Orcho — Production Harness for Agentic Software Delivery

Orcho is a production harness and control plane for agentic software delivery.

Run one task. Watch Orcho plan, implement, reject false-ready work, repair it, and prove what is ready to deliver.

📖 Documentation: docs.orcho.dev

_{Three commands to the first result: install, bootstrap, run. The recorded pipeline is deterministic mock mode using the real CLI and lifecycle; output is trimmed for pace. Interactive version with pause and scrub: docs.orcho.dev.}

Use the coding agents you already trust. They remain the workers; Orcho owns the delivery protocol around them: plan → implementation → review → repair → final acceptance.

It is built for work that needs more structure than a single interactive agent session:

• one task or one coordinated change across several repositories;
• explicit phase topology through profiles;
• human/agent review gates with resume and retry;
• durable run state: plans, diffs, findings, metrics, evidence;
• CLI, SDK, and MCP control surfaces.

Which model runs which phase is fully configurable. Default: Claude (PLAN / BUILD / FIX) + Codex (REVIEW / QA). Assign registered runtimes such as Claude, a Claude-compatible GLM wrapper, Codex, or Gemini to any phase via env vars, profiles, or config.local.json.

No engine fork is required for project-specific context. Orcho starts with a safe generic fallback. In an interactive terminal, workspace init offers a default-no choice to create starter project plugin-configs for the projects it registers. Those candidates give Orcho explicit architecture context, file hints, and a starting verification policy; review them against repository evidence before relying on them. Non-interactive and dry-run init stay template-only and never write project plugins.

Quick start — your existing repository

With Python 3.12+, pipx, and one supported coding-agent CLI on PATH, install Orcho once and initialise it from inside the repository you already have:

pipx install orcho

cd ~/www/my-project
orcho workspace init
orcho run --mock --task "Describe and implement one small change"
orcho status

workspace init does not move or copy the repository. It registers the canonical project path and stores Orcho's control state in an external managed workspace. An eligible interactive terminal may separately offer an explicit project-plugin write; non-interactive and dry-run init do not write project plugins. Later CLI commands resolve the workspace from the current project directory; no --project flag, environment script, or dedicated parent folder is required.

To print the complete, read-only MCP client setup for that workspace, run:

orcho workspace mcp

The mock run exercises the delivery pipeline without calling a model. For a real run, remove --mock and make sure at least one supported coding-agent CLI is available on PATH.

Detailed walkthrough: Getting started

Next step — a shared product workspace

The in-place flow above is the fastest way to start. For a long-lived product, especially one split across repositories such as a backend and frontend, the recommended second step is to keep the related repositories under one intentional root and place the Orcho workspace there too:

~/work/my-product/
├── backend/
├── frontend/
└── workspace-orchestrator/  # created by Orcho

If the repositories already share a parent, use it. If they do not, reorganise them when that is practical; Orcho still accepts absolute paths, so this layout is a best practice rather than a requirement.

Initialise the product root:

orcho workspace init ~/work/my-product

Then either run commands from ~/work/my-product, where Orcho discovers the workspace automatically, or activate it once in a Unix shell and run from any directory:

source ~/work/my-product/workspace-orchestrator/orcho-env.sh

This gives mono-project and cross-project runs one place for aliases, policy, history, evidence, and MCP configuration. Cross-project work can then name the registered repositories explicitly:

orcho cross \
  --task "Change the API contract and update the frontend" \
  --projects backend frontend

workspace init registers the directory names as aliases, so repeating their absolute paths is unnecessary. --projects remains explicit because one workspace may contain more repositories than a particular change should touch.

See Connecting your project for the complete shared-workspace setup and configuration precedence.

Install

orcho is the native CLI distribution — it installs the core CLI and the MCP server (orcho-mcp). The recommended path is pipx, which keeps the CLI isolated from any project environment. Pick your OS below, or jump to the OS-agnostic Docker / direct engine paths.

Prerequisites on every OS: Python 3.12+, and for real (non---mock) runs at least one code-agent CLI (claude, codex, or gemini) available to Orcho. claude-glm is an Orcho runtime identity that launches the installed plain claude CLI with its GLM-compatible environment; it is not another executable to install. See the Claude-compatible GLM guide.

pipx ensurepath updates PATH for future shells, not the one you run it in. So after ensurepath you must open a new terminal before pipx (and the installed orcho) are on PATH — this trips up first-time Windows setups in particular. Each block below marks exactly where to reopen the shell.

macOS

brew install pipx        # skip if pipx is already installed
pipx ensurepath
# ↻ reopen your terminal so the installed `orcho` is on PATH:
pipx install orcho
orcho --help

Linux

python3 -m pip install --user pipx   # or: sudo apt install pipx / sudo dnf install pipx
python3 -m pipx ensurepath
# ↻ reopen your terminal so `pipx` (and later `orcho`) are on PATH:
pipx install orcho
orcho --help

Windows

Native Windows is supported and exercised in CI. Install Python 3.12+ and Git for Windows first, then, in PowerShell:

py -m pip install --user pipx
py -m pipx ensurepath
# ↻ IMPORTANT: close this window and open a NEW PowerShell now — `ensurepath`
#   only updates PATH for new shells, so `pipx` is not found until you reopen.
pipx install orcho
orcho --help

Prefer a Unix shell? Install into WSL2 using the Linux steps above. Full Windows notes — agent-CLI paths, WSL2 layout, and pipe-based output streaming — are in docs/expert/05_windows.md.

Docker

OS-agnostic. Use Docker to try Orcho without installing its Python package or agent CLIs on the host:

docker pull ghcr.io/symphos-ai/orcho
alias orcho='docker run --rm -it \
  -v "$PWD":/workspace \
  -v ~/.orcho-auth:/agent-auth:ro \
  ghcr.io/symphos-ai/orcho orcho'

orcho run --project /workspace --task "Add input validation to the login endpoint."

The image includes the core CLI and MCP server. See orcho Docker docs for credential bootstrap, MCP stdio setup, and custom project toolchains.

Direct engine dependency

OS-agnostic. Use pip when you intentionally want orcho-core in the active virtualenv, CI image, devcontainer, or custom image:

python -m pip install orcho-core

The orcho distribution depends on orcho-core; most CLI users should start with orcho, while integrators can depend on orcho-core directly. The orcho[mcp]/orcho[all] extras remain as no-op back-compat aliases.

Upgrading

orcho update detects the installer that owns the current environment — pipx, uv tool, pip in a virtualenv, or plain pip — and upgrades through it:

orcho update            # upgrade via the detected install manager
orcho update --dry-run  # report the install and command, change nothing

Editable installs and source checkouts are reported rather than upgraded: the checkout is the upgrade unit there, so update it with git pull.

For source-checkout setup, tests, and contribution workflow, see CONTRIBUTING.md.

Try the golden mock demo

The fastest zero-API proof is the single-project CLI demo. It creates a disposable git-backed fixture, runs the full mock pipeline, rejects one false-ready implementation, repairs it, and writes the final evidence.

For an installed CLI, use the packaged demo bootstrap:

orcho demos bootstrap golden-api

orcho demos install golden-api is accepted as the same operation.

From an existing source checkout, run the shell bootstrap script directly:

examples/scripts/bootstrap_demo_1a.sh

Do not clone this repository next to a pipx install orcho only to obtain the demo assets; that creates two Orcho copies on the machine and makes it too easy to confuse the installed CLI with source-checkout code.

Then paste the printed orcho run ... --mock command and inspect:

orcho evidence --workspace /tmp/orcho_demo_1a/workspace-orchestrator
orcho status --workspace /tmp/orcho_demo_1a/workspace-orchestrator
orcho diff <run-id> --stat --workspace /tmp/orcho_demo_1a/workspace-orchestrator

Full walkthrough: docs/demos/demo-1a-single-project-cli.md. For QA, release smokes, SDK checks, and repeatable recordings, see the deterministic mock harness guide.

Go deeper

The getting-started guide covers platform prerequisites, MCP client setup, real provider runs, evidence inspection, and the optional shared-root layout for intentional cross-project work.

How it works

Task
  → Claude  [PLAN]              writes the implementation plan
  → Codex   [validate_plan]     audits the plan
  → Claude  [BUILD]             implements the code
  → Codex   [REVIEW]            reviews the diff
  → Claude  [FIX]               fixes the findings
  → Codex   [final_acceptance]  final verdict

Core commands

# One project
cd ~/my-project
orcho run --task "Add input validation to /api/login"

# Several projects at once
orcho cross --task "Add rate limiting: API + client" \
            --projects api:~/api client:~/client

# No API calls (test)
orcho run --mock --task "..." --project ~/my-project

# Plan only (no code)
orcho run --profile planning --task "..." --project ~/my-project

# Resume an interrupted run
orcho run --resume 20260503_104135

# Status, history, metrics
orcho status | orcho history | orcho metrics

# Upgrade via the manager that installed Orcho
orcho update

Choose generic mode or a starter project plugin

After registering one or more projects, an eligible interactive workspace init explains the benefits and asks one default-no question before creating starter plugin-configs. The candidates are derived from repository markers, but they are not a finished project contract. Declining, end-of-input, or an interrupted prompt keeps generic mode and leaves every project tree unchanged. --no-interactive, non-TTY input, and --dry-run do not ask or create project plugins.

Generic mode is sufficient for the first smoke run. If you opt in, init writes the candidate to your-project/.orcho/multiagent/plugin.py; an existing file, directory, or symlink is reported as skipped and is never replaced. You can also author that file yourself. In either case, merge the generated agent rules into the project's root instructions and complete the configuration from facts found in the repository:

If the project already has tests, linting, build checks, and CI, do not invent another quality system. Reuse those project-native commands in the plugin. CI remains the independent repository gate; the plugin lets Orcho select and run the relevant proof inside the task lifecycle, route a fixable failure back to repair, and attach durable receipts to readiness before delivery. It also keeps broad checks out of task prose, where planning and implementation agents can otherwise run them redundantly.

PLUGIN = {
    "name": "My Project",
    "language": "Python 3.12",
    "architecture": "REST API. Routes: app/routes/, services: app/services/.",
    "file_hints": ["app/routes/", "app/services/", "tests/"],
    "verification_envs": {"project": {"python": "python"}},
    "verification": {
        "default_env": "project",
        "commands": {"lint": {"run": ["python", "-m", "ruff", "check", "."], "cost": "fast"}},
        "gate_sets": {"hygiene": {"commands": ["lint"], "default_policy": "require"}},
        "selection": [{"always": ["hygiene"]}],
        "schedule": [{"after_phase": "implement", "gate_sets": ["hygiene"], "action": "repair_loop"}],
    },
}

This declares a command, selects it, gives it a scheduled identity, lets Orcho execute it, records an immutable receipt, and uses that receipt for readiness. Cost is evidence metadata: fast is bounded deterministic local feedback, moderate needs more setup or time, slow is broad or expensive, and unknown has no reliable predictable cost evidence. It never shortcuts selection, execution, policy, or action. See the practical scheduled verification guide. For worked Python, PHP/Docker, and TypeScript/browser portfolios, see the public quality gate strategy. Without a configured project plugin, Orcho still runs, but it falls back to generic context and has no project-owned scheduled verification contract. For the full workflow—including read-only fine-tune suggestions, agent-assisted repository discovery, and the engineer approval boundary—see Project plugin configuration.

Package layout

orcho-core/
├── cli/                            ← CLI facade (orcho run / cross / status…)
├── sdk/                            ← typed headless API for tools and embedders
├── pipeline/
│   ├── project_orchestrator.py     ← single-project pipeline
│   ├── cross_project/              ← cross-project planning, dispatch, gates
│   ├── runtime/                    ← profiles, steps, state, runner
│   ├── prompts/                    ← composable prompt parts and contracts
│   ├── control/                    ← handoff, resume, operator decisions
│   ├── engine/                     ← sessions, logging, worktrees, run diff
│   ├── evidence/                   ← evidence bundle and renderers
│   ├── profiles/                   ← profile loading and validation
│   ├── sandbox/                    ← command isolation backends
│   ├── skills/                     ← skill discovery and injection
│   ├── plugins.py                  ← PluginConfig + load_plugin()
│   └── checkpoint.py               ← SQLite store (--resume)
├── core/
│   ├── _prompts/                   ← core prompt templates
│   ├── _config/                    ← packaged defaults
│   ├── contracts/                  ← plan/review/release schemas
│   ├── infra/                      ← config, platform, binary discovery
│   ├── observability/              ← logging, metrics, trace
│   ├── io/                         ← retry, git helpers, prompt loader
│   └── context/                    ← codemap builder (optional)
├── agents/                         ← runtimes, registry, stream parsers
└── tests/                          ← unit, integration, acceptance, SDK contract tests

Documentation

The user-facing portal is docs.orcho.dev — start there.

The in-repo docs below are the contributor & deep reference: the canonical engineering contracts the portal links into. Ordered from general to specific.

Full index: docs/README.md.

Testing

pytest tests/ -q
pytest tests/unit/ -v
pytest tests/integration/ -v

Tests must not call real models. Use MockAgentProvider for pipeline-flow scenarios.

Key principles

• Zero hardcoding — all project context comes through plugin.py
• DRY engine — pipeline/engine/ is shared by both orchestrators
• 3-level prompts — project → workspace → core (always overridable)
• Discoverable extension points — workspace init creates safe .orcho/ guides and templates without overwriting local edits
• Resumable — --resume continues from the last checkpoint
• Cross-platform — macOS, Linux, Windows (native + WSL2)