Mission
Orbit turns the machines you own into an always-on network for developing and hosting your applications. Your agent operates it. You steer.What Orbit does
Orbit does two jobs on the machines you add.- It manages your machines, called Nodes, and the applications on them. That covers development Instances, production releases, Routes, Processes, Schedules, and certificates.
- It runs planned work with coding agents through the optional Tasks extension. The work runs in isolated Instances and passes checks. It arrives as a pull request.
Where Orbit stops
These boundaries keep Orbit small and neutral.- Your agentic development environment (ADE) is where you think, plan, and steer.
- Orbit is where work runs. It has no IDE, chat, or planning interface. Plans arrive through the CLI or MCP.
- The plain-text editor for Project Documents is a narrow exception for Project-owned notes. Agents use the same document API.
- Orbit manages only the machines and resources you add.
- Each Project defines its own way of working in its repository. The Orbit engine stays generic.
Principles
Every architecture decision must fit these principles.- Agents operate, humans steer. Every action is a command that an agent can run and a human can read.
- One way, one name. Each task has one supported path. Each concept has one term in the CLI, API, database, and documentation.
- No exceptions and no legacy. Orbit refuses an unsupported combination instead of making it work. Orbit removes old paths instead of keeping them for compatibility.
- Deterministic first. Code and checks decide what they can. Models judge only what code cannot.
- Lean. A feature earns its place. Orbit deletes the parts that nothing uses.
- The documentation describes the present. It is the current agreed truth. Orbit absorbs each decision into it once the decision is built.
- Security fits the real threat model. Orbit adds no defense layer against an attacker who is already past the boundary.