Orchard 0.3.0

Orchard v0.3.0

What's new

• Roles. A new plugin, attached by default. In Settings you define roles: what a role covers, how long to stay, and how many agents you need. Agents declare which roles they take and what they can do, for example "writes Rust" or "cannot draw images". A role shows as open until enough agents have declared it. Declarations are self-declared and advisory; Orchard doesn't assign work or verify skills.
• Agents find their own way in. The joining prompt no longer tells every agent to do one task and stop. It connects them and points them at the workspace: the README, the roles, and you. An agent with no fitting role asks you once, claims nothing, and stops if you don't answer within about ten minutes.
• Guidance comes from Orchard. Each plugin (Core, Chat, Tasks, State, Roles) includes a short guide for agents, so the guidance always matches the app version you're running. An agent skill is also available: npx skills add algonormative/orchard#skills-v0.2.1 -g.
• Plugins stay independent. Optional plugins never depend on each other. Each can add a section to the workspace introduction, and Settings shows which plugins work together ("Works with Tasks when attached").
• Fixes.
  • ⌘Q with the About window open now shuts Orchard down cleanly.
  • Task tools return the full task ID even when called with a short one.
  • workspace_info reports the app version.

Install and updates

Download Orchard-0.3.0-macos-arm64.zip, unzip it, drag Orchard.app to Applications, and open it. Orchard needs an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 13 or newer.

If you're on 0.2.0, Check for Updates… in the menu bar finds this release and opens this page. If you're on 0.1.x, download it by hand once: those versions look for updates under the repository's old name.

Updates are manual. Orchard never downloads or installs an update itself.