Comparing orchestrators by feature attributes

What an orchestrator is

An orchestrator coordinates agent or workflow work across steps, sessions, and recovery points. In factory terms it is the system that keeps loops, harness attachments, and checked-in workflow files moving when a single shell session is not enough.

This comparison is about feature attributes of orchestrators in a shared registry—open source status, license, hosting model, and capability tags—not a ranking of benchmark scores. It is also distinct from the broader agent-factory and orchestration systems comparison, which weighs product shape and durability tradeoffs in prose.

For the product shape that motivates a lightweight factory orchestrator, see What is you-agent-factory. For the runtime attachment the factory drives, see Harness.

How to read the feature matrix

Read the matrix as a levels.fyi-style exploration table:

• Columns are orchestrators you choose to keep visible.
• Rows are attribute definitions from the committed registry (for example open source, license, hosting, and capabilities).
• Filters on multi-tag attributes keep only orchestrators whose value includes every selected tag (AND, not OR).
• Sort reorders columns or rows by a sortable attribute when you need a clearer scan order.
• Focus accents one column or row and mutes the rest so a single tradeoff stays readable.

If filters or hidden columns leave nothing to compare, the matrix says so clearly—clear a filter or restore a column to keep scanning.

Feature matrix

Attribute meanings stay in the registry. Capability tags such as loops, worktrees, Model Context Protocol (MCP), and persistence describe what an orchestrator claims to cover in practice for agent-oriented work—not a guarantee that every technique page maps one-to-one onto every product.

Reading notes

• Planner–executor is the technique pageMany orchestrators express work as plan-then-execute loops. Use the planner–executor technique docs when you need the pattern itself; use this matrix when you need to compare which orchestrators advertise loops, persistence, or related capabilities.
• Registry entries todayThe committed orchestrator feature registry currently includes you-agent-factory and Custom scripts. you-agent-factory is a local, open-source, MIT-licensed option with loops, worktrees, MCP, and persistence among its capability tags. Custom scripts remain useful for small disposable loops and are a weak default once recovery and multi-session work matter.
• Feature attributes, not scoresThis post explores registry attributes such as open source, license, hosting, and capabilities. It is not a benchmark leaderboard, and it is distinct from the agent-factories comparison that weighs product shape and durability in prose.

For the stable docs definition of plan-then-execute loops, see planner–executor. More orchestrators can land in the same registry without changing how readers scan columns against rows.