How is this different from running multiple Claude Code / Cursor sessions in terminal tabs?
Tabs are fine for one or two. AO handles the bookkeeping once you have more than that: per-session worktrees, per-session branches, automatic CI/review reactions, one dashboard, cost tracking, and a state machine that knows what each agent is doing.
Do I have to use Claude Code?
No. AO supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Aider, and OpenCode today. Set agent: per project (or per spawn with
--agent). See Agents.
Does AO auto-merge?
No, intentionally. AO will get a PR to a mergeable state — CI green, approvals satisfied — and stop. The merge is your call.
Does AO need webhooks?
No. AO polls gh / glab for PR state. Webhooks are an optional latency optimisation for the review loop — wire them
up only if you need near-instant reactions.
Can it use GitHub Enterprise / self-hosted GitLab?
Yes. gh and glab both support enterprise hosts — configure them via their own tools. For GitLab, also set
trackerConfig.host / scmConfig.host in AO.
Does it work on Windows?
Partially — see Platforms › Windows. You need runtime: process instead of tmux, and
desktop notifications are a no-op. Everything else (spawning, PR flow, review loop, CI recovery) works the same.
Where does session state live?
~/.agent-orchestrator/{hash}-{projectId}/. No database. Everything is flat files you can inspect.
Can I run AO on a remote server?
Yes. The dashboard is a plain Next.js app — port-forward or put it behind your reverse proxy. AO has no built-in auth,
so use your usual SSO / basic-auth layer. Use runtime: process in containers.
How much does it cost?
AO itself is MIT-licensed and free. Agents cost whatever their underlying API costs (Anthropic, OpenAI, etc.) — AO shows per-session cost on the dashboard for agents that report it (Claude Code today).
What happens to my code?
Your code stays in your worktrees on your machine. AO doesn't upload anything — it just coordinates local processes and makes GitHub API calls through your authenticated CLIs.
Can I write my own plugin?
Yes. ao plugin create --slot <slot> --name <name> scaffolds a starter. Plugins are tiny Node packages exporting a manifest + create() function.
Why is everything a plugin?
Because the answer to "should AO support Linear?" (or Discord, or Codex, or …) is always yes, but bundling every integration into core makes the CLI heavy. Plugins let you pick what you need.
Does AO modify my repo's files?
The agent modifies the worktree — that's the whole point. AO itself doesn't touch main, doesn't force-push, and
doesn't merge. The session works on its own branch.
Can I still install AO via npm?
Yes, npm still works, but it is no longer recommended. 0.10.0 is the final version published to npm, and the
@aoagents/ao package is frozen and will not receive further updates. Prefer the desktop
download. Existing CLI users can run ao start to fetch and open the desktop build.
How do I completely uninstall?
npm uninstall -g @aoagents/ao, then rm -rf ~/.agent-orchestrator if you want to wipe all session history.