Home Switch Orca

Switch from Orca to Task Machine

Orca puts coding agents in worktrees with chat, terminals and diffs. Task Machine gives people and agents shared Tasks, repeatable Workflows and an Inbox for decisions.

Prefer the side-by-side comparison?

Why people switch

  • Orchestration is experimental

    Orca documents coordinator agents, task dependencies and decision gates as experimental orchestration. Its documentation says the Orchestration panel and its switch are temporarily unavailable.

    orca.dev/…/orchestration

  • You manage remote hosting

    To keep agents running after your laptop sleeps, Orca offers a runtime on a machine you control. Its remote modes use your machines and cloud accounts, rather than Orca-managed hosting.

    orca.dev/docs/ways-to-run

  • Structured chat has limits

    Orca's structured chat works for eligible local sessions and paired Orca Servers. Windows Subsystem for Linux and SSH sessions use terminal-backed Chat UI instead.

    orca.dev/…/native-chat

What maps to what

Every answer links to its source and shows when we last checked it. The oldest check on this page was November 15, 2026.

What each part of Orca maps to in Task Machine, with the source and check date of each answer
Area In Orca In Task Machine
Work records In Orca

A worktree has its own branch, files and agent terminals. You can link reviews and issues to that workspace.

orca.dev/…/worktrees
In Task Machine

Every job is a Task that a person or an agent owns. It keeps the plan, discussion, decisions, runs and history together, so people and agents hand work to each other on the same record.

taskmachine.io/docs/tasks
Recurring work In Orca

Automations run prompts on hourly, daily, weekly, cron or RRULE schedules. You choose the repository or workspace and can set a timezone.

orca.dev/…/automations
In Task Machine

Start a Task or Workflow once or on a repeat in your timezone. A recurring job keeps one stable root Task, with each occurrence's own status and history.

taskmachine.io/docs/schedules
Approval In Orca

Structured chat alerts you when an agent needs approval or input. Answered approval and question cards remain as receipts.

orca.dev/…/native-chat
In Task Machine

Consequential decisions arrive in your Inbox with context. Set each agent's actions to Ask first or Automatic, and put a Human approval step before a consequential action such as sending a report.

taskmachine.io/docs/autonomy-in-practice taskmachine.io/docs/workflow-builder
Memory In Orca

Orca leaves agent-owned CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md files in place and lets you edit them in its file explorer.

orca.dev/…/hooks-memory
In Task Machine

Agents keep lessons from corrections, such as mistakes to avoid, in Memory you can inspect, correct and restore. Put repository instructions for Task Machine runs in TAMA.md.

taskmachine.io/docs/memories taskmachine.io/docs/repositories
Code review In Orca

Review diffs and send line-level feedback to an agent. Repository pre-commit hooks run normally, with failures shown inline.

github.com/stablyai/orca orca.dev/…/commit-push
In Task Machine

Internal code review checks changes against your repository's enabled rules. Rule discovery proposes rules screened against violating and valid examples, and you review the proposals before accepting them.

taskmachine.io/docs/repositories
Pricing In Orca

Orca is free and open source under the MIT License. You bring agent subscriptions and pay your own cloud provider when using cloud compute.

github.com/stablyai/orca orca.dev/docs/ways-to-run
In Task Machine

Usage based, from $29 a month before tax. The whole payment becomes usage that your workspace shares, with no base fee.

taskmachine.io/pricing

A fact we cannot find or cannot check is left out, and prices can change after the date shown. Task Machine publishes this comparison and is an interested party. Orca is named only to identify it, and there is no relationship between the two companies. Has something changed? Tell us.

You may stay with Orca if

You may stay with Orca if hands-on coding is the job and you want agents, editors, terminals and a browser in split panes. Its existing-subscription approach fits developers who already pay for coding agents. Its MIT-licensed source also lets you keep a source-modifiable coding environment. Keep Orca for that work while moving a weekly report or another shared responsibility into Task Machine.

What you give up

Task Machine's docs do not describe a native desktop editor with interchangeable agent chat and terminal panes, or an importer for Orca's sessions and automation definitions. You rebuild prompts, reconnect services and test the new process. Retain your coding environment if direct terminal steering matters to you.

There is no trial. Your first payment funds usage, and unsuccessful attempts can consume it too. Read Usage and fees before moving a large recurring job.

How the switch works

  1. Preserve the work before removing anything. Review and save each branch and its uncommitted files, including ignored files you need. Orca's worktree guide warns that deletion removes the directory. In Agent Session History, use Copy log path or Open log to locate transcripts for your archive. Check export options for any other data you need to retain.
  2. Create your workspace, connect the repository and add the Connectors the chosen job needs. Copy reusable coding guidance into TAMA.md rather than assuming an existing agent's instruction file is the new run configuration.
  3. Give one agent a clear Task, such as reviewing open issues each Monday. Copy the relevant prompt and expected result. Use a Workflow when the job needs explicit steps, checks and a human approval.
  4. Start at Supervised autonomy. Review the plan and test with copied inputs before allowing live writes. Compare the result and evidence in Run history.
  5. Copy the cadence and timezone from Orca's automation settings into the new schedule. Disable the original automation before enabling the replacement's live actions. Keep the old history while you verify the move, since Orca's remove command deletes an automation and its run history.

Common questions

Can I keep Orca for coding?
Yes. Its worktrees are ordinary Git worktrees. Keep that environment and move one shared responsibility at a time, rather than replacing your entire development setup.

What happens to my code and conversations?
Keep branches, uncommitted files and reference material before deleting a workspace. Orca's session history exposes the agent's raw transcript path. Archive the files you need, then bring selected context into Task Machine's Library. Its docs do not describe continuing an Orca conversation as the same live session.

How do the costs compare?
Orca's free software and your separate subscriptions buy a different setup from Task Machine's workspace usage. Task Machine starts at $29 a month before tax with no base fee and no trial, so compare the usage of one representative job. You keep 100% of your revenue, Task Machine takes no cut and never custodies your accounts.

Does switching mean losing scheduled prompts?
Recreate the job as a recurring Task or Workflow, with its own timing and review boundaries. Orca already has scheduled automations, so scheduling alone is not a reason to move a working process.