# CLI Manager vs Orca (slim)

> CLI Manager scores 66.4 (B) to Orca's 57.4 (C) for multi-agent orchestration. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-orca.md (~5,800 tokens) · this version ~2,430 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-orca.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-orca
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

CLI Manager scores 66.4 (B) on agent readiness against Orca's 57.4 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Orca leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance & community. Both do multi-agent orchestration.

- CLI Manager: B 66.4, rank #368 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cli-manager.min.md
- Orca: C 57.4, rank #791 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/orca.min.md
- CLI Manager, good for A developer on macOS who runs several coding agents and wants another agent to start and watch sessions where the person can see and step in. Ahead on Reliability, 68 against 58; Schema & documentation, 87 against 65; Security & auth, 58 against 43; Payments & pricing, 60 against 40. Also Free to start without a card.
- Orca, good for Developers who want an orchestrator agent to split work across parallel coding agents, on desktop or mobile. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 70 against 65; Maintenance & community, 75 against 62. Also No key needed to call it.

| Category | CLI Manager | Orca |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 68 | 58 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 87 | 65 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 65 | 70 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 58 | 43 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 62 | 75 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 58 | 54 |

| Fact (where they differ) | CLI Manager | Orca |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | solhun (Jeong Kyeonghun) | Lovecast Inc. |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Tools exposed | 27 | none |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-06 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-14 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-14 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Popularity | 15 stars | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, CLI Manager +22: CLI Manager 87 (The MCP server lists 27 tools (12 on 14 October; checklist, inbox, session-folder and relation tools were added between v1.18.0 and v1.24.0), each with a typed JSON Schema input and required fields marked. `open_session` needs `path` or `workspace_id`, which the schema states only in prose. No OpenAPI for the REST side (22). llms.txt at climanager.solhun.com (10). Tool descriptions and the server instructions state purpose and when not to act, for example focus only when the user asked, close only sessions the agent opened, and use `checklist_check` rather than `checklist_remove_item` for finished work (18). Enums on `scope`, `mode`, `status` and `kind`. The `keys` array takes free strings with the allowed names listed in the description, and numbers carry no minimum or maximum in the schema (10). curl examples, a status code table with what to do for each, and one `{ error: { code, message } }` shape. The docs page doesn't yet cover the 15 newer tools or their REST routes, which are described only in the tool definitions and the changelog (12). REST lives under `/v1`, with release notes and a site changelog (15).); Orca 65 (Harness reading. A docs site with CLI orchestration and native chat pages (65).)
- Payments & pricing, CLI Manager +20: CLI Manager 60 (No payment protocol (0). Read with the self-hosted rule. Free under MIT with nothing to buy since v1.5.0 (20). No card or account (20). Download and enable the API with no signup (20). The paid Pro licence of versions 1.0 to 1.4 was removed on 8 April 2026, so there is no paid option to score.); Orca 40 (Scored on the cloud option. No protocol (0). The cloud price wasn't found on the pages read (0). The desktop app is free and MIT with no card (20). The local app needs no sign-up that we found (20). 0 + 0 + 20 + 20 = 40.)
- Security & auth, CLI Manager +15: CLI Manager 58 (Harness reading of the framework checklist, as for the other harnesses. 30 for what leaves the machine by default, 20 for approvals and sandboxing, 15 for prompt-injection posture, 15 for audit and 20 for the security programme. No telemetry or analytics found in the source. Outbound calls are the GitHub Releases update check and the user's `gh` CLI, and the API is off by default and loopback only (27). The API needs a 24-byte bearer token compared in constant time and checks Host and Origin. Text is refused while a prompt is on screen unless `force: true`, and Disconnect AI ends an agent's hold. Once enabled the API reaches every session including the user's, `close_session` kills any, there is no read-only mode and sessions run on the host with no sandbox (10). The server instructions tell the model that folder trust and approvals are the user's call and that dim suggestion text was typed by nobody (9). Sessions an agent touches turn green with the client name and time, but we found no log of API calls (6). No SECURITY.md, security.txt or bug bounty. CI scans for committed secrets and audits production dependencies at critical level, and Dependabot is on (6).); Orca 43 (Harness reading. Anonymous usage data with an opt-out, per the README's link to its telemetry docs (15 of 30). Worktrees per agent and a sandboxed Linux build (12 of 20). No prompt-injection guidance (5). No audit log (5). A dependency-security workflow (6 of 20). 15 + 12 + 5 + 5 + 6 = 43.)
- Maintenance & community, Orca +13: CLI Manager 62 (v1.24.0 on 1 November 2026 (30). 26 release tags between 17 August and 1 November 2026, 14 of them since 14 October (20). Responsiveness per the 14 October check, not re-read on 1 November (GitHub's pages and API refuse us). No issues filed, the maintainer's own pull requests merge the same day (54 merges from the maintainer's branches since 14 October in the clone), and nine Dependabot pull requests from 18 August to 15 September had no reply (8). Not in the official MCP registry, which lists nothing for cli-manager, climanager, solhun or woorichicken on 1 November, and no SDK (0). Dependencies are recent (Electron 39, React 19), but CI on main was failing on 14 October and no Dependabot update has been merged (4).); Orca 75 (Tags to v1.4.251 and commits on 6 November 2026 (30). Many releases in 90 days (20). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Current builds (15). Extensive CI (10). 30 + 20 + 0 + 15 + 10 = 75.)
- Reliability, CLI Manager +10: CLI Manager 68 (Read as local software. Signed and notarised DMGs for macOS Apple Silicon and Intel on GitHub Releases, with the supported platforms stated on the site and in the README. No package registry (20). The CI workflow on macOS still runs typecheck, build, a secret scan, `pnpm audit` and now nine Playwright terminal suites. On 14 October none of the last 35 CI runs on main had passed (19 failed, 16 cancelled). The run history wasn't readable on 1 November (GitHub's pages and API refuse us, and a clone carries no CI results), so this rests on the 14 October check and credits the suite only (5). No issue count could be read on 1 November. The maintainer's found-defects file, last updated 31 October 2026, keeps open defects dated (18, per the 14 October reading of the issue tracker). Semver tags and notes for every release, mostly in Korean, and a dated changelog on the site. Breaking changes are not marked as such (10). Version 1.24.0, past 1.0 since 4 December 2025 (15).); Orca 58 (Local software. Desktop and mobile builds and a Homebrew cask (20). Unit, end-to-end and platform test workflows; pass state not read (15). GitHub issues and pull requests weren't read (GitHub's pages refuse these sessions), so that line is scored absent (0). Tags to v1.4.251, no changelog file (8). Version 1.4 (15). 20 + 15 + 0 + 8 + 15 = 58.)
- Agent ergonomics, Orca +5: CLI Manager 65 (27 compact tools, in the 11 to 30 band (15). `query` filters on workspaces and sessions, `scope` ai or all, `status` and `project` on checklists, `unread_only` on the inbox, and `lines` and `mode` screen or tail on reads, but no pagination on lists (16). Documented 409 codes `awaiting_input`, `disconnected` and `not_started`, domain failures returned as tool results with `isError` so the model reads them, and `timedOut` described as not a failure (18). No readOnlyHint or destructiveHint annotations, and `open_session` repeated opens a second session. Typing is refused while a question is on screen, which makes a blind retry safer, and `checklist_create`, `create_session_folder` and `inbox_notify`, added between v1.18.0 and v1.24.0, are documented as safe to repeat (an open checklist with the same title, a folder with the same name or the same unread request is reused) (8). Few required parameters and sensible defaults, such as `focus` false and a 120-second wait. No SDK, only the `climanager-session` agent skill with a Node script (8).); Orca 70 (Harness reading. An orchestrator agent that splits work across workers in their own workspaces, chat or raw CLI, a browser and a CLI in one app (70).)