OrcavsTrellis
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Orca
Stably AI · Agent harness
OSS
Panel
6.32 spec wins
- Reliability
- 5.8
- Usefulness
- 6.5
- Cost
- 6.7
- Longevity
- 6.0
“The Android app is at version 0.0.47, so it has shipped forty-seven times without anyone committing to version one.”
Trellis
Mindfold · Agent harness
OSS
Panel
6.22 spec wins
- Reliability
- 4.7
- Usefulness
- 6.8
- Cost
- 7.2
- Longevity
- 6.0
“Persists project context into your repo for any coding agent, but executes without a sandbox.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Orca | Trellis |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Runs | local | local |
| Platforms | macos, windows, linux | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | not documented | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | No | No |
| MCP server | No | No |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | No | Yes |
| Git operations | Yes | Yes |
| Browser control | Yes | No |
| Sandboxed execution | No | No |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | No | No |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | via managed agents (Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Gemini, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode, Amp, Pi, Hermes Agent, Goose and others) | |
| Bring your own model | No | Yes |
| Local models | No | No |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | free | free |
| Starts at | $0/mo | n/a |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | No | No |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| GitHub stars | 83,326 | 14,857 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Orca | Trellis | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.0 | 7.3 | Trellis — Use Trellis if you work with multiple coding agents and need to enforce consistent project context, but only if you're willing to invest in defining those standards yourself. |
| El Crítico | 5.3 | 6.8 | Trellis — Trellis executes commands without a sandbox, creating a risk of unintended file system changes or corrupted git state. |
| El Profesor | 6.0 | 6.5 | Trellis — Trellis is a framework for standardizing context across different coding agents, useful for teams wanting to enforce project conventions. |
| La Inversora | 5.5 | 6.0 | Trellis — Trellis is a useful abstraction layer for teams using multiple agents, but its business model is unclear, making it a risky long-term dependency. |
| La Jefa | 6.0 | 4.0 | Orca — Anonymous usage data is collected with an opt-out, there is no SSO, no plan and no vendor contact beyond a GitHub repo; approved with conditions as a personal tool. |
| El Hacker | 7.8 | 6.5 | Orca — MIT, brew cask and an AUR package, and a CLI with orca worktree create, snapshot, click and fill so I can script the window; no MCP, no model settings. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.