Allows you to define workflows that will automatically be executed in the background on your machine.
It is designed to be easily extensible and workflows can be built to respond to events such as being tagged as a reviewer, assigned to tickets or react to whatever API you have access to.
- Workflows are TOML-defined series of steps
- Steps can drive bash scripts, Claude, Copilot or any AI CLI
- Checkpoints pause for human review and feedback
- Workspaces isolate workflows per-run
All driven by an intuitive TUI dashboard.
- For agent steps: Any of Claude Code, Copilot CLI, other AI CLI tools
- For sandbox: Podman
# Install workflow
otter workflow install examples/hello-world
# Start background service
otter service start
# Open the TUI
otter
# or start workflow via CLI:
otter start hello-world
# Stop background service
otter service stop| Command | |
|---|---|
otter | open the TUI dashboard |
otter help | show all commands |
otter status | list service, workflow, and marketplace state |
otter update | install a newer otter release |
otter start <name> | start or resume a workflow |
otter stop <name> | stop a running workflow |
| Command | |
|---|---|
otter service start | bring the service up |
otter service stop | take it down |
otter service enable | enable auto-boot |
otter service disable | disable auto-boot |
Can be found in the examples/ directory.
Install workflows by name from any git repo that publishes them. This repository doubles as one:
otter marketplace add "$(pwd)"
otter workflow install todo-impl@ottercargo build --release
# Binary is at: target/release/otter| Purpose | Linux | Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration & workflows | ~/.config/otter/ | %APPDATA%\otter\ |
| State, logs & run scratch dirs | ~/.local/share/otter/ | %APPDATA%\otter\ |
otter service enable is the only path that writes outside these directories (it installs a systemd user unit to ~/.config/systemd/user/otter.service). otter service disable removes it.
A reference for all possible configurations (step types, triggers and workspace configuration) can be found in the usage guide.