Developer Guide

Technical reference. This page is for integrations, advanced configuration, or platform operations. For portal tasks, start with the user guide.

You build on Orqestra using the SDK, CLI, or API. This guide helps you set up your development environment and build your first flow.

Prerequisites

Python 3.13+ and Node.js 26.x
Docker and Docker Compose

What you’ll learn

SDK Quickstart — Install the SDK, define a flow, and validate it
API Basics — Interact with the control plane REST API directly
Local Dev Setup — Set up your complete development environment

Local credentials

Run make bootstrap before starting the local Compose stack. It creates or reuses an owner-protected credential bundle under .tools/local-compose/ and passes generated service credentials and signing material to the stack. Values are intentionally not printed during startup; retrieve one selected value only when needed, for example make dev-credentials CREDENTIAL=login or make dev-credentials CREDENTIAL=minio. Keep the generated directory private and do not commit it.

Developer tools

Once you’re comfortable with the basics, explore these developer-focused guides:

CLI Reference — orqestractl covers core workload, asset, flow, release, execution, template, namespace, and trigger workflows from the terminal
GitOps & Terraform — Define resources as YAML in a Git repo and converge them with orqestractl sync (validate / preview / apply / reconcile); the Terraform provider is available as a secondary option for teams standardizing Orqestra resource management in HCL
Authoring A Plugin Package — Publish reusable connector, tool, hook, and MCP definitions as an installable package (orqestra.plugin.yaml) instead of hand-authoring assets per workspace
AI Flow Generation — Describe a workflow in natural language and receive a valid, runnable flow YAML
Visual Flow Editor — Author flows visually in the portal with drag-and-drop and per-node debug