/orchestration

name: orchestration
description: >-
  Use Orca orchestration for 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 `orca-cli` instead for full ownership handoffs, including
  requests phrased as "hand off", "handoff", "handover", "give this to another
  agent", or "another worktree" when the user did not explicitly ask to
  supervise, monitor, wait for results, or coordinate a DAG. Use `orca-cli` for
  ordinary terminal control, lightweight terminal prompts, shell commands, Orca
  worktree management, reading or waiting on terminals, and automation of the
  browser embedded inside Orca. Use Computer Use for browser windows, webviews,
  Orca app UI, or desktop UI outside Orca's embedded browser.

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 full guide before running Orca commands

ORCA skills get orchestration

That prints the complete, version-matched guide for the exact binary that will handle your next commands — task creation and dispatch, injected lifecycle preambles, worker_done authority, decision gates, and coordinator loops. Read it first, then run the specific command you need.

Don't guess subcommands or flags from memory or from a cached copy of this stub. They change between Orca releases, and this file deliberately no longer lists them. Confirm the app is up with `ORCA status --json` (start it with `ORCA open --json` if needed), and prefer `--json` for agent-driven calls.

If an older Orca does not recognize `skills get`

Use this fallback only when the selected binary explicitly reports that `skills get` is an unknown command. Another failure is not proof of an older binary; report it rather than guessing or changing executables. For a confirmed pre-guide binary, use only this bounded, read-only bootstrap to orient. Do not dead-end and do not invent commands:

ORCA status --json
ORCA orchestration task-list --json
ORCA terminal list --json

Then tell the user that updating Orca restores the full, version-matched guide via `ORCA skills get orchestration`. Beyond these commands, ask the user rather than guessing a command surface this older binary may not support.