Orbs are small, focused apps built rapidly with AI assistance and shared freely.
The Idea
An Orb is a tiny packaged application that:
- Solves one specific problem
- Takes hours (not weeks) to build
- Ships as a ready-to-use binary
- Lives on GitHub for anyone to download
- Gets built with Claude providing async support
Think of them as micro-products - small enough to build quickly, useful enough to share.
Why “Orbs”
The name suggests something small, self-contained, and complete. Like a marble or a sphere - simple geometry, no unnecessary complexity.
Read the manifesto for more.
The Process
- Identify a pain point - something annoying in your daily workflow
- Design minimal solution - what’s the smallest thing that would help?
- Build with Claude - leverage AI for unfamiliar tech stacks
- Ship it - package, release, move on
The async nature of working with Claude means you can start an Orb, let Claude work through the details, and come back to something functional.
Example Orbs
- Sentinel - Monitor AI agent activity from your menu bar
Philosophy
Orbs embrace:
- Speed over perfection - ship it, iterate if needed
- Focus over features - one job, done well
- Sharing over hoarding - if it helped you, share it
- Learning over expertise - build in languages you don’t know yet
Anti-patterns
Orbs are NOT:
- Large, complex applications
- Commercial products (they’re free)
- Platforms or frameworks
- Anything requiring ongoing maintenance
If it needs a roadmap, it’s not an Orb.
Building Your Own Orbs
The barrier is low. Got an idea? Spend an evening with Claude. See what happens. Maybe you’ll ship something useful. Maybe you’ll learn a new stack. Either way, you win.
Check the website for more details.
Orbs are experiments in rapid shipping. Build small, share freely, move fast.