Orca unifies multiple AI coding agents into a single workspace

A new way to manage AI

As AI coding agents become more capable, developers are facing a new challenge: managing the tools themselves. Instead of just writing code, users often find themselves acting as team leads, supervising various agents that each have unique workflows and quirks. This can lead to a cluttered workspace where users must constantly jump between different terminal tabs to see what each agent is doing.

Orca is an open-source Agent Development Environment (ADE) designed to solve this specific problem. While a traditional IDE helps humans write and debug code, an ADE is built for a workflow where humans supervise AI agents doing the heavy lifting. It provides a dedicated workspace to monitor progress, review changes, and coordinate multiple agents at once.

Developed by Stably AI, a San Francisco-based startup, the tool has quickly gained attention in the developer community. As XDA reported, the project has already racked up over 110,000 stars on GitHub since its repository was created in March 2026. The company was founded by Jinjing Liang and Neil Parker, both of whom have professional backgrounds at Google and Uber.

Unified workspace for agents

Orca does not replace existing coding agents; instead, it acts as a hub for the tools you already use. Users do not have to choose between different models like Claude Code, Codex, or Antigravity. The platform allows you to run all of them simultaneously within a single interface, eliminating the need to switch between separate apps or command-line windows.

The tool is designed to be highly compatible with a wide range of CLI agents. This includes well-known tools such as Grok, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Muse, Devin, Kilokode, Qwen Code, and Hermes Agent. Once a user installs the desktop build, the app automatically detects the agents already on their device and allows them to be selected for use without creating new accounts.

Setting up the environment is intended to be straightforward for users with some coding familiarity. The application can be downloaded directly from GitHub or installed via package managers like Homebrew on macOS or the AUR on Arch Linux. It supports major operating systems, including Windows and Linux, ensuring that developers can use it regardless of their preferred hardware.

Isolation via Git worktrees

One of the primary technical hurdles of running multiple agents is preventing them from interfering with one another. Orca addresses this by using Git worktrees to keep each agent's work isolated. This means that every agent is assigned its own working directory and branch, ensuring that changes made by one tool do not overwrite the progress of another.

The software automates much of the manual labor involved in managing these worktrees. Users can import an existing Git repository and create separate workspaces for different agents. For example, a developer could assign Claude Code to the frontend, Codex to the backend, and Antigravity to a separate task, all within the same project folder.

To make monitoring these parallel tasks easier, Orca features a split-pane interface. This allows users to keep an eye on multiple agents at the same time rather than toggling between tabs. The interface also includes status indicators that notify the user when an agent is currently working, has finished a task, or requires human intervention.

Reviewing and tracking limits

A critical part of the AI development workflow is the ability to inspect the code the agents produce. Orca includes a built-in code editor and a diff viewer, which allow users to see exactly what lines were added or removed. This enables developers to review changes and provide feedback—such as highlighting lines or leaving comments—without ever leaving the Orca application.

The tool also integrates directly with Git to handle the final stages of the development cycle. Users can stage changes and create commits from the same interface where they manage their agents. This creates a seamless loop from assigning a task to reviewing the result and finally committing the code to a repository.

Beyond code management, Orca helps users keep track of their AI tool usage limits. Because different agents have different subscription models or quotas, it can be difficult to know when a limit is reached. Orca provides a built-in usage tracker at the bottom of the interface that displays the remaining allowance and reset times for all connected agents in one place.

Convenience and versatility

Orca offers several small conveniences that improve the overall developer experience. For instance, it allows users to open a new terminal, browser tab, Markdown file, or even a mobile emulator directly from the same menu used to launch coding agents. This means a developer can preview a web app in a browser tab right alongside the agents that built it.

The goal of the tool is to reduce the manual overhead of managing complex AI workflows. While these tasks could be done manually using multiple terminal windows and third-party tools, Orca centralizes them into a single application. It is designed for users who want to leverage the strengths of different agents while maintaining a clear overview of the entire project.

By bringing these disparate tools into one workspace, Orca aims to make the transition from