v1.4.237

100,000 stars. Thank you! ⭐🐳

Orca just crossed 100,000 stars on GitHub! Every bug report, pull request, shared workflow and recommendation has helped us get here. Thank you for building with Orca and helping shape what comes next. ❤️

To celebrate, this release brings a more capable phone experience, more dependable agent conversations, and fixes that keep your work moving across desktops and remote machines.

The short version

• More done from your phone: Create and edit notes, save Markdown on headless hosts, follow relative file links, and see embedded images. Buffered terminal drafts can now survive workspace navigation, too.
• Chats you can come back to: Codex chats reopen correctly after undo, Claude keeps its rewound context across Orca rollbacks, and screenshots stay with the conversation. Codex’s skill picker now reflects the skills Codex actually loaded.
• Your work stays protected: Discard pauses autosave of the same file across workspaces. Read-only Markdown and CSV views protect your unsaved edits, and new, unstaged Markdown documents open straight into the rich editor.
• Voice beyond the desktop: Phone dictation works again through headless orca serve hosts, with a CLI command to configure the host’s OpenAI key.
• Smoother remote work: Reconnect hidden terminal tabs after a restart, keep browser logins when hosts pair again, and search SSH configurations with thousands of hosts without freezing the interface.
• Small details, better flow: Phone tabs follow desktop order, landscape layouts show the session title, keyboard controls keep their height, and worktree safety sweeps skip unchanged workspaces.

Phone updates: Updating Orca on the computer serving your phone also updates the phone’s served interface. Persistent terminal drafts additionally require an updated mobile shell.

Compatibility & upgrade notes

• Native chat (experimental): Update paired and SSH hosts alongside Orca to get the latest chat fixes. Exact Codex skill-file selection is available on desktop with a supporting host; phone selections and older hosts retain plain-text skill names. Send a skill as a new message for Codex to apply it at the start of a turn.
• Headless dictation: Save the OpenAI key on the host doing the transcription with orca speech openai-key set (reads the key from stdin). Installed-app orca serve hosts on Linux and macOS can also use the bundled on-device recognizer; Windows, managed SSH and WSL servers use cloud models.
• CLI launch choice: Explicit --surface choices require an updated execution host. Omitting the option keeps your existing defaults.

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Product experience

Native chat (experimental)

Pick the skills Codex actually loaded, return to conversations with confidence, and keep your chat history and attachments intact.

• Use Codex’s own loaded-skill catalog in chat; desktop selections identify the exact skill file, including when names overlap by @brennanb2025 in #30937
• Reopen Codex chats after undo and continue with the correct conversation history by @brennanb2025 in #31041
• Keep Claude’s rewound context intact even after rolling back Orca by @nwparker in #31231
• Show prompts sent mid-turn and ! commands where Claude actually received them by @AmoabaKelvin in #31204
• Keep screenshots dragged into a chat available for the lifetime of that chat by @brennanb2025 in #30419
• Retry failed chat names, show naming errors on the tab hover card, and offer Regenerate name by @brennanb2025 in #30646
• Keep resumed Claude chats ready to receive messages after settings updates by @brennanb2025 in #30982
• Show Working only while Claude, Pi or ACP is handling work, while keeping Claude chat workers running by @brennanb2025 in #30577
• Show sleeping native-chat workspaces as asleep and hide them when the sidebar filter calls for it by @brennanb2025 in #28457
• Tie finished notifications to the correct hook-driven turn by @brennanb2025 in #30620
• Clarify how to continue conversations between chat and terminal agents by @AmethystLiang in #31402

Phone

Move between workspaces without losing your draft, work on Markdown without an open desktop window, and enjoy a more consistent interface.

• Open a worktree on the tab currently shown on desktop by @AmoabaKelvin in #31215
• List session tabs in the same order as the desktop tab bar by @AmoabaKelvin in #31269
• Keep unsent buffered terminal commands when leaving and reopening a workspace by @nwparker in #31314
• Create and edit notes on headless hosts by @nwparker in #31291
• Read and save Markdown tabs without an open desktop window, with conflict checks that protect unsaved desktop edits by @Jinwoo-H in #31101
• Keep a Markdown save on its original host if the workspace moves while saving by @Jinwoo-H in #31376
• Open relative file links from Markdown by @nwparker in #31298
• Display embedded images in Markdown previews by @nwparker in #31304
• Refresh staged files when returning from review by @nwparker in #31295
• Show the session title beside tabs when the phone is in landscape by @brennanb2025 in #30879
• Blend the status-bar area into the workspace header by @nwparker in #31353
• Match the home-indicator area to the terminal input panel by @nwparker in #31354
• Preserve live terminal palettes when the selected theme has not changed by @nwparker in #31355
• Keep Claude chats intact after renaming their pane by @nwparker in #31358
• Show the bundled whale icon on DeepSeek Build tabs by @nwparker in #31359
• Keep the keyboard accessory row at a stable height when the dismiss button appears by @nwparker in #31363
• Keep dictation controls in sync with the host’s settings by @nwparker in #31349
• Simplify chat by removing the Tools toggle and its open-everything mode by @brennanb2025 in #31188

Voice & agent launches

Dictate from your phone through a headless server, and choose chat or terminal for an individual CLI launch.

• Restore voice dictation on headless orca serve hosts, with cloud models on managed SSH, WSL and Windows servers by @nwparker in #31217
• Configure a headless host’s OpenAI dictation key with orca speech openai-key status, set and clear by @nwparker in #31230
• Choose --surface chat or --surface terminal for orca agent launch and agent-backed orca worktree create by @brennanb2025 in #31191

Editor, files & performance

Protect unsaved work across tabs and workspaces, make new Markdown documents immediately editable, and reduce background activity.

• Open new, unstaged Markdown files from Source Control in the rich editor by @AmethystLiang in #31399
• Pause autosave across workspaces during Source Control Discard, and prevent read-only Markdown or CSV tabs from overwriting unsaved edits by @nwparker in #31413
• Avoid an unnecessary reload of remote files after each restart by @Jinwoo-H in #31196
• Prevent restored-tab disk checks from looping or reporting false conflicts by @nwparker in #31250
• Skip unchanged worktrees during background safety sweeps by @nwparker in #31253
• Apply custom tab shortcuts immediately after switching worktrees with the keyboard by @brennanb2025 in #30941

Terminals, SSH & remote servers

Reconnect to surviving sessions, handle large SSH configurations, and keep remote updates and browser logins dependable.

• Start agent terminals at their first real size without the previous 12-frame wait by @brennanb2025 in #30442
• Attach to the successful connection when terminal reconnect attempts overlap by @brennanb2025 in #30448
• Reconnect hidden terminal tabs to sessions that survived a restart by @brennanb2025 in #31254
• Prevent a saved terminal folder on an unavailable network drive from freezing the window by @Jinwoo-H in #31381
• Keep mobile terminal snapshots aligned after removing terminal queries by @nwparker in #31348
• Keep the SSH Hosts list responsive and searchable with configurations containing 13,000 hosts by @nwparker in #31405
• Use the same bounded, searchable picker across host lists so large SSH configurations remain usable throughout Orca by @nwparker in #31426
• Preserve in-app browser logins when a WSL or managed SSH host pairs again by @nwparker in #29610
• Replace stale terminal daemons after they drain on Linux and WSL by @nwparker in #31235
• Restart the macOS serve supervisor from the updated app by @Jinwoo-H in #31200
• Prepare the macOS supervisor’s code copy in one step by @Jinwoo-H in #31303
• Prevent sidebar view settings from blocking SSH host migration by @nwparker in #31374
• Refuse new terminal creation while a server update is stopping the server by @nwparker in #29834
• Give Windows process-tree cleanup time to finish rather than leaving grandchildren behind by @nwparker in #29501
• Put sharing first in Remote Orca Servers settings by @nwparker in #31335

History, projects & source control

Find conversations across machines more easily, and keep project actions tied to the host that owns them.

• Keep scoped Session History working with very large transcript collections by @brennanb2025 in #30905
• Give history searches through SSH-connected Orca servers the full all-hosts scan budget by @nwparker in #31226
• Include sessions saved under a symlinked workspace’s real path in Workspace history by @nwparker in #31244
• Label the source host when history search results span multiple machines by @nwparker in #31261
• Open PR cards, rows and dialogs on the host that returned the item when projects share a path by @nwparker in #31252
• Keep GitLab items and project dialogs on their owning host by @nwparker in #31271
• Save issue-source changes to the selected project row by @nwparker in #31319
• Use the caller’s host for GitHub routing and task filters by @nwparker in #31263
• Separate work-item cache entries by project row and host by @nwparker in #31290
• Find registered projects by ID, path and host during refreshes by @nwparker in #31274
• Clear repository cache entries without evicting another live host’s project by @nwparker in #31312
• Refuse ambiguous legacy automations instead of guessing which host should run them by @nwparker in #31234
• Reject workspace parents that would create a nesting loop, including before the worktree cache is loaded by @brennanb2025 in #29340
• Fetch PR conflict-preview base branches through the shared fetch controller by @brennanb2025 in #30654

Tests, builds & maintenance

Faster release builds, broader platform coverage, dependency checks and continued editor cleanup. The layout-owner work below remains behind disabled build switches and is not enabled in this release.

• ci(wsl): run the WSL orcad lane on Debian 12 and Fedora 41 too by @nwparker in #29821
• Refactor AGENTS.md for clarity and conciseness by @nwparker in #31238
• test(skills): synchronize Windows rename contention by @nwparker in #31237
• chore: remove CLAUDE.md by @nwparker in #31242
• docs: load Git guidance on demand [skip ci] by @nwparker in #31245
• docs: slim test agent instructions by @nwparker in #31246
• docs: remove redundant max-lines agent instructions [skip ci] by @nwparker in #31247
• ci: stop running WSL host tests for UI-only changes by @nwparker in #31243
• Update AGENTS.md with Useful Commands section by @nwparker in #31248
• Editor tab state is written to its buffer record, not copied into it afterwards (phase 1a) by @nwparker in #31251
• docs: clarify first-class platform, remote, and mobile priorities by @nwparker in #31265
• test(daemon): run the stalled-reader backpressure test over a Unix socket, not TCP loopback by @brennanb2025 in #31256
• refactor(protocol): each area owns its published runtime capability list by @brennanb2025 in #30641
• Native chat: remove unused journalCheckpoint and setConversationCommand by @brennanb2025 in #30645
• Update AGENTS.md by @nwparker in #31288
• build(cli): typecheck the CLI by following its imports, not a hand list by @brennanb2025 in #30632
• Format AGENTS.md so main's formatting check passes by @nwparker in #31294
• refactor(wsl-hosts): add flow in wsl-host-registration; liveness split into state, evidence and monitor by @nwparker in #29506
• docs: add test anti-pattern reference by @nwparker in #31277
• Add the rules that decide which editor tabs are the same file (phase 1b-1, unused) by @nwparker in #31272
• Speed up adhoc releases with shared JavaScript and Blacksmith runners by @nwparker in #31297
• Close prompt, Discard, save flush and restart save each decided in one place per buffer record (phase 1b-2, no behaviour change) by @nwparker in #31313
• fix(ci): use one Zod identity in the E2E typecheck by @nwparker in #31320
• Overlap adhoc release gates and cache qualified server templates by @nwparker in #31300
• fix(deps): root and mobile resolve one zod, and CI fails if they drift by @nwparker in #31260
• Overlap native qualification setup with the mobile bundle build by @nwparker in #31336
• Batch macOS code signing for adhoc releases by @nwparker in #31340
• docs(orca-cli): teach agents cross-project parents and re-parenting by @brennanb2025 in #29900
• style: format a test file so main passes the formatting check by @Jinwoo-H in #31378
• test(claude): isolate real CLI fixtures and cover chat option requests by @brennanb2025 in #31201
• Carry batched macOS signing and qualified-template caching into production by @nwparker in #31397
• test(vitest): derive the Node SQLite test list from imports by @brennanb2025 in #30647
• ci: one list for Windows boundary tests and one step for ratchets by @brennanb2025 in #30643
• Build adhoc Mac architectures in parallel by @nwparker in #31415
• fix(release): avoid API rate limits waiting for the mobile bundle by @nwparker in #31431

Layout groundwork (disabled)

• Layout-owner build: main answers terminal questions from its own layout (A1, dark) by @Jinwoo-H in #31187
• A CLI or phone file on a layout-owner server opens in the tab group a paired desktop shows (switch-on builds only) by @Jinwoo-H in #31264
• Layout-owner build: a CLI send, wait or read starts a saved pane that has no terminal yet (dark) by @Jinwoo-H in #31307
• The window shows tab, title, move and divider changes only from main's update, never drawing them itself (dark, layout-owner build only) by @Jinwoo-H in #31257
• Layout-owner build: phones see main's terminal and editor rows (A2, dark) by @Jinwoo-H in #31276
• A paired desktop shows the held-terminal banner and Reopen for a server's held terminals (switch-on builds only) by @Jinwoo-H in #31275
• Pin why main's pane list republish waits for a microtask (switch-on builds only) by @Jinwoo-H in #31333
• test(layout): pin the layout-owner save format for downgrade, and keep main's touched-records save with an exhaustive guard (dark, layout-owner build only) by @Jinwoo-H in #31341
• Layout groundwork (switched off): main starts every split and new pane, the window only attaches by @Jinwoo-H in #31258
• fix(runtime): a server with no window answers its first terminal create, not 'handle stale' (switch-on builds only) by @Jinwoo-H in #31391
• Layout-owner build: main shows live terminals that lost their tab, at the same moments the window did (dark) by @Jinwoo-H in #31430

Full Changelog: v1.4.235...v1.4.237