Orca is an Agent Development Environment (ADE) for developers who use coding agents to deliver work. Its core idea is that traditional IDEs are designed for a single person typing, whereas Orca is designed for "you + your agents," integrating worktrees, terminals, browsers, CLIs, code review, and remote execution into a single application.
Purpose and Positioning Orca is used to orchestrate multiple coding agents in parallel, letting them work simultaneously in different isolated environments on the same repository without interfering with each other, thereby accelerating development. It is officially described as "achieving 100x delivery with an agent IDE," and is said to be free, open source, cross-platform, and to ship new features daily.
Main Capabilities
- Parallel Worktrees: Each task runs in an independent git worktree, with no need to stash and no need to repeatedly switch branches. You can distribute the same prompt to up to 5 agents, compare the outputs, and then merge the winning version.
- Split Terminals: WebGL-based rendering, supporting unlimited splits, restoration of the scrollback buffer after restart, and full search across scrollback content.
- Browser: Each worktree comes with a real Chromium window. Click any UI element to send its HTML, CSS, and a cropped screenshot to the agent, facilitating frontend debugging and visual feedback.
- Native GitHub and Linear Integration: Browse PRs, issues, and Project boards within the app; open a worktree from any task; review and approve PRs; create Linear issues without switching context.
- Support for Multiple CLI Agents: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor CLI, Gemini, Copilot, OpenCode, and Pi are all preconfigured, and any other CLI agent can also be connected directly. Users can connect their existing subscriptions and run them in parallel.
- Mobile Companion App: iOS and Android companion apps allow real-time viewing of agent status, checking usage, and switching accounts, so terminal work can continue progressing when you leave your desk.
- Remote Execution: Agents can run on powerful remote hosts, with full file editing, git, and terminal support, plus automatic reconnection, port forwarding, and passphrase caching.
- File Drag-and-Drop and Editor: Built-in VS Code's editor, supports autosave everywhere, quick open (including hidden files), and allows dragging and dropping files or images from Finder into agent prompts.
- AI diff annotations: Markdown comments can be added to any diff line, collected in batches and sent back to the agent; CI can also be checked, conflicts resolved, and PRs opened within the app.
- Agents can also drive Orca: a command-line interface is provided, such as orca worktree create, snapshot, click, fill.
- Global search: search across workspaces, files, agents, commands, and repository contexts without interrupting the current workflow.
- Account switching and usage tracking: view Claude and Codex usage, rate limit reset times, and hot-switch Codex accounts without re-logging in.
- Repository preview: preview Markdown, images, PDFs, and repository documents within the workspace without jumping between multiple apps.
- Customizable layout: arrange agents, terminals, browsers, diffs, and files into split-screen panes that match the shape of the task.
How to use Orca supports running on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and comes with iOS and Android mobile companion apps. Users can connect their subscribed agent CLIs to Orca and run them in parallel within the app. Agents work in independent worktrees, and users can view status, compare output, review diffs, and merge results. Through the remote host feature, agents can be run on remote servers and automatically reconnect.
Use cases
- Developers who need to run multiple coding agents in parallel on the same repository without interfering with each other.
- Teams that want to split tasks into isolated environments, distribute one prompt to multiple agents, and compare results.
- People who need to monitor agent status and continue terminal work while on the move.
- Engineering teams using GitHub PRs, issues, and Linear project management workflows.
- Engineers who want unified management of agents, terminals, browsers, and code review on local or remote hosts.
Limitations Official materials do not provide detailed limitation notes on billing, specific pricing, performance metrics, or agent capabilities. Orca itself is described as free and open source. Other details are not yet provided.
