orbitor

Stop babysitting your AI coding sessions.

You kick off a task in Claude Code or GitHub Copilot, then sit there watching it work — waiting to approve a file write, answer a clarifying question, or just see if it finished. Orbitor lets you walk away. Start sessions on your dev machine, manage them from a rich terminal UI, and check in from your phone when you're at lunch, on the couch, or in a meeting.

• Run multiple sessions at once — different projects, different models, side by side
• Approve permissions from your phone — no need to context-switch back to the terminal
• Get notified when sessions finish — or when they need your input
• Fork a session to explore a different approach without losing your place
• Dictate prompts with push-to-talk — talk to your code while your hands are busy
• Works with Claude Code and GitHub Copilot — use whichever fits the task

Screenshots

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Quick Start

brew tap will-osborne/orbitor
brew install orbitor
orbitor setup
orbitor

orbitor setup detects your Tailscale IP, writes the config, and optionally installs a background service. Then orbitor opens the TUI — press Ctrl+N to create your first session.

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Prerequisites

• macOS or Linux
• At least one AI coding CLI, already authenticated:
  • claude (Claude Code)
  • gh copilot (GitHub Copilot)
• Tailscale — recommended for mobile access and remote connections
• Go 1.22+ (only if building from source)

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Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap will-osborne/orbitor
brew install orbitor

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/will-osborne/orbitor
cd orbitor
go build -o orbitor .
./orbitor setup

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Usage

Command	Description
orbitor	Open the TUI (default)
orbitor new	Create a session in the current directory and attach
orbitor new claude claude-sonnet-4-6	Create a session with a specific backend and model
orbitor server	Run the HTTP server in the foreground
orbitor setup	Interactive setup wizard
orbitor service install	Install as a background login service

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Mobile App

Monitor sessions, send prompts, and approve permissions from your phone.

1. Install the app (link TBD)
2. Enter your server address (e.g. http://100.x.x.x:8080)
3. Tap a session to open the chat — tap the permission banner to approve or deny

Push notifications fire when a session completes or needs your attention.

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Remote Access with Tailscale

Tailscale gives you secure peer-to-peer connectivity between your server, phone, and teammates — no port forwarding required.

1. Install Tailscale on both the server and your phone
2. Sign in with the same account
3. Run orbitor setup — it auto-detects your Tailscale IP

A teammate can connect to your running server from their own machine:

brew tap will-osborne/orbitor && brew install orbitor
orbitor setup    # enter the server machine's Tailscale IP
orbitor          # opens TUI pointed at your server

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Configuration

~/.orbitor/config.json — generated by orbitor setup, or create manually:

{
  "serverURL": "http://100.x.x.x:8080",
  "listenAddr": "100.x.x.x:8080",
  "defaultBackend": "claude",
  "defaultModel": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
  "skipPermissions": false,
  "planMode": false
}

Field	Description
serverURL	URL the TUI connects to. http://127.0.0.1:8080 for local, or Tailscale IP for remote.
listenAddr	Address the server binds to. Set to Tailscale IP to allow remote clients.
defaultBackend	"claude" or "copilot"
defaultModel	Model passed to the backend (e.g. claude-sonnet-4-6, gpt-4o)
skipPermissions	Auto-approve all permission prompts
planMode	Start sessions in plan mode

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TUI Key Bindings

Key	Action
Enter	Connect to session / send prompt
Shift+Enter	Insert newline
Alt+Enter	Fork: clone session and send prompt to the clone
Tab / Shift+Tab	Cycle sessions
↑ / ↓	Scroll chat
Ctrl+↑ / Ctrl+↓	Prompt history
Ctrl+N	New session
Ctrl+D	Delete session
Ctrl+V	Paste image or file path
Hold Space	Push-to-talk dictation
Ctrl+. / Ctrl+\	Interrupt current run
Ctrl+P	Command palette
Ctrl+T	Cycle themes
Alt+M	Toggle mouse select mode (for copying text)

Slash Commands

Command	Description
/new <dir> [backend] [model]	Create a new session
/fork <prompt>	Clone current session and send a prompt
/use <id>	Switch to a session by ID
/interrupt	Interrupt the current run
/skip [true|false]	Toggle skip-permissions
/help	List all commands

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Service Management

Run orbitor as a persistent background service that starts at login:

orbitor service install    # install and enable auto-start
orbitor service uninstall  # remove the service
orbitor service start      # start now
orbitor service stop       # stop
orbitor service restart    # restart
orbitor service status     # check if running
orbitor service logs       # tail logs

Or via Homebrew:

brew services start orbitor
brew services stop orbitor

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How It Works

Orbitor runs a lightweight HTTP/WebSocket server that spawns and manages AI assistant processes. Each session gets its own working directory, backend process, and message history persisted to a local SQLite database.

• Real-time streaming — TUI and mobile clients connect via WebSocket
• Session persistence — sessions survive server restarts and binary upgrades
• Zero-downtime upgrades — via tableflip; brew upgrade automatically restarts the service
• Push notifications — Firebase Cloud Messaging with optional local LLM summarizer

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License

License TBD.