ORCS CLI

Lua-extensible Agentic Shell for building AI-powered development tools.

ORCS (Orchestrated Runtime Component System) provides a component-based architecture where every behavior is implemented as a Lua script, capability-gated, and sandboxed.

Part of the ORCS family — a suite of multi-agent AI tools built around orchestrated reasoning and collaboration. See also ORCS Desktop for the GUI workspace application.

Prerequisites

• Rust 1.80.0 or later

Features

• Lua-first extensibility -- All components (agents, skills, tools) are Lua scripts
• Capability-gated APIs -- LLM, HTTP, exec, file I/O each require explicit capability grants
• Sandbox isolation -- Path traversal prevention, Lua stdlib restrictions, input sanitization
• Multi-provider LLM -- Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic via config.toml
• ActionIntent system -- Unified tool dispatch with IntentRegistry, LLM tool_use auto-resolution, and dynamic intent registration
• Skill recommendation -- LLM-based or keyword-based skill matching with automatic tool registration
• Session persistence -- Pause/resume with component state snapshot
• Hook system -- FQL-based lifecycle hooks for pre/post processing
• Human-in-the-loop -- Approval workflows for destructive operations

Install

cargo install orcs-cli

Or from source:

cargo build --release
# Binary at target/release/orcs

Quick Start

Run with default builtins

orcs

Run with verbose output

orcs --verbose

Run in sandbox mode (isolated environment)

orcs --sandbox

Resume a previous session

orcs --resume <SESSION_ID>

Create a Lua component

-- ~/.orcs/components/hello.lua
return {
    id = "hello",
    namespace = "custom",
    subscriptions = {"Hello"},

    init = function(cfg)
        orcs.log("info", "Hello component initialized")
    end,

    on_request = function(request)
        if request.operation == "greet" then
            local name = request.payload or "world"
            return { success = true, data = "Hello, " .. name .. "!" }
        end
        return { success = false, error = "unknown operation" }
    end,

    on_signal = function(sig)
        return "Handled"
    end,

    shutdown = function()
        orcs.log("info", "Goodbye")
    end,
}

Add it to config.toml:

[components]
load = ["agent_mgr", "skill_manager", "hello"]

CLI

orcs [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]...

Flag	Description
-d, --debug	Enable debug logging
-v, --verbose	Verbose output
-C, --project <PATH>	Project root directory
--resume <ID>	Resume an existing session
--profile <NAME>	Profile name (ORCS_PROFILE)
--experimental	Enable experimental components (ORCS_EXPERIMENTAL)
--sandbox [DIR]	Sandbox mode (optional dir, defaults to tempdir)
--builtins-dir <PATH>	Override builtins directory (ORCS_BUILTINS_DIR)
--install-builtins	Install/update builtin components and exit

Lua API

File I/O (Sandbox-gated)

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.read(path)	{ok, content, size}	Read file contents
orcs.write(path, content)	{ok, bytes_written}	Write file (atomic)
orcs.grep(pattern, path)	{ok, matches[], count}	Regex search
orcs.glob(pattern, dir?)	{ok, files[], count}	Glob pattern search
orcs.mkdir(path)	{ok}	Create directory with parents
orcs.remove(path)	{ok}	Remove file or directory
orcs.mv(src, dst)	{ok}	Move / rename
orcs.scan_dir(config)	table[]	Directory scan with include/exclude
orcs.parse_frontmatter(path)	{frontmatter, body, format}	Parse file frontmatter

Execution (Capability::EXECUTE)

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.exec(cmd)	{ok, stdout, stderr, code}	Shell command execution
orcs.exec_argv(program, args, opts?)	{ok, stdout, stderr, code}	Direct execution (no shell)

LLM (Capability::LLM)

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.llm(prompt, opts?)	{ok, content, model, session_id, stop_reason, intents}	LLM chat completion
orcs.llm_ping(opts?)	{ok, provider, base_url, latency_ms}	Provider health check
orcs.llm_dump_sessions()	string	Export session history as JSON
orcs.llm_load_sessions(json)	{ok, count}	Restore session history from JSON

LLM opts support tools (default true), resolve (default false), and max_tool_turns (default 10) for automatic tool_use dispatch.

Intent Dispatch

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.dispatch(name, args)	table	Unified intent dispatcher (8 builtins + dynamic)
orcs.intent_defs()	table[]	Intent definitions in JSON Schema format
orcs.register_intent(def)	{ok, error}	Register a Component-backed intent at runtime
orcs.tool_schemas()	table[]	Legacy tool schema format (backward compat)
orcs.tool_descriptions()	string	Formatted tool descriptions for prompts

HTTP (Capability::HTTP)

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.http(method, url, opts?)	{ok, status, headers, body}	HTTP request

Component Communication

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.request(target, op, payload)	table	Component-to-component RPC
orcs.request_batch(requests)	table[]	Parallel RPC batch
orcs.output(msg)	nil	Emit output event
orcs.output_with_level(msg, level)	nil	Emit leveled output event
orcs.emit_event(category, op, payload)	nil	Broadcast extension event
orcs.board_recent(n)	table[]	Query shared board

Child Management

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.spawn_child(config)	{ok, id}	Spawn child entity
orcs.send_to_child(id, msg)	{ok, result}	Send message to child
orcs.send_to_children_batch(ids, inputs)	table[]	Parallel batch send
orcs.spawn_runner(config)	{ok, fqn, channel_id}	Spawn a ChannelRunner
orcs.child_count()	number	Current child count
orcs.max_children()	number	Max allowed children

Serialization & Utilities

Function	Returns	Description
orcs.json_parse(str)	value	Parse JSON string
orcs.json_encode(value)	string	Encode to JSON
orcs.toml_parse(str)	value	Parse TOML string
orcs.toml_encode(value)	string	Encode to TOML
orcs.sanitize_arg(s)	{ok, value, violations}	Command argument validation
orcs.sanitize_path(s)	{ok, value, violations}	Path validation
orcs.sanitize_strict(s)	{ok, value, violations}	Strict validation (all rules)
orcs.log(level, msg)	nil	Structured logging
orcs.pwd	string	Sandbox root path
orcs.git_info()	{ok, branch, commit_short, dirty}	Git repository info
orcs.load_lua(content, name?)	value	Evaluate Lua in sandbox
orcs.check_command(cmd)	{status, reason?}	Check command permission
orcs.grant_command(pattern)	nil	Grant command pattern
orcs.request_approval(op, desc)	approval_id	HIL approval request

Configuration

Create config.toml in your project root (or ~/.orcs/config.toml for global):

[components]
load = ["agent_mgr", "skill_manager", "profile_manager", "foundation_manager", "console_metrics", "shell", "tool"]

[components.settings.agent_mgr]
llm_provider = "ollama"
llm_model = "llama3.2:latest"
llm_base_url = "http://localhost:11434"
# llm_api_key = ""         # for openai/anthropic
prompt_placement = "both"   # "top" | "both" | "bottom"

[components.settings.skill_manager]
recommend_skill = true
# recommend_llm_provider = "ollama"
# recommend_llm_model = "llama3.2:latest"

[hil]
auto_approve = false
timeout_ms = 30000

[ui]
verbose = false
color = true

[[hooks.hooks]]
id = "audit"
fql = "builtin::*"
point = "request.pre_dispatch"
script = "hooks/audit.lua"

Builtin Components

Component	Description
agent_mgr	Agent manager with LLM worker spawning and skill intent registration
skill_manager	Skill catalog, recommendation, and execution
profile_manager	User profile and preferences
foundation_manager	Foundation/system prompt management
console_metrics	Console output metrics
shell	Interactive shell commands
tool	Tool execution bridge
life_game	Conway's Game of Life (experimental, --experimental)

Architecture

Layer 4: Frontend
  orcs-cli --- main.rs, Args, CliConfigResolver, --sandbox

Layer 3: Application
  orcs-app --- OrcsApp, OrcsAppBuilder, builtins expansion

Layer 2: Runtime (Internal)
  orcs-runtime --- Engine, Channel, World, Config, Session, Sandbox, IO

Layer 1.5: Hooks
  orcs-hook --- HookDef, HooksConfig, FQL-based lifecycle hooks

Layer 1: Plugin SDK
  orcs-component --- Component, Child, Agent, Skill traits
  orcs-event --- Signal, Request, Response
  orcs-types --- ComponentId, ActionIntent, IntentDef, IntentRegistry
  orcs-auth --- Capability, Permission, SandboxPolicy

Plugin Implementation:
  orcs-lua --- LuaComponent, LuaChild, orcs.* API, IntentRegistry, ScriptLoader

Dev Tools:
  orcs-lint --- Architecture lint (OL002: no unwrap, layer dependency checks)

Documentation

API documentation is generated from source via rustdoc. Each crate has module-level documentation with architecture diagrams, usage examples, and security notes.

cargo doc --workspace --no-deps --open

Contributing

Bug reports, feature requests, and questions are welcome via GitHub Issues.

License

Licensed under either of

• Apache License, Version 2.0 (LICENSE-APACHE or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
• MIT license (LICENSE-MIT or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

at your option.