Choose where your agent works
| Mode | Where it runs | How you use it |
|---|
| Your computer | A local coding agent on your desktop | Choose New Agent → This computer, then a harness and model. Work with your local files and tools. |
| Your private cloud | Your own servers and remote machines | Add machines to Core, then select one in Orb. Run agents in the configured host or isolated container workspace. |
| Cloud agents | A coordinator or provider-managed assistant | Choose Cloud agent, then Hermes, Grok Bot or Cursor Cloud. Continue durable or provider conversations from Orb. |
Use Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, OpenCode or Grok for
local and remote work, with live model, effort and cyber-access controls where
supported. Cloud agents have their own connections: Hermes binds to durable
coordinator conversations and router chains; Grok Bot uses its connected
account; Cursor Cloud uses its official API with a repository,
Git reference and model.
Pick up the conversation anywhere
Projects organize missions, per-project colors, skills and a synced local
Context folder in Finder. Inside a conversation:
- Follow and steer live runs: collapsible
Worked — … tool/thought folds,
nested subagents and callback reviews, inline prompt editing, and a
Cursor-style follow-up queue that sends on turn completion or immediately.
- Ask on the side: open the docked
/btw side-agent panel (⌘⇧J) to ask
questions with shared workspace context without interrupting the main turn.
- Keep long work moving: schedule durable mission wake-ups, automatically
resume interrupted runs after restarts, and transfer workspaces across
machines (preserving symlinks while skipping build artifacts).
- Rich output: Markdown, code, tables, LaTeX, quizzes, inline images and
clickable file links stay readable inside the transcript.
Orb for iOS connects to the same Core server: browse projects with
synced colors, inspect mission transcripts and activity folds, send follow-ups,
view or edit shared Markdown context, and manage backend, machines and providers.
Bring your subscriptions
Sign in to supported subscription accounts directly from Providers in Orb
(macOS, web and iOS) or connect them through CLIProxyAPI Plus. You can
authenticate via OAuth, renew tokens, enable or disable individual accounts,
and inspect live plan/quota status; the proxy handles routing and rotation
across eligible accounts while Orb lets you choose the harness and model.
This routes model inference for coding agents. Managed cloud agents use
separate service adapters; connecting a proxy account does not create a
Cursor Cloud API account.
Get started
- Run Core. Follow the Docker guide or
native Linux guide. It keeps the project record,
mission history and remote execution services.
- Open Orb. Build the desktop client or the
iOS app, then enter your server URL and sign in.
- Connect your execution environment. Set up local harnesses, register
remote machines, or connect a cloud-agent account.
Configure inference providers for the models you want to use.
- Create a project and launch an agent. Choose its execution mode, write
your task, and keep its conversation and results together.
Under the hood
Orb is the client; Core is its backend.
Desktop is built with Tauri and SolidJS; iOS uses SwiftUI. The Rust backend owns
projects, missions, event history and remote-node coordination, backed by a
Lean 4 decision kernel for orchestration, proxy and mission lifecycle, and
cross-client projections. Rust performs I/O; the verified decisions compile to
liborb_spec_cabi.a without a Lean runtime dependency. The
ABI manifest records the exported functions,
and the kernel audit checks the proof boundary.
These guarantees cover the decision kernel, not the entire application.
Cloud adapters observe provider work independently of the client window.
The same control plane is available over MCP for coordinators such as
Hermes. Automation uses the same project
and mission records as Orb.
Documentation index ·
Execution architecture ·
Workspaces ·
MCP and Hermes ·
Development and troubleshooting
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