Core concepts

Where agents work

Project

A folder you added to OpenOrc, usually a Git repository. OpenOrc keeps its threads, tasks, and memory together, and your files stay where they are. Change tracking and commits need Git, and worktrees also need a first commit. See Git and worktrees.

Workspace

The built-in place for threads that don't belong to a project. A Workspace thread works in a folder you choose, by default one inside OpenOrc's data folder, and never uses Git. It's listed first among the projects on the New thread page.

Local checkout

Your repository as it is checked out now. A thread in the local checkout edits the same files you see in your editor. This is where new threads work unless you choose otherwise. See Git and worktrees.

Worktree

A separate folder and branch for one thread, so threads working at the same time don't edit each other's files. OpenOrc creates it in its data folder and names the branch after the thread, under openorc/ by default. See Git and worktrees.

Cloud thread

A thread whose agent works in a sandbox on your own Vercel or Agent37 account, while a worktree on your computer keeps its changes. The optional cloud brain is a copy of OpenOrc on that account, which keeps threads going while your computer sleeps. See Cloud threads.

Conversations

Thread

A conversation with an agent about your code. It has a current agent, model, and mode, and it never closes: you can always send another message. When you're done with one, resolve it to move it out of the list. See Threads.

Subagent

A helper an agent runs on its own during a turn, such as one of Claude Code's agents. OpenOrc shows each subagent as a thread under the one that ran it. Helper threads that an agent starts, and subthreads you start, sit under their parent too. See Threads working together.

Turn

One message and the agent's work until it stops: what it read, the commands it ran, the files it edited, and its reply. A turn ends when the agent finishes, fails, or you stop it. See Following the work.

Run

One agent process, which can hold many turns. In a thread it stays open between turns, so your next message starts at once, and closes after 10 idle minutes by default. To change that, use Close idle processes after in Settings → General.

Session

The agent's own record of the conversation, kept by its CLI. OpenOrc remembers which session each thread uses, so a new run continues where the last one stopped. See Agents and models.

Mode

How much the agent may do without asking, set per thread in the composer: Plan, Review everything, Accept edits, or Autonomous. Codex names the last three Review changes, Ask for approval, and Full access. See Modes and permissions.

Planning and context

Task

A piece of work written down as a Markdown spec, with a status and a priority. Its status moves from Proposed or Backlog through In progress and Review to Done. Saving a task never starts an agent. See Tasks.

Project memory

Short facts about a project, such as a decision and its reason or a command that works. OpenOrc can save them from finished work, and agents can record and search them, so later threads start with what earlier ones learned. Memory is off until you turn it on. See Project memory.

Orclings

Orcling

A personal companion with its own look, model, instructions, and private memory. Each Orcling has a conversation of its own, and you can also choose one to work in a project thread. See Orclings.

Next steps