Orbs are persistent, named background daemon agents that carry a domain-specific persona. They run as detached processes, periodically checking your infrastructure and taking action using the full suite of xCommand tools.
Key Features
- Autonomous Loop: Orbs run on a configurable interval (default 60s), autonomously checking their area of responsibility.
- Custom Personas: Each orb can be tailored with a specific persona, such as an “Oncall Engineer,” “Security Auditor,” or “Cost Optimiser.”
- Full Tool Access: Orbs have access to all xCommand tools, including
run_command, read_file, and Cloud integrations.
- Persistent Logging: Every action, thought, and tool result is logged to a local file for auditability.
Getting Started with Orbs
Creating an Orb
To create a new orb, use the create command. You’ll be prompted to provide a natural language description of the orb’s purpose.
xcommand orbs create oncall-monitor
xCommand uses AI to refine your raw description into a professional system-style persona prompt.
Managing Orbs
| Command | Description |
|---|
xcommand orbs list | List all your orbs and their current status (running/stopped). |
xcommand orbs start <name> | Start an orb as a background daemon process. |
xcommand orbs status [name] | View detailed status, including PID, uptime, and persona. |
xcommand orbs logs <name> | Tail the last 50 lines of an orb’s activity log. |
xcommand orbs stop <name> | Gracefully stop a running orb. |
xcommand orbs delete <name> | Permanently remove an orb and its configuration. |
Practical Examples
The Oncall Engineer
Purpose: Monitor the operator service and help fix issues by referring to Notion, GitHub, or any other available bits.
Persona: “You are our oncall engineer for xcommand operator service. Periodically check the health of the service, monitor logs, and if anything goes wrong, attempt to fix it or gather diagnostic data using available documentation.”
The Multi-Cloud Auditor
Purpose: Regularly check AWS and GCP resources for security group misconfigurations or public buckets.
Persona: “You are a cloud security auditor. Every hour, scan our infrastructure for high-risk misconfigurations like open SSH ports or public S3 buckets, and report them by writing a summary to ~/security-audit.md.”
Technical Details
- Storage: Orb configurations and logs are stored in
~/.xcommand/<name>/.
- Daemonisation: Starting an orb spawns a detached Bun process that persists even after you close your terminal.
- Authentication: Orbs use your existing xCommand authentication (JWT or API Key) to communicate with the operator service.
