Install Orbit

Platform Support

Orbit’s CLI runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows, but OS-level sandbox enforcement of agent subprocesses is currently macOS only, via sandbox-exec. The bundled claude, codex, and gemini executors declare sandbox: macos-sandbox-exec and require macOS to launch with a sandbox; on Linux and Windows the same activities run, but the spawned agent process is not wrapped in a kernel-level sandbox. Filesystem policies still apply to Orbit’s own HTTP-tool builtins on every platform.

Install

The recommended install is the install script:

curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/danieljhkim/orbit/main/install.sh | sh

It detects your platform, downloads the matching release binary, authenticates the signed release checksums, validates the archive contents, and places it on your PATH.

Alternatives

Homebrew (macOS, Linuxbrew):

brew install danieljhkim/tap/orbit

Claude Code plugin (skips the install script, downloads the binary on first MCP call):

/plugin marketplace add danieljhkim/orbit
/plugin install orbit

The plugin registers Orbit’s MCP server, skills, and orchestration subagents in Claude Code, and pulls the matching native orbit binary through the @orbit-tools/cli npm proxy on first invocation. Requires Node 18+ on PATH. To get the orbit CLI on your shell as well: npm install -g @orbit-tools/cli.

From source (requires Rust toolchain):

git clone https://github.com/danieljhkim/orbit.git
cd orbit
make install

Pinned versions and custom install directory

curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/danieljhkim/orbit/main/install.sh | ORBIT_VERSION=v0.3.1 sh
curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/danieljhkim/orbit/main/install.sh | ORBIT_INSTALL_DIR="$HOME/.local/bin" sh

ORBIT_VERSION, ORBIT_INSTALL_REPO, and ORBIT_INSTALL_BASE_URL change the release source the installer trusts, so use them only for pinned releases, forks, or controlled test mirrors. ORBIT_INSTALL_BASE_URL may use any downloader-supported scheme, including file:// for tests; the signature check protects artifact integrity, not transport confidentiality. ORBIT_RELEASE_TRUSTED_KEYS_FILE is the preferred override for the full trusted signing-key set, including key IDs, not_after, and revoked_at; it requires ORBIT_RELEASE_TRUSTED_KEYS_FILE_ACKNOWLEDGE_TRUST_CHANGE=1 and should be limited to tests or emergency operations. ORBIT_RELEASE_PUBLIC_KEY_FILE is deprecated in favor of the trusted-keys file (which is a strict superset); it still works for the single-key case and requires ORBIT_RELEASE_PUBLIC_KEY_FILE_ACKNOWLEDGE_TRUST_CHANGE=1.

Initialize State

Orbit has global state and workspace-local state.

orbit init
cd <repo>
orbit workspace init

orbit init seeds default skills under ~/.orbit/skills and links them into ~/.agents/skills and ~/.claude/skills. Workspace skills are optional overrides by skill name.

Pass --mcp to also auto-detect and set up MCP client integrations during workspace initialization:

orbit workspace init --mcp

Configure Orbit

orbit init seeds ~/.orbit/config.toml and prompts for per-role agent settings (reviewer, implementer, planner). See Configuration for file locations, shape, and backend precedence.

Update the Graph

The code graph syncs on demand — a file watcher keeps it fresh as you work, so reads are normally up to date without a manual step (there is no separate init-time build). To force a refresh:

orbit graph sync

For a complete re-index — needed for full trace coverage, since incremental sync resolves fewer command handlers:

orbit graph sync --full