Host Server

The orca start command runs a headless HTTP server that any Orca desktop app or CLI can communicate with.

It manages workspaces, ports, and agent runs on the machine it's running on. The desktop app starts it automatically; on a CLI-only or headless machine you start it yourself.

If you installed the desktop app, it already includes the CLI and installs a ~/.orca/bin/orca shim on app launch. Orca terminals prepend that directory to PATH automatically. On a headless machine, use the standalone installer from Getting Started.

Prerequisites

git and gh need to be on your PATH. git handles clone, worktree, and branch ops; gh handles PR checkout and metadata.

gh auth login

The host server reuses your existing gh auth. For sandboxes or CI, set GH_TOKEN (or GITHUB_TOKEN) instead of running gh auth login. gh picks it up automatically.

Agent CLIs (optional)

If you plan to run AI agents inside workspaces, install whichever agent CLIs you want available. The host server launches them based on which are on your PATH:

None are required to start the host server or create workspaces. Install only what you plan to run.

Authenticate the Orca CLI

The host server starts under your Orca session. If you haven't already:

orca auth login

See Getting Started for the full sign-in flow, including API-key auth for CI.

Start the host server

orca start --daemon

Spawns the daemon in the background and writes a manifest at ~/.orca/host/<organizationId>/manifest.json so other clients can find it. Binds to 127.0.0.1 only.

Verify it's healthy:

orca status

Getting started

Create or adopt a project

A workspace branches off a project: a repo registered with Orca.

Each repo gets one cloud project record, shared across the organization. The first machine to register the repo runs projects create; every machine after that uses projects setup to attach to the existing project instead of creating a duplicate.

Start by checking what's already in your org:

orca projects list

First machine: projects create

If the project doesn't exist yet, clone a remote repo or import an existing local one:

# Clone from a Git URL
orca projects create \
  --name "My Project" \
  --local \
  --clone https://github.com/org/repo.git \
  --parent-dir ~/code

# Or import a repo that's already on disk
orca projects create \
  --name "My Project" \
  --local \
  --import ~/code/existing-repo

The host server clones (or registers) the repo, creates the cloud project record, and ensures the main workspace.

Subsequent machines: projects setup <id>

If a previous machine of yours already created the project, adopt it instead of running create again: create would register a second, unrelated project for the same repo. Projects are host-owned, so pick the ID from a machine that has it (projects list --host <id>), then:

# Clone the project's repo onto this machine
orca projects setup 47c31b04-… --local --parent-dir ~/code

# Or attach to an existing local checkout
orca projects setup 47c31b04-… --local --import ~/code/repo

The URL for clone mode comes from the cloud project record, so setup doesn't need --clone <url>. setup is idempotent: re-running against a project that's already set up here is a no-op.

Create your first workspace

orca projects list
orca workspaces create \
  --project prj_… \
  --name "fix-login-bug" \
  --branch fix/login-bug

The host server clones the project (if it isn't already on disk), creates a git worktree at the chosen branch, and registers the workspace.

You can also create a workspace from a pull request number:

orca workspaces create \
  --project prj_… \
  --name "review-pr-123" \
  --pr 123 \
  --local

Stop the host server

orca stop

Shared state

State lives under ~/.orca/host/<organizationId>/:

~/.orca/host/<organizationId>/manifest.json    # endpoint + auth token
~/.orca/host/<organizationId>/host.db          # local host server DB

A host server started by the desktop app is visible to the CLI and vice-versa. ORCA_HOME_DIR relocates the whole tree.

Command details

For full flags, exit codes, and output shapes:

• orca start
• orca status
• orca stop