# Orkas

> Orkas (app v1.9.5, released 27 Oct 2026, ~8.6k stars) is a desktop workspace for a team of AI agents. A Commander agent plans the work and hands parts to built-in agents for research, writing, video, slides and code, and to Claude Code, Codex or OpenCode if you have them installed. MIT. Installers for macOS and Windows need an Orkas sign-in and come with 500 free credits; after that you pay for credits or a plan, or add your own API keys. Linux runs from source only. Data stays on your disk, but the models run wherever you point them. More a general agent team than a coding tool.

- Repository: https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas
- Official docs: https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas#readme
- Checked: 2026-11-03

## What it replaces
Nothing people pay for: a free tool, listed because people search for it.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Confirmed | The app runs on your computer and keeps your data there; the AI models are cloud services or a local model you point it at | https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas#readme | 2026-11-03 |
| Code licence | Confirmed | MIT | https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas/blob/main/LICENSE | 2026-11-03 |
| Model weights licence | Confirmed | No chat model included; it calls models you choose. The small helper models it downloads (bge-small-zh-v1.5 for search, Whisper base for speech) are MIT | https://huggingface.co/BAAI/bge-small-zh-v1.5 | 2026-11-03 |
| Commercial use | Confirmed | Yes; the app is MIT. Your model provider's own terms also apply | https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas#faq | 2026-11-03 |
| Paid services needed? | Partial | None if you run it from source with a local model. Otherwise you need Orkas credits (500 free, plans from $11.99 a month) or your own paid API key | https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas#faq | 2026-11-03 |
| Hardware | Partial | No minimum figures stated; it is not a model itself, so no GPU is needed unless you also run a local model | https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas#faq | 2026-11-03 |
| Operating systems | Confirmed | Installers for macOS 12+ and Windows 10+; Linux (glibc 2.34+) runs from source only, with no installer | https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas#faq | 2026-11-03 |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Easy with the installer, which needs an Orkas sign-in; running from source needs Node 22.12+ and a clone of the repo | https://github.com/Orkas-AI/Orkas#download | 2026-11-03 |

GitHub: 7710 stars, 480 forks, last push 2026-11-03, archived: no.

## Alternatives to Orkas
- [OpenClaw](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/openclaw.md): Self-hosted personal AI assistant you run on your own computer and chat with through WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, iMessage and 20+ other apps.
- [AstrBot](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/astrbot.md): Self-hosted agent chatbot platform for Telegram, Slack, Discord, QQ, Feishu and more, with plugins, a sandbox and hosted or local models.
- [Rakazo](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/rakazo.md): Self-hosted open-source agent for persistent AI teammates with their own computers, memory and routines; bring your own model.
- [OpenMausBot](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/openmausbot.md): Open-source Grok Bot alternative: a desktop app where each chat is a bot, run through the Claude, Codex or Grok command-line tools you already have.
- [OpenBot](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/openbot.md): Desktop workspace for persistent AI agents run by Codex, Claude Code, Grok and other CLIs, with task queues and a built-in browser. Non-commercial licence.

## Related projects (they do other jobs)
- [DeerFlow](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/deer-flow.md): ByteDance's self-hosted "super agent" for deep research, reports, slides and web pages, with Docker sandboxes, sub-agents, scheduled tasks and chat-app bots.
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Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/orkas). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.