{"slug":"ralph-orchestrator","name":"Ralph Orchestrator","vendor":"Mikey O'Brien","tagline":"Hat-based orchestration framework that keeps a coding agent looping on a task until it is finished","url":"https://agentboards.org/agent/ralph-orchestrator","website":"https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/","docs":"https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/","repo":"https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator","category":"harness","execution":["local"],"license":"MIT","open_source":true,"pricing":{"model":"byok","summary":"Free and open source under MIT; you pay for whichever agent CLI and model it drives","from_usd":0,"free_tier":true,"byok":true},"models":{"backbone":["Claude Code","Gemini CLI","Codex","Amp","Copilot CLI","OpenCode","Roo"],"bring_your_own_model":true,"local_models":false},"protocols":{"mcp_client":false,"mcp_server":true},"capabilities":{"terminal_exec":true,"browser":false,"multi_file_edit":true,"git_ops":false,"docker_sandbox":false,"multi_agent":true,"headless_ci":true},"context_window":null,"platforms":["macos","linux"],"install":[{"label":"npm","command":"npm install -g @ralph-orchestrator/ralph-cli"},{"label":"cargo","command":"cargo install ralph-cli"}],"benchmarks":[],"tags":["harness","orchestration","ralph","rust","mcp"],"github_stars":3164,"metrics":{"stars":3164,"pushed_at":"2026-09-30T23:58:06Z","archived":false,"open_issues":7,"latest_version":"2.10.1","latest_version_at":"2026-06-23T02:49:20.863Z","latest_version_url":"https://www.npmjs.com/package/@ralph-orchestrator/ralph-cli","version_source":"npm","checked_at":"2026-10-02T05:02:21.503Z"},"sources":{"overview":"https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator","docs":"https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/","install":"https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator","protocols":"https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator"},"verified_at":null,"adoption":{"score":3.4,"signals":{"npm_weekly":38,"github_stars":3150,"hn_mentions_1y":1},"measured_at":"2026-09-21"},"scores":{"panel":5.6,"adoption":3.4,"spread":2.5,"facts":2.3,"board":4.8,"dimensions":{"reliability":5.3,"usefulness":6,"cost":6.3,"longevity":4.8},"per_persona":{"amigo":5.8,"critico":5,"profesor":5.5,"inversora":5.5,"jefa":4.8,"hacker":7.3},"community":null},"rank":null,"category_rank":178,"panel_reviews":[{"persona":"juez","persona_name":"El Juez","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"El Hacker's 8 and El Crítico's 4 for reliability are about the same loop: he likes that it is his, and the loop is the part that bills.","scores":null,"evidence":[]},{"persona":"amigo","persona_name":"El Amigo","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"Pick this if you already pay for a coding CLI and want it supervised; pick Claude Squad if you would rather run several agents side by side than one on repeat.","scores":{"reliability":5,"usefulness":6,"cost":7,"longevity":5},"evidence":["https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator","https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/"]},{"persona":"critico","persona_name":"El Crítico","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"The entire technique is looping until the work looks done, and nothing documented defines done, so the termination condition is a judgement call made by the thing being judged.","scores":{"reliability":4,"usefulness":6,"cost":5,"longevity":5},"evidence":["https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator","https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/"]},{"persona":"profesor","persona_name":"El Profesor","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"Iterating an agent against a plan is best understood as a search procedure, and its cost scales with the number of attempts rather than with the difficulty of the task.","scores":{"reliability":6,"usefulness":6,"cost":5,"longevity":5},"evidence":["https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/","https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator"]},{"persona":"inversora","persona_name":"La Inversora","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"One maintainer, a permissive licence and no revenue, wrapped around ten backends whose vendors could each absorb this feature in a sprint.","scores":{"reliability":5,"usefulness":6,"cost":7,"longevity":4},"evidence":["https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator"]},{"persona":"jefa","persona_name":"La Jefa","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"The orchestrator is free for all sixty engineers and the ten agents it drives are not, so my exposure is ten meters running unattended with no console over them.","scores":{"reliability":4,"usefulness":5,"cost":6,"longevity":4},"evidence":["https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator","https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/"]},{"persona":"hacker","persona_name":"El Hacker","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"MIT, a cargo install, and `ralph mcp serve` speaks the protocol over stdio scoped to a single workspace root, which is exactly the right scoping decision.","scores":{"reliability":8,"usefulness":7,"cost":8,"longevity":6},"evidence":["https://github.com/mikeyobrien/ralph-orchestrator","https://mikeyobrien.github.io/ralph-orchestrator/"]},{"persona":"comediante","persona_name":"El Comediante","ai_generated":true,"verdict":"It is a Rust implementation of the Ralph Wiggum technique, which is the most honest name any methodology has ever been given.","scores":null,"evidence":[]}]}