{"slug": "orca", "name": "Orca", "category": "ai-coding", "category_name": "AI coding tools", "description": "Desktop agent IDE for running multiple coding agents in parallel, locally or on remote hosts.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 13, "warners": 1, "score": 6.484, "rising": 4.35, "first": "2026-06-05", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "Used as a daily driver for running Claude, Codex and other models side by side, including on remote hosts over SSH, with several commenters switching to it from herdr, Superset or Conductor.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 8, "neutral": 5, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 4, 2], "listed": true, "loved": ["Remote hosts", "Replaces alternatives"], "caveat": "Hidden diff view", "short_quote": "I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it.", "icon": true, "domain": "onorca.dev", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://onorca.dev", "pricing": "unknown", "aliases": ["Orca", "ORCA", "orca"], "verdict": [{"text": "Used as a daily driver for running Claude, Codex and other models side by side", "cites": [{"id": 785669280, "item_id": 49104330, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49104330", "by": "behole", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad.", "excerpt": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad. I was using superset before that-they are nearly identical.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent terminal workspace", "switched_from": "Superset", "story": "Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical"}, {"id": 794284784, "item_id": 49642799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49642799", "by": "vishnuaniyan", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "excerpt": "I use agent IDE - onorca.dev It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "context": "", "use_case": "multi-model agent coding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's your AI coding set up?"}, {"id": 777826082, "item_id": 48614130, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48614130", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-06-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use them in onorca.dev", "excerpt": "I use OMP. Was on Pi but switched over because I like OMP's subagents implementation. Use 5.5/4.8 for coming up with a very detailed plan, ds4pro/mimo for implementation of easy features, 5.5/4.6 for larger/harder features, and 5.5/4.6 for a review. I use them in onorca.dev and sometimes use Zed as well.", "context": "", "use_case": "running coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Do you use Claude Code, Codex, or something else?"}, {"id": 795681458, "item_id": 49730091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49730091", "by": "browningstreet", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is exactly how I want to keep working.", "excerpt": "I use Claude/opencode and Orca and Hermes across my vpses, Macbook, Linux, and iOS devices. This is exactly how I want to keep working.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude"}]}, {"text": ", including on remote hosts over SSH, with several commenters switching to it from herdr, Superset or Conductor.", "cites": [{"id": 798824528, "item_id": 49926533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926533", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it.", "excerpt": "onorca.dev. I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it. (I'm not affilianted with Orca in any way except I use it every day). Orca also supports separate hosts. My setup Orca running in my Mac. Orca running in my home proxmox lxc (orcabox). I have few different projects, Rails, PHP, etc. In Orca, I open these projects and point it to my local folder as well as the folder remotely. I usually start a codex or c", "context": "not affiliated", "use_case": "GUI agent multiplexer with remote hosts", "switched_from": "herdr", "story": "Pi 1.0"}, {"id": 774700977, "item_id": 48418811, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48418811", "by": "phildenhoff", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements", "excerpt": "Hey -- we've loved using Conductor here at Digits. I've been using it since February and only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements. Looking forward to your general release of Conductor Cloud! I've been wondering, since you're building desktop software, how do you get AI to test your changes? Boot the whole app? Run the frontend/UI with a mock backend?", "context": "works at Digits", "use_case": "remote SSH agent sessions", "switched_from": "Conductor", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 785669280, "item_id": 49104330, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49104330", "by": "behole", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad.", "excerpt": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad. I was using superset before that-they are nearly identical.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent terminal workspace", "switched_from": "Superset", "story": "Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical"}]}, {"text": " No single complaint dominates: one found the diff view hard to locate", "cites": [{"id": 787755328, "item_id": 49234708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234708", "by": "epistasis", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "In Orca, it took me about half an hour to even find the diff view (hidden behind a panel, activated on the top right)", "excerpt": "Oh, I love the idea of a changes walkthrough. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still look through all the code and prose that gets committed. In Orca, it took me about half an hour to even find the diff view (hidden behind a panel, activated on the top right) I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: the churn in new dev interfaces it's super exciting. Can't wait to see what next week brings.", "context": "", "use_case": "reviewing code diffs", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenChamber: An Agentic Development Environment"}]}, {"text": ", one struggled to install it on a headless server", "cites": [{"id": 793705568, "item_id": 49606598, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49606598", "by": "Fuzzwah", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been impressed with orca", "excerpt": "I've been impressed with orca https://github.com/stablyai/orca I did have some issues getting it installed on a headless server. I sort of gave up and installed the instance that I use as the remote server on a Debian + xfce machine I had laying around.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent harness GUI", "switched_from": "", "story": "I tested 10 model/harness combinations on the same Three.js task"}]}, {"text": ", and one said it lacks multi-project task routing.", "cites": [{"id": 793851456, "item_id": 49615716, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49615716", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr.", "excerpt": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr. I find it easier to work with. Being UI, it has markdown reader, a native browser integration, linear or github built in integration. So working with multiple different unrelated projects feels natural. Go to linear, select a ticket -> start in X workspace, go to github, select an issue and start in Y workspace. The limitation of Orca or Herdr is", "context": "works across multiple unrelated projects with coding agents", "use_case": "hands-on multi-project agent work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Connecting the machines"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Remote hosts", "summary": "Runs agent sessions on remote machines over SSH that keep working after the laptop is closed.", "quotes": [{"id": 798824528, "item_id": 49926533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926533", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it.", "excerpt": "onorca.dev. I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it. (I'm not affilianted with Orca in any way except I use it every day). Orca also supports separate hosts. My setup Orca running in my Mac. Orca running in my home proxmox lxc (orcabox). I have few different projects, Rails, PHP, etc. In Orca, I open these projects and point it to my local folder as well as the folder remotely. I usually start a codex or c", "context": "not affiliated", "use_case": "GUI agent multiplexer with remote hosts", "switched_from": "herdr", "story": "Pi 1.0"}, {"id": 774700977, "item_id": 48418811, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48418811", "by": "phildenhoff", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements", "excerpt": "Hey -- we've loved using Conductor here at Digits. I've been using it since February and only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements. Looking forward to your general release of Conductor Cloud! I've been wondering, since you're building desktop software, how do you get AI to test your changes? Boot the whole app? Run the frontend/UI with a mock backend?", "context": "works at Digits", "use_case": "remote SSH agent sessions", "switched_from": "Conductor", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 795681458, "item_id": 49730091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49730091", "by": "browningstreet", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is exactly how I want to keep working.", "excerpt": "I use Claude/opencode and Orca and Hermes across my vpses, Macbook, Linux, and iOS devices. This is exactly how I want to keep working.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude"}]}, {"label": "Replaces alternatives", "summary": "Commenters moved to it from herdr, Superset and Conductor and use it daily.", "quotes": [{"id": 798824528, "item_id": 49926533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926533", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it.", "excerpt": "onorca.dev. I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it. (I'm not affilianted with Orca in any way except I use it every day). Orca also supports separate hosts. My setup Orca running in my Mac. Orca running in my home proxmox lxc (orcabox). I have few different projects, Rails, PHP, etc. In Orca, I open these projects and point it to my local folder as well as the folder remotely. I usually start a codex or c", "context": "not affiliated", "use_case": "GUI agent multiplexer with remote hosts", "switched_from": "herdr", "story": "Pi 1.0"}, {"id": 785669280, "item_id": 49104330, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49104330", "by": "behole", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad.", "excerpt": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad. I was using superset before that-they are nearly identical.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent terminal workspace", "switched_from": "Superset", "story": "Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical"}, {"id": 774700977, "item_id": 48418811, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48418811", "by": "phildenhoff", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements", "excerpt": "Hey -- we've loved using Conductor here at Digits. I've been using it since February and only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements. Looking forward to your general release of Conductor Cloud! I've been wondering, since you're building desktop software, how do you get AI to test your changes? Boot the whole app? Run the frontend/UI with a mock backend?", "context": "works at Digits", "use_case": "remote SSH agent sessions", "switched_from": "Conductor", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}]}, {"label": "Multi-agent workflows", "summary": "Lets users run several models or a team of coding agents at once.", "quotes": [{"id": 794284784, "item_id": 49642799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49642799", "by": "vishnuaniyan", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "excerpt": "I use agent IDE - onorca.dev It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "context": "", "use_case": "multi-model agent coding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's your AI coding set up?"}, {"id": 799675648, "item_id": 49979728, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49979728", "by": "piscaries", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "try out Orca for running a team of coding agents", "excerpt": "Author here. The original article is here: https://piscaries.github.io/posts/codex-and-pi-build-the-same-app-in-orca/ I had two goals: 1. try out Orca for running a team of coding agents 2. See how Pi, a minimal open-source agent, generates codes against a popular one like Codex. So I ran the same small team (spec, design, build, with a shared reviewer) twice in Orca. Once on Codex with GPT-5.6. The other on Pi with ", "context": "", "use_case": "running a team of coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "I had Codex and Pi build the same app in Orca, then compared them side by side"}, {"id": 777826082, "item_id": 48614130, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48614130", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-06-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use them in onorca.dev", "excerpt": "I use OMP. Was on Pi but switched over because I like OMP's subagents implementation. Use 5.5/4.8 for coming up with a very detailed plan, ds4pro/mimo for implementation of easy features, 5.5/4.6 for larger/harder features, and 5.5/4.6 for a review. I use them in onorca.dev and sometimes use Zed as well.", "context": "", "use_case": "running coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Do you use Claude Code, Codex, or something else?"}]}, {"label": "Desktop UI", "summary": "Its desktop UI includes a markdown reader, a browser and Linear and GitHub integration.", "quotes": [{"id": 793851456, "item_id": 49615716, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49615716", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr.", "excerpt": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr. I find it easier to work with. Being UI, it has markdown reader, a native browser integration, linear or github built in integration. So working with multiple different unrelated projects feels natural. Go to linear, select a ticket -> start in X workspace, go to github, select an issue and start in Y workspace. The limitation of Orca or Herdr is", "context": "works across multiple unrelated projects with coding agents", "use_case": "hands-on multi-project agent work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Connecting the machines"}]}, {"label": "Performance", "summary": "Commenters cite performance improvements and faster work as reasons to use it.", "quotes": [{"id": 774700977, "item_id": 48418811, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48418811", "by": "phildenhoff", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements", "excerpt": "Hey -- we've loved using Conductor here at Digits. I've been using it since February and only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements. Looking forward to your general release of Conductor Cloud! I've been wondering, since you're building desktop software, how do you get AI to test your changes? Boot the whole app? Run the frontend/UI with a mock backend?", "context": "works at Digits", "use_case": "remote SSH agent sessions", "switched_from": "Conductor", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}, {"id": 794284784, "item_id": 49642799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49642799", "by": "vishnuaniyan", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "excerpt": "I use agent IDE - onorca.dev It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "context": "", "use_case": "multi-model agent coding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's your AI coding set up?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Hidden diff view", "summary": "One user took about half an hour to find the diff view behind a panel.", "quotes": [{"id": 787755328, "item_id": 49234708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234708", "by": "epistasis", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "In Orca, it took me about half an hour to even find the diff view (hidden behind a panel, activated on the top right)", "excerpt": "Oh, I love the idea of a changes walkthrough. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still look through all the code and prose that gets committed. In Orca, it took me about half an hour to even find the diff view (hidden behind a panel, activated on the top right) I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: the churn in new dev interfaces it's super exciting. Can't wait to see what next week brings.", "context": "", "use_case": "reviewing code diffs", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenChamber: An Agentic Development Environment"}]}, {"label": "Headless install", "summary": "Installing it on a headless server gave one user trouble.", "quotes": [{"id": 793705568, "item_id": 49606598, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49606598", "by": "Fuzzwah", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been impressed with orca", "excerpt": "I've been impressed with orca https://github.com/stablyai/orca I did have some issues getting it installed on a headless server. I sort of gave up and installed the instance that I use as the remote server on a Debian + xfce machine I had laying around.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent harness GUI", "switched_from": "", "story": "I tested 10 model/harness combinations on the same Three.js task"}]}, {"label": "Multi-project work", "summary": "It lacks integration for routing tasks across multiple projects.", "quotes": [{"id": 793851456, "item_id": 49615716, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49615716", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr.", "excerpt": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr. I find it easier to work with. Being UI, it has markdown reader, a native browser integration, linear or github built in integration. So working with multiple different unrelated projects feels natural. Go to linear, select a ticket -> start in X workspace, go to github, select an issue and start in Y workspace. The limitation of Orca or Herdr is", "context": "works across multiple unrelated projects with coding agents", "use_case": "hands-on multi-project agent work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Connecting the machines"}]}, {"label": "Long conversations", "summary": "Finding an agent's earlier blocking question means scrolling back through long conversations.", "quotes": [{"id": 799148800, "item_id": 49946800, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49946800", "by": "phildenhoff", "date": "2026-10-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Orca for ages and that was great", "excerpt": "Well, I do love building it... but it's a bit of a time-sink, y'know? I used Orca for ages and that was great; I'm just tired of having to scroll back through a convo to find that \"one last blocking question\" that Claude or Codex spit out 15 tool calls and subagent messages ago. Building my own tool is super fun though...", "context": "building their own agent manager", "use_case": "managing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Offrun \u2013 manage every coding agent from one workspace"}]}, {"label": "Room to improve", "summary": "Even a daily user says it could be better.", "quotes": [{"id": 785669280, "item_id": 49104330, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49104330", "by": "behole", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad.", "excerpt": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad. I was using superset before that-they are nearly identical.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent terminal workspace", "switched_from": "Superset", "story": "Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical"}]}], "who": [{"by": "smj-edison", "context": "computational chemistry researcher", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50254319", "date": "2026-10-27"}, {"by": "phildenhoff", "context": "building their own agent manager", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49946800", "date": "2026-10-03"}, {"by": "bibstha", "context": "not affiliated", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926533", "date": "2026-10-01"}], "tags": ["for multi-agent workflows", "for remote dev hosts", "for Claude and Codex users", "for Linear and GitHub users"], "use_cases": ["calculating molecular properties", "running a team of coding agents", "managing coding agents", "gui agent multiplexer with remote hosts", "multi-model agent coding", "hands-on multi-project agent work"], "compared": [{"slug": "herdr", "name": "herdr", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "superset", "name": "Superset", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "conductor", "name": "Conductor", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "pi", "name": "Pi", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49098965", "title": "Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50251344", "title": "Three new discoveries in mathematics, computer science, and physics", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49979636", "title": "I had Codex and Pi build the same app in Orca, then compared them side by side", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49942434", "title": "Show HN: Offrun \u2013 manage every coding agent from one workspace", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926069", "title": "Pi 1.0", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49729412", "title": "Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"compare": 1, "neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 4}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804069108, "item_id": 50254319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50254319", "by": "smj-edison", "date": "2026-10-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "ORCA is free but you do have to create an account on their forum", "excerpt": "Heh. Unfortunately computer science is really the weird one out where open source is the norm. A lot of computational chemistry knowledge is mainly transferred in research labs and through college classes, and you have to pay for a lot of the tools. But hopefully I can at least point you in some useful directions. Here's a bit of an overview of the CC workflow and free options (note I haven't tried all the free optio", "context": "computational chemistry researcher", "use_case": "calculating molecular properties", "switched_from": "", "story": "Three new discoveries in mathematics, computer science, and physics"}, {"id": 799675648, "item_id": 49979728, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49979728", "by": "piscaries", "date": "2026-10-06", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "try out Orca for running a team of coding agents", "excerpt": "Author here. The original article is here: https://piscaries.github.io/posts/codex-and-pi-build-the-same-app-in-orca/ I had two goals: 1. try out Orca for running a team of coding agents 2. See how Pi, a minimal open-source agent, generates codes against a popular one like Codex. So I ran the same small team (spec, design, build, with a shared reviewer) twice in Orca. Once on Codex with GPT-5.6. The other on Pi with ", "context": "", "use_case": "running a team of coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "I had Codex and Pi build the same app in Orca, then compared them side by side"}, {"id": 799148800, "item_id": 49946800, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49946800", "by": "phildenhoff", "date": "2026-10-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used Orca for ages and that was great", "excerpt": "Well, I do love building it... but it's a bit of a time-sink, y'know? I used Orca for ages and that was great; I'm just tired of having to scroll back through a convo to find that \"one last blocking question\" that Claude or Codex spit out 15 tool calls and subagent messages ago. Building my own tool is super fun though...", "context": "building their own agent manager", "use_case": "managing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Offrun \u2013 manage every coding agent from one workspace"}, {"id": 798824528, "item_id": 49926533, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926533", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it.", "excerpt": "onorca.dev. I used herdr before now Orca has fully replaced it. (I'm not affilianted with Orca in any way except I use it every day). Orca also supports separate hosts. My setup Orca running in my Mac. Orca running in my home proxmox lxc (orcabox). I have few different projects, Rails, PHP, etc. In Orca, I open these projects and point it to my local folder as well as the folder remotely. I usually start a codex or c", "context": "not affiliated", "use_case": "GUI agent multiplexer with remote hosts", "switched_from": "herdr", "story": "Pi 1.0"}, {"id": 795681458, "item_id": 49730091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49730091", "by": "browningstreet", "date": "2026-09-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This is exactly how I want to keep working.", "excerpt": "I use Claude/opencode and Orca and Hermes across my vpses, Macbook, Linux, and iOS devices. This is exactly how I want to keep working.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude"}, {"id": 794284784, "item_id": 49642799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49642799", "by": "vishnuaniyan", "date": "2026-09-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "excerpt": "I use agent IDE - onorca.dev It helps me to use multiple models simultaneously in the CLI environment and make the work 10x faster", "context": "", "use_case": "multi-model agent coding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's your AI coding set up?"}, {"id": 793851456, "item_id": 49615716, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49615716", "by": "bibstha", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr.", "excerpt": "Onorca.dev is very similar but has a desktop UI that I prefer to herdr. I find it easier to work with. Being UI, it has markdown reader, a native browser integration, linear or github built in integration. So working with multiple different unrelated projects feels natural. Go to linear, select a ticket -> start in X workspace, go to github, select an issue and start in Y workspace. The limitation of Orca or Herdr is", "context": "works across multiple unrelated projects with coding agents", "use_case": "hands-on multi-project agent work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Connecting the machines"}, {"id": 793705568, "item_id": 49606598, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49606598", "by": "Fuzzwah", "date": "2026-09-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've been impressed with orca", "excerpt": "I've been impressed with orca https://github.com/stablyai/orca I did have some issues getting it installed on a headless server. I sort of gave up and installed the instance that I use as the remote server on a Debian + xfce machine I had laying around.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent harness GUI", "switched_from": "", "story": "I tested 10 model/harness combinations on the same Three.js task"}, {"id": 787755328, "item_id": 49234708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234708", "by": "epistasis", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "In Orca, it took me about half an hour to even find the diff view (hidden behind a panel, activated on the top right)", "excerpt": "Oh, I love the idea of a changes walkthrough. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still look through all the code and prose that gets committed. In Orca, it took me about half an hour to even find the diff view (hidden behind a panel, activated on the top right) I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it: the churn in new dev interfaces it's super exciting. Can't wait to see what next week brings.", "context": "", "use_case": "reviewing code diffs", "switched_from": "", "story": "OpenChamber: An Agentic Development Environment"}, {"id": 785941762, "item_id": 49121360, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49121360", "by": "massimodeluisa", "date": "2026-07-31", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "This seems like a mix of several projects I recently encountered", "excerpt": "This seems like a mix of several projects I recently encountered, such as https://pi-web.dev , https://github.com/kunchenguid/firstmate , https://github.com/stablyai/orca , and https://herdr.dev. Very interesting idea! I would be glad to collaborate on it. Here's my contacts and GH https://massimo.deluisa.bio (or https://\u51fa\u308b.com my poor website). Anyway, I wish you @mitchellh the best of luck with this new adventure!", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical"}, {"id": 785669280, "item_id": 49104330, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49104330", "by": "behole", "date": "2026-07-29", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad.", "excerpt": "Orca is my daily driver right now. It could be better but it\u2019s far from bad. I was using superset before that-they are nearly identical.", "context": "", "use_case": "agent terminal workspace", "switched_from": "Superset", "story": "Mitchellh starts a new company: Superlogical"}, {"id": 782851570, "item_id": 48928223, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48928223", "by": "mrshu", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I built a multi-agent alternative with Stream Deck and cmux/orca", "excerpt": "I built a multi-agent alternative with Stream Deck and cmux/orca and it works pretty well -- particularly when you pair it with CodexBar and can easily see your token spend across multiple subscriptions. It is all open source https://github.com/mrshu/muxboard -- feedback would be greatly appreciated!", "context": "", "use_case": "multi-agent orchestration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Codex Micro"}, {"id": 781445296, "item_id": 48840331, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48840331", "by": "adamsiem", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "compare", "quote": "paying a company like Orca $200/mo", "excerpt": "It\u2019s hopefully an alternative to paying a company like Orca $200/mo. (It used to be $5000 annually, sold solely on the value of potential losses saved.) https://orcainventory.com/", "context": "", "use_case": "bar inventory management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Open Source Barware: free, local-first bar inventory software (GPLv3)"}, {"id": 777826082, "item_id": 48614130, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48614130", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-06-20", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use them in onorca.dev", "excerpt": "I use OMP. Was on Pi but switched over because I like OMP's subagents implementation. Use 5.5/4.8 for coming up with a very detailed plan, ds4pro/mimo for implementation of easy features, 5.5/4.6 for larger/harder features, and 5.5/4.6 for a review. I use them in onorca.dev and sometimes use Zed as well.", "context": "", "use_case": "running coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Do you use Claude Code, Codex, or something else?"}, {"id": 774700977, "item_id": 48418811, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48418811", "by": "phildenhoff", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements", "excerpt": "Hey -- we've loved using Conductor here at Digits. I've been using it since February and only recently swapped to using Orca for Remote SSH and perf improvements. Looking forward to your general release of Conductor Cloud! I've been wondering, since you're building desktop software, how do you get AI to test your changes? Boot the whole app? Run the frontend/UI with a mock backend?", "context": "works at Digits", "use_case": "remote SSH agent sessions", "switched_from": "Conductor", "story": "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow? (June 2026)"}]}