Beyond Claude Code: Which AI Assistants Does CCManager Support?

CCManager isn't a Claude Code-only tool — even though it defaults to claude, it supports more AI coding tools than you might expect.

If you use different AI tools across different projects, or want to mix them inside a single CCManager instance, this article explains how.

Supported AI Assistants

Each tool has a corresponding status detection strategy that lets CCManager correctly determine whether the Agent is currently busy, waiting, or idle. This happens automatically in the background — you usually don't need to touch it, unless your tool behaves in unusual ways.

Switching the Default Tool

To replace the default claude:

Global Configuration → Configure Command Presets

Change Command to the tool you want, such as gemini or opencode. After saving, new sessions will launch with that tool.

Primary and Fallback Arguments

Inside Configure Command Presets, besides the command itself, there are two argument settings:

Primary Arguments: Main startup arguments, e.g. --resume (lets Claude Code pick up from the previous conversation).

Fallback Arguments: If the primary arguments fail to start the session, CCManager automatically retries with this set. The last resort is no arguments at all — CCManager will keep retrying until something works.

This fallback mechanism is especially useful in remote environments or complex devcontainer setups where startup can be unpredictable, without requiring manual intervention.

Claude Code's Special Behavior: Teammate Mode

If you're using Claude Code, there's an automatic behavior worth knowing: CCManager adds the --teammate-mode in-process flag when launching claude.

This flag prevents Claude Code's agent teams feature from conflicting with CCManager's PTY session management.

It happens automatically — no configuration needed. But if you've already specified --teammate-mode in your preset args, your setting takes priority and CCManager won't override it.

For Gemini, Codex, and other tools, this flag is never added — it only triggers for the claude command.

Running Different Tools in the Same CCManager

Want to run Claude Code and Gemini CLI simultaneously? You can, through per-project configuration.

Place a .ccmanager.json in different repo directories, each specifying a different command:

{
  "command": "gemini"
}

Then manage multiple repos in multi-project mode, each running its own configured AI tool. This way, in a single CCManager interface, one project runs Claude Code and another runs Gemini — each managing its own sessions independently.

More details on per-project configuration are in the Complete Configuration Guide.

A Note for Gemini CLI Users

Gemini CLI's status detection requires a bit of extra setup. There's an official Gemini Support Documentation that covers the CCManager-specific configuration steps. If you're a Gemini CLI user, that document is worth a read.

With AI tool configuration sorted, the next article goes into configuration files — Complete Configuration Guide: Shortcuts, Command Presets, Per-Project Settings covers everything you can tune, all at once.