where Coshell is stronger

- **Free on your own compute.** No seats, no metering, your keys, your machine.
- **Model breadth.** Dozens of models through OpenCode, including free and self-hosted ones.
- **Surfaces.** A terminal client, a VS Code extension, Slack, phone, and a grid view of several sessions.
- **Overlap.** A referee for two agents editing the same lines, which Poly does not need because a room runs one turn at a time.

## Where Poly is stronger

- **Nothing to run.** Coshell's first step is installing and hosting a drive, or a cloud deploy. Poly's first step is a browser tab, and every account starts with free credits and no card.
- **Approval per change, from any seat.** Coshell approves plans; Poly's approval modes put every file change and command on every member's screen before it happens.
- **Receipts.** Poly names who ran each turn and what it cost. Coshell attributes commits to the prompter but has no per-turn cost.
- **No keys anywhere.** Coshell runs on your keys, on a machine your teammates share. Poly's platform keys never enter a sandbox and members never hold one.
- **A channel the AI cannot read.** Coshell's session chat includes an assistant that answers in it. Poly's group chat and polls are hidden from the agent by design.
- **Built for people who do not code.** Coshell's personas are engineering managers, remote teams and agencies. Poly's room is designed so the person who cannot code can prompt, approve and undo.

## Which should you pick?

- **A technical team that wants to self-host on its own compute with its own keys, and is comfortable operating it:** Coshell.
- **You want many models, including free and local ones:** Coshell.
- **A small group, including non-engineers, that wants to open a browser and build, with approvals and receipts:** Poly.
- **A pair that wants the argument about the plan to stay out of the prompt:** Poly.

## Common questions

**Is Poly open source?**

No. Poly is a hosted product. Its sandbox, network and secrets design is documented on the security page, and turns run the real Claude Code and Codex agents.

**Can I self-host Poly?**

Not today. If self-hosting on your own compute is the requirement, Coshell is built for that.

**Does Poly run OpenCode?**

No. Poly runs Claude Code for Claude turns and Codex for ChatGPT turns, each in a per-turn sandbox with the same approvals and receipts.

More guides: https://usepoly.co/guides · Security: https://usepoly.co/security · Pricing: https://usepoly.co/pricing