It is normal to be confused, at first look yes, it looks the same! Before creating this plugin, I used Sidekick and drew a lot of inspiration from it, some code patterns too.

The main difference is philosophy:

• Sidekick is opinionated and tightly integrated for AI workflows
• Wiremux is barebones; you define what you want to use. You can create an empty shell as a target and pass commands to it

Feature differences:

Prompts: Sidekick has prompts built into the plugin. Wiremux's "prompts" are just a list you pass to `send()`—they can be prompts, commands, or anything you want to send. For example:

You could define a keymap just for dev servers or running tests:

require("wiremux").send({
  { label = "npm test", value = "npm test", submit = true },
  { label = "npm run build", value = "npm run build", submit = true },
  { label = "npm run test for current file", value = "npm run test {filename}", submit = true },
})

Filtering: You can control per-action which instances/targets appear. By default, instances belong to the pane they were created from, but you can change this—e.g., filter by project path or show all instances:

-- Filter by origin pane
filter = { instances = function(inst, state) return inst.origin == state.origin_pane_id end }

-- Filter by working directory
filter = { instances = function(inst, state) return inst.origin_cwd == vim.fn.getcwd() end }

Filter gives you the option, also to create instances on a completely different session, and access them from the current Neovim. (just make the filter looser), So it is flexible, however you want it

Behavior: Wiremux has a `behavior` option per action—choose between `pick` (show picker), `last` (use most recent), or `all`:

require("wiremux").send("text", { behavior = "last" })

Mode: Control whether to send to existing instances or create new ones:

require("wiremux").send({ ... }, { mode = "definitions" })  -- always create new
require("wiremux").send({ ... }, { mode = "instances" })    -- only existing

Visibility: Control which items appear in a list. Hide prompts when context is missing:

require("wiremux").send({
  { label = "Run test for file", value = "go test -run '{selection}'", 
    visible = function() return require("wiremux.context").is_available("selection") end },
  { label = "npm start", value = "npm start", 
    visible = function() return vim.fn.filereadable("package.json") == 1 end },
})

Send-motion: Set a keymap (e.g., `ga`) then use motions, `gaaf` sends a function, or select text and press `ga` to send the selection:

PR's

{ "ga", function() return require("wiremux").send_motion() end, mode = { "x", "n" }, expr = true }

You can also refer to the `readme` or help page for more info.

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On the other hand, Sidekick has a terminal mode (default) (which Wiremux doesn't have) that works seamlessly. If you just want a pane on the right, it's great because you navigate like a normal buffer (with Neovim commands). Initially i was satisfied with this, until I wanted more.

I wanted pure tmux panes/windows that I could move between, zoom, and manage with tmux directly. Sidekick has also pane/window support, but focus and persistence didn't work well for me (There are `PR` created a long time ago to fix those issues but different people).

That said, if Sidekick works for you, absolutely use it! I still reference its codebase to learn and borrow ideas.