Orca

Orca is an ADE (Agent Development Environment) from Stably AI that lets developers conduct a "parallel fleet of coding agents". It gives every task an isolated git worktree, orchestrates about 30 CLI coding agents in parallel, and touches no model layer itself — bring your own subscriptions.

Core Capabilities

• Multi-agent parallelism: One isolated git worktree per task, agents working in parallel with their own diffs merged by merit
• Prompt bidding: Throw the same requirement at multiple agents simultaneously and pick the best, like a bid
• BYO subscriptions: Only invokes CLI agents already signed in on your machine — no commissions, no token resale
• Full-stack workbench: Ghostty-grade terminal splits, built-in browser with Design Mode, line-level diff comments
• Ecosystem integration: Native GitHub/Linear/Jira integration opens a worktree straight from a task, with SSH remote support
• Mobile companion: iOS/Android remote status checks and commands, with the Orca CLI driving in reverse

Use Cases Best for developers and small teams already using CLI coding agents heavily and needing to advance multiple tasks in parallel or run bid-style implementations; a poor fit for those who occasionally use one agent, want no-code, or work in strict-compliance repos.

Unique Advantages The most complete form in its class — cross-platform + MIT open source + mobile + SSH remote, and model-neutral with no lock-in; versus the closed-source, Mac-only Conductor, it is the most direct open-source alternative.

Editor's Verdict The mechanics are solid (built on git worktree primitives), and the license and 72k stars check out — the most complete open-source option in the multi-agent orchestration race. Know before use: the official defaults pre-fill permission-bypass flags (Claude --dangerously-skip-permissions, Codex --bypass-approvals-and-sandbox), and migration overwrites existing user settings — worktrees isolate the filesystem but not the shell, so sensitive repos must be switched to Manual manually. The product is young and updated daily; pin a version if you want stability.