Open Orchestrator provides the owt command-line tool for managing git worktrees, tmux sessions, and AI coding agents in parallel development workflows.

Command Structure

owt [COMMAND] [ARGS] [OPTIONS]

Running owt with no arguments launches the Control Plane -- a prioritized decision surface for managing all your worktrees.

Complete Command Reference

Open Orchestrator has 20+ commands across 6 groups:

Worktree Management

Command	Alias	Description
owt	—	Launch the Control Plane (prioritized worktree manager)
owt new	n	Create a new worktree from a task description
owt list	ls	List all worktrees with status
owt switch	s	Jump to a worktree's tmux session
owt attach	—	Hand off to a worktree's session via the active backend
owt branch	—	Create a branch session in the current checkout (no worktree)
owt delete	rm	Delete a worktree and all associated resources

Agent Communication

Command	Alias	Description
owt send	—	Send a message to a worktree's AI agent
owt wait	—	Poll until an agent finishes (CI/scripts)
owt note	—	Share context across all agent sessions

Merge & Ship

Command	Alias	Description
owt merge	m	Two-phase merge with conflict guard
owt ship	—	Commit + merge + delete in one shot
owt queue	—	Show optimal merge order; --ship to auto-ship all

Maintenance & Diagnostics

Command	Alias	Description
owt sync	—	Sync worktree(s) with upstream
owt cleanup	—	Remove stale worktrees
owt doctor	—	Diagnose and fix orphaned resources
owt usage	—	Show local-only usage counts (launches, worktrees, workflows)
owt version	—	Show the installed version

Configuration & Database

Command	Alias	Description
owt config validate	—	Validate configuration against the schema
owt config show	—	Display effective configuration as TOML
owt db purge	—	Delete old transient rows (peer messages, usage events)
owt db vacuum	—	Optimize and compact the database
owt db health	—	Show database health statistics

Global Options

Option	Description
--version	Show version and exit
--help	Show help message and exit
--tmux	Use the tmux multiplexer backend (default)
--herdr	Use the herdr multiplexer backend
--theme <name>	Select a UI color palette
--json	Machine-readable JSON output (supported commands)

Configuration File Priority

Open Orchestrator looks for configuration in this order:

1. --config flag (if supported by command)
2. .worktreerc in current directory
3. .worktreerc.toml in current directory
4. ~/.config/open-orchestrator/config.toml
5. ~/.worktreerc

JSON Output

The following commands support --json for machine-readable output:

owt list --json
owt cleanup --json
owt sync --all --json

This is useful for scripting, CI/CD pipelines, and building tooling on top of Open Orchestrator.

Next Steps

• New to Open Orchestrator? Start with the Quick Start guide
• Want to manage visually? Learn about the Control Plane
• Ready to create worktrees? See owt new