orca ai coding is the setup I keep coming back to when I want several AI agents building the same project at once — and the part most people miss is that it can be completely free. Orca is an open-source agentic development environment: you download the app, point it at a project, and open as many coding agents as you like side by side. This guide walks through setting it up, the two genuinely free routes, and how the day-to-day coding workflow actually feels.
What Orca Is
Orca is a free, open-source agentic development environment built for running fleets of parallel agents. You get it from the Orca GitHub repo and download the app. Once it is open you are looking at a workspace with terminals, a live preview and an automation panel — less like a plain code editor, more like a control room where AI agents do the typing.
The reason it matters: most coding tools give you one assistant in one window. Orca lets you run several agents on the same project at the same time, then preview and correct their work visually.
Getting Started With Orca AI Coding
Setup is refreshingly boring, which is exactly what you want:
- Download the app from the Orca GitHub repo.
- Open a project. You can browse to an existing folder, clone from a GitHub URL, or create a brand-new project from scratch.
- Open an agent in the terminal. Pick your coding agent and start it running inside the project.
- Split the terminal. Right-click and choose split terminal right or split terminal down. Do it a few times and you can have four agents working the same project at once.
That splitting step is the bit that changes how you work. I have had Claude Code in one pane and Hermes in another, and you can just as easily add Kimi, Codex, OpenClaw or Antigravity. Each pane is its own agent, all pointed at the same codebase.
📺 Watch: Orca: FREE AI Coding Agent (Open Source!)
How To Do Orca AI Coding Completely Free
There are two honest routes, and both cost nothing extra.
Route 1: plug in subscriptions you already pay for
If you already have Codex, Claude Code or OpenClaw, connect them. Orca itself is free and open source, so you are not paying a penny more than the subscription you already have. For most people reading this, that is the fastest path.
Route 2: a free agent plus a free API
No subscriptions? Then use a free agent with a free API. In my own run I used Hermes with a free API — Ling flash — and it genuinely cost nothing. People always push back and say "it is not really free." It is. Free agent, free API, free environment.
Here is the honest part, and it surprised me. I gave both setups the same prompt — create a beautiful website for an SEO agency — and on that run the free Ling 3.0 output looked a little nicer than the Claude Code version. That is one test on one day, not a league table. It is the kind of hands-on comparison I do in my Goldie Bench testing, and the takeaway is simply this: do not assume free means worse. Try both on your own project before you decide.
Previewing What Your Agents Build
Writing code is only half of it. Seeing it is where Orca gets good.
- Get a localhost URL for your project. If you do not have one, just ask the agent you are coding with to give you one.
- Click the plus sign at the top and choose new browser tab.
- Paste the localhost URL and your project renders right there inside Orca.
Now you are looking at the actual site while the agents keep working. For mobile app builds you can open a mobile emulator instead — an Xcode emulator or an Android Studio virtual device, one of which is required for mobile previews. For a website, game or tool, the browser tab is all you need.
📺 Watch: Vibe Coding a NEW Claude Agent OS!
Element Select And Annotation: The Feature That Saves The Most Time
This is my favourite part. Instead of describing a change in words and hoping the agent finds the right bit, you point at it.
Grab an element. Do not like the logo? Select it, paste it into your coding agent, and give feedback on that one element. No ambiguity about what you mean.
Annotate the page. Right-click anywhere and describe the change — "make the headline bright yellow" — then pick your intent: a command (change this) or a question (what would work better here?). That distinction matters more than it sounds; sometimes you want the agent to act, sometimes you want its opinion.
Queue them up. Adding an annotation does not fire it off immediately, which is the smart design choice. You can mark up ten things across the page, then hit send once and the agent works through the lot. No more waiting for one change at a time before you can request the next.
📺 Watch: Vibe Coding with Claude + Agent OS!
The Extras Worth Knowing
| Feature | What it does | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Split terminals | Several agents on one project | Parallel work instead of one slow queue |
| Live browser preview | Renders your localhost inside Orca | See the build as it happens |
| Element select | Send one exact element to the agent | Precise feedback, fewer misunderstandings |
| Annotations | Queue many changes, send together | Batch edits in one pass |
| Mobile emulator | Xcode or Android Studio preview | Build and check mobile apps |
| Orca Mobile | Connect your phone by QR code | Drive your projects away from the desk |
| Automations | Scheduled recurring agent tasks | Work continues in the background |
| Computer use + orchestration | Optional installable skills | Agents can drive apps and coordinate |
Orca Mobile deserves a mention: you scan a QR code and can then run your terminals and projects from your phone. I have not put it through its paces yet, but having tried remote coding through other tools and found it underwhelming, being able to drive several agents across several projects from a phone looks like the better idea.
The automation panel lets you schedule agent tasks — iterate and improve a project every day, or research a topic and draft a post. Your computer needs to be running for scheduled work to fire, which is the honest catch.
Finally, two skills are worth enabling from the terminal (press enter and it installs): computer use, which lets agents control any app on your machine, and orchestration. There is voice too, though I do not personally use it.
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Where Orca Fits Alongside An Agent OS
Orca is excellent at what it is: an environment for parallel coding agents. It is not trying to run your whole business. That is the job of an Agent OS — the wider agentic operating system where Hermes runs with shared memory, a mission-control dashboard and skills for content, SEO, research and publishing.
The two sit together nicely. Use Orca when the work is building software; use the Agent OS when the work is running the business around it. If you want that side set up for you, it is what I teach inside the AI Profit Boardroom.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Orca really free?
Yes. Orca is free and open source. You either plug in subscriptions you already have, or run a free agent with a free API. Neither route adds cost.
Which agents can I use in Orca?
Claude Code, Codex, Hermes, Kimi, OpenClaw and Antigravity among others. You can add, enable and disable agents in the settings and run several at once.
Do I need to code to use it?
You need to be comfortable running a project and describing what you want. The agents do the typing, and the annotation tools mean a lot of your direction is pointing and describing rather than writing code.
Can I really run four agents at once?
Yes — split the terminal right and down and you can have several agents working the same project simultaneously.
What about mobile apps?
You can preview mobile builds using an Xcode emulator or an Android Studio virtual device. One of those is required for mobile previews; websites and tools preview in a normal browser tab.
The Bottom Line
orca ai coding is one of the most intuitive free setups I have used: download the app, open a project, split the terminal, and let several agents build while you preview and annotate the result live. Run it on subscriptions you already pay for, or go fully free with Hermes and a free API. Then pair it with an Agent OS for everything that is not code, and you have a build stack that costs nothing and works while you watch.
