Orca Orchestration
This file is a discovery stub, not the usage guide. The full, version-matched Orca
orchestration reference is served by the orca binary itself — kept out of this file on
purpose so it can never drift from the binary that will actually run your commands.
Engage Orca orchestration whenever you need structured multi-agent coordination: threaded
messages, blocking ask/reply flows, task dispatch, worker_done/escalation waits, task DAGs,
decision gates, coordinator loops, or decomposing work across agents. Use the orca-cli skill
instead for full ownership handoffs ("hand off", "handoff", "handover", "give this to
another agent", "another worktree") when the user did not ask to supervise, monitor, wait
for results, or coordinate a DAG — and for ordinary terminal control, shell commands,
worktree management, and the built-in browser. Coordination requires real Orca runtime
state; never substitute a non-Orca subagent tool.
Resolve the CLI for this session
Choose the executable once and reuse it for every later command:
- If the
ORCA_CLI_COMMAND environment variable is set, use its value. Orca exports this
for managed WSL sessions.
- Otherwise, in a dev checkout whose session exposes
ORCA_DEV_REPO_ROOT, use orca-dev.
- Otherwise, on Linux outside an Orca-managed terminal, use
orca-ide. Never run bare
orca there — outside Orca's terminals it normally resolves to the
GNOME Orca screen reader (/usr/bin/orca) and starts speech on the user's machine.
- Otherwise, use
orca.
Below, ORCA is a placeholder for the executable you resolved. Substitute it before
running anything; do not create a shell variable or run ORCA literally. This works the
same way in POSIX shells, PowerShell, and cmd.exe.
If the selected executable cannot run, report its exact error and stop. Do not fall through
to another executable, which could silently target a different Orca build.
Load the version-matched guide before running Orca commands
ORCA skills get orchestration
That prints the compact, version-matched guide for the exact binary that will handle your
next commands. It covers the normal local coordinator loop. For a conditional action gate
such as remote placement, uncertain release recovery, or expanded DAG work, load only the
reference that gate names with
ORCA skills get orchestration --reference references/<file>.md
(--references lists the names). If that binary rejects --reference, run
ORCA skills get orchestration --full and read the named bundled reference before acting.
Prefer --json. Use the selected executable's --help for commands or flags the guide does
not cover. If a command reports that Orca is not running, start it with ORCA open --json
and retry. If skills get is unknown, explain that updating Orca restores the guide; use
--help for read-only discovery and do not guess unsupported commands.
1---2name: orchestration3description: Coordinate supervised Orca workers: threaded messages, blocking ask/reply, task dispatch, worker_done/escalation waits, task DAGs, decision gates, coordinator loops, and decomposing work across agents. Use `orca-cli` for full ownership handoffs — "hand off", "handoff", "handover", "give this to another agent", "another worktree" — unless asked to supervise, monitor, or coordinate a DAG, and for terminal control, lightweight terminal prompts, shell commands, Orca worktree management, and reading or waiting on terminals. Use Computer Use for external browser windows, webviews, Orca app UI, or desktop UI outside Orca's embedded browser only when the task requires OS/window-level control such as focus, menus, dialogs, coordinates, or screenshots. Use `orca-cli` for Orca's embedded pages and a page-automation tool such as Playwright or CDP for external pages.4---5
6# Orca Orchestration
7
8This file is a discovery stub, not the usage guide. The full, version-matched Orca
9orchestration reference is served by the `orca` binary itself — kept out of this file on
10purpose so it can never drift from the binary that will actually run your commands.
11
12Engage Orca orchestration whenever you need structured multi-agent coordination: threaded
13messages, blocking ask/reply flows, task dispatch, worker_done/escalation waits, task DAGs,
14decision gates, coordinator loops, or decomposing work across agents. Use the orca-cli skill
15instead for full ownership handoffs ("hand off", "handoff", "handover", "give this to
16another agent", "another worktree") when the user did not ask to supervise, monitor, wait
17for results, or coordinate a DAG — and for ordinary terminal control, shell commands,
18worktree management, and the built-in browser. Coordination requires real Orca runtime
19state; never substitute a non-Orca subagent tool.
20
21## Resolve the CLI for this session
22
23Choose the executable once and reuse it for every later command:
24
25- If the `ORCA_CLI_COMMAND` environment variable is set, use its value. Orca exports this
26 for managed WSL sessions.
27- Otherwise, in a dev checkout whose session exposes `ORCA_DEV_REPO_ROOT`, use `orca-dev`.
28- Otherwise, on Linux outside an Orca-managed terminal, use `orca-ide`. Never run bare
29 `orca` there — outside Orca's terminals it normally resolves to the
30 GNOME Orca screen reader (`/usr/bin/orca`) and starts speech on the user's machine.
31- Otherwise, use `orca`.
32
33Below, `ORCA` is a placeholder for the executable you resolved. Substitute it before
34running anything; do not create a shell variable or run `ORCA` literally. This works the
35same way in POSIX shells, PowerShell, and cmd.exe.
36
37If the selected executable cannot run, report its exact error and stop. Do not fall through
38to another executable, which could silently target a different Orca build.
39
40## Load the version-matched guide before running Orca commands
41
42```text
43ORCA skills get orchestration
44```
45
46That prints the compact, version-matched guide for the exact binary that will handle your
47next commands. It covers the normal local coordinator loop. For a conditional action gate
48such as remote placement, uncertain release recovery, or expanded DAG work, load only the
49reference that gate names with
50`ORCA skills get orchestration --reference references/<file>.md`
51(`--references` lists the names). If that binary rejects `--reference`, run
52`ORCA skills get orchestration --full` and read the named bundled reference before acting.
53
54Prefer `--json`. Use the selected executable's `--help` for commands or flags the guide does
55not cover. If a command reports that Orca is not running, start it with `ORCA open --json`
56and retry. If `skills get` is unknown, explain that updating Orca restores the guide; use
57`--help` for read-only discovery and do not guess unsupported commands.
stablyai