Orbit is a local-first runtime for coding agents. Keep using your authenticated agent CLI; Orbit adds a durable task queue, sandboxed worktrees, file locks for parallel runs, a gated delivery pipeline, and an audit log.
Why: fast agents make planning, review, and traceability easy to lose. Orbit keeps the prompt, plan, and review behind every change, with a task ID on every workflow commit.
- Single binary, no cloud. State lives in
~/.orbit and .orbit/; Orbit sends no telemetry.
- Bring your own agents. Use the provider CLIs you already have authenticated, without giving Orbit API keys.
- MIT licensed. No paid tier or hosted offering.
How it works
You: The fsProfile lookup is undocumented. Get that fixed.
Agent: Files a proposed task with acceptance criteria. Approve it and ship?
You: Yes.
Agent: Queues it, then runs plan → execute → review in a locked, isolated worktree.
Opens a pull request. Review and merge it, then approve the task to close it.
Nothing starts without approval; PR runs stop for your review unless you authorize --complete. The task record keeps the prompt, plan, execution trace, and review. For larger specs, ask your agent to orchestrate: the bundled orbit-orchestrate skill splits the work, queues it once approved, runs it in parallel, and diagnoses failures (delivery workflows).
Quick start
You need: macOS or Linux (x64 or arm64; Windows uses WSL2), Node 18+, an authenticated agent CLI, and authenticated gh for pull requests.
npm install -g @orbit-tools/cli
orbit init # machine name, task-ID prefix, agent skills, and Linux sandbox setup
Open your agent in the repo and ask it to “set up Orbit for this repo”. The bundled orbit-setup skill registers it, connects MCP, runs orbit doctor, and asks for choices such as the PR target branch. Start a fresh agent session, then ask: “Add a hello.txt file containing hello; file it as an Orbit task.” Approve and ship the task when prompted, review and merge the PR, then approve the task to close it. Watch with orbit web serve.
Prefer a plugin? Install Orbit for Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor. Every MCP tool has a CLI twin; for the same loop without an agent, see your first task from the terminal.
cd <repo> && orbit workspace init --mcp # add --ship-mode local to skip PRs
orbit doctor
orbit web serve
Review and commit the checkout files listed by workspace init, including MCP client files, before the first ship. Local delivery refuses tracked changes, merge conflicts, and untracked paths overlapping incoming changes.
orbit doctor checks CLI presence for default, system, and complexity-routed crews and warns when no MCP client is registered; it does not check provider sign-in or MCP connectivity. Use orbit doctor providers for all executor definitions. See Linux sandbox readiness and distro coverage.
| To… | Run |
|---|
| Inspect a task or run | orbit task show <ID> · orbit run show <RUN_ID> |
| Open the dashboard | orbit web serve (remote: orbit web connect <host>) |
| Open the dashboard in a desktop window | Build the app in desktop/ |
| Pick the default crew (provider and model) | orbit config set workflow.default_crew <crew> |
| Route tasks to crews by complexity | orbit config set --global workflow.hard_complexity_crews '["opus"]' (more) |
| Upgrade | npm install -g @orbit-tools/cli@latest (orbit update --check shows what's new) |
Features
- Plan and govern: durable tasks, audit records, friction, and local search.
- Execute safely in parallel: sandboxes, locks, gated pipelines, and eight agent CLIs.
- Run unattended: bounded drains, optional completion, recurring reviews, and multiple machines.
- Observe and extend: dashboard, plugins, and bundled agent skills.
Crews and complexity routing
Crews name a provider, model, and effort level; complexity pools choose one for a task without an explicit crew. See crew definitions, init's seeded pools, and complexity routing, weighting, and overrides.
MCP and authority
Connect your agent explains operator and agent-only authority; federated MCP connects multiple machines.
Where state lives
Scoping rules explain machine and workspace state. See the runbooks for backups, recovery, and upgrades.
Learn more
Contributing
Pull requests are welcome, from typo fixes to new executors. Small fixes can go straight to a PR; bigger changes start with an issue. See CONTRIBUTING.md.
License
MIT
