Rating certificate · AW/26-09/97226 Sept 2026
78of 100
Orca
Stably AI · Orchestrators & meta-harnesses
No. 1 of 7 in categorymedium confidenceTrust BOpen source
The Register / Orchestrators & meta-harnesses / Orca
Register entry · Orchestrators & meta-harnesses · updated 26 Sept 2026
Orca
Orca (onorca.dev, github.com/stablyai/orca) is an MIT-licensed Electron app from Stably AI (YC) for running a fleet of terminal coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Pi and 30+ others in parallel, each in an isolated git worktree. It combines terminals, an editor, diff annotation, an embedded browser with a design mode, GitHub/Linear integration, SSH and remote Orca servers, a CLI and orchestration skills, and iOS/Android companion apps. The app is free; an enterprise offering is sales-led. Not to be confused with OrcaSlicer, hundredrabbits/Orca or other products named Orca.
What reviewers and users praise
- Session/status sidebar for many concurrent agents across repos (Reddit r/ClaudeCode users)
- Worktree-per-agent model and diff review make comparing parallel attempts straightforward (Chancay, Margrop, HN users)
- Very active development; free and open source (HN, Reddit)
What they criticise
- Performance complaints: slow editor, lag in remote work, high CPU (HN, Reddit)
- Experimental chat UI and mobile input reported as buggy (Reddit)
- Launches agents with their permission-bypass flags by default
- Parallel agents multiply token spend (Margrop)
Experts vs the crowdcrowd cooler by 12
Experts75
Crowd63
| Price | Free |
|---|---|
| Use it via | Desktop app, Mobile app, CLI |
| Runs on | macos, windows, linux |
| Licence | MIT |
| Updated | Evidence collected 26 Sept 2026 |
How the rating was worked out
Weights for Orchestrators & meta-harnesses: adoption 40%, experts 30%, crowd 30%. Pillars without enough evidence are left out and the others re-weighted. The method.
| Adoption & momentumweight 40% | 91 | GitHub stars 78k → 88 · 96 releases in 90 days → 100reach × 0.7 + momentum × 0.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 30% | 75 | 3 independent reviews (3 positive · 0 mixed · 0 negative), averaged toward 50 for small samples. |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 30% | 63 | 9 dated posts from reddit, hackernews: 6 positive · 1 mixed · 2 negative (positive + ½ mixed) ÷ n, averaged toward 50 for small samples |
| Rating | 78 | medium confidence (3 of 3 pillars, 9 community posts). |
Evidence checks. 5 posts over the three-per-thread limit not counted. How evidence is checked.
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: B.
C
Permission model
Docs: 'Orca launches every supported agent with its full-autonomy permission flag pre-applied' (Claude --dangerously-skip-permissions, Codex --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox, Gemini --yolo); the worktree is treated as the sandbox. Users can change launch arguments per agent in Settings → Agents. source
B
Data access scope
Agents work in per-task git worktrees, but they run as the local user with no filesystem sandbox; access is broad and documented. source
A
Data storage
Enterprise FAQ: 'Orca is local-first... Orca does not need to store your source code or chat history on Orca servers for local workspaces.' Self-hostable server. source
n/e
Data retention & training
Telemetry on by default but opt-out (Settings, DO_NOT_TRACK=1, ORCA_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1); docs state prompts, file contents, terminal output are never transmitted. Privacy policy (updated 2026-04-04) states no source code collection but gives no retention period or training statement; model retention depends on the user's providers. source
B
Incident history (24 months)
No published GitHub security advisories or CVEs found. A path-traversal vulnerability in the browser download command was reported and closed (issue #2731, May 2026); several mobile-pairing hardening issues opened 2026-08-30 remain open. Some antivirus products flagged builds as trojans in Sept 2026 (issues #18600, #20966), no confirmed compromise. source
C
Compliance
Enterprise page shows 'SOC 2 Readiness' and says 'Orca is built for SOC 2 readiness... Email us for the current compliance documentation.' No published attestation. source
A
Transparency
MIT licence; public GitHub releases (changelog); docs site. source
The experts
3 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- positive
My NEW AI Terminal and Code Editor // Orca Review
Christian Lempa (YouTube) · 21 Jul 2026 · youtube.com - positive
Orca changes that dynamic: it runs all three at once, each isolated in its own git worktree, and lets you compare the results and merge the one that won.
Ramón Chancay · 6 Jul 2026 · ramonchancay.me - positive
The cost? Five agents means 5x token consumption. But often it's worth it
Margrop (blog.margrop.net) · 20 Aug 2026 · blog.margrop.net
The crowd
9 coded posts from reddit, hackernews.
6 positive1 mixed2 negative
- positive
I was previously using cmux, and I've also used herdr, iTerm, and various other options. Orca is 100x better than any of those.
r/ClaudeCode · 23 Aug 2026 · reddit.com - positive
Tried Orca tonight on Windows and Linux, it's amazing.
r/ClaudeCode (comment) · 22 Sept 2026 · reddit.com - negative
yeah, 11 GB on my ssd:) Orca is a vibecoded peace of crap, do not recommend it
r/ClaudeCode (comment) · 30 Aug 2026 · reddit.com - positive
Tied different tools for Windows: Emdash, Pane, AgentOrchestrator. Orca by far the best.
r/WebAfterAI (comment) · 23 Aug 2026 · reddit.com - positive
Orca lets me run agents either on linux box or locally on the macbook depending on how I'm feeling, and Orca handles all the worktrees & sub-agents for me
HN comment · 17 Sept 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - mixed
I've been impressed with orca https://github.com/stablyai/orca I did have some issues getting it installed on a headless server.
HN comment · 8 Sept 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
I found editing experience too slow for daily use. It's also missing some minor polish issues (vim bindings, being able to change default shell etc.)
HN comment · 29 Jul 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
I'm liking Orca largely because of the built in browser with ability to select an object(s), write a comment and send it back to the agent.
HN comment · 9 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com
Pricing
As published, checked 26 Sept 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free (open source) | Free | Homepage: 'Free and open source. New features shipped daily.' Uses your own agent subscriptions. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Contact sales; no public price. |
Recent changes
- 25 Sept 2026
v1.4.212 (stable releases ship near-daily). source
- 2 Sept 2026
Maintainers announced rewritten chat UI and plugin system leaving alpha (per Orca developer comments on Reddit). source
- 30 Aug 2026
Series of mobile/remote pairing security-hardening issues opened (E2EE, per-device credentials). source
Ranked alongside
Other ranked entries in Orchestrators & meta-harnesses.
SupersetSuperset Inc.70
HerdrHerdr (Can Celik; YC F26)68
T3 CodePing Labs (ping.gg / T3 Tools)67
Vibe KanbanBloop (company shut down April 2026; now community maintained)60
PaperclipPaperclip (paperclipai)58
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these, observed up to 26 Sept 2026.