CLI Agent Orchestrator

CLI Agent Orchestrator

Supervisor-and-worker multi-agent coordination across coding CLIs — handoffs over MCP.

Score 73(?)AWS LabsApache-2.0727Verified Top MCPs for Agent Orchestration

Quick answer

What it does

Runs a supervisor agent that decomposes work and dispatches subtasks to worker agents in isolated tmux sessions. Exposes MCP tools for synchronous handoff, asynchronous assignment, inter-agent messaging, and session lifecycle management.

Best for

  • Supervisor-worker multi-agent coding
  • Parallelizing large builds across agents
  • Coordinating multiple coding CLIs
  • Isolated per-agent working sessions

Not for

  • Single-agent tasks
  • Environments without tmux

Setup recipe

Pick your client, then follow the three steps.

  1. 1

    Install

    claude_desktop_config.json
    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "cli-agent-orchestrator": {
          "command": "uv",
          "args": [
            "tool",
            "install",
            "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
            "--upgrade"
          ]
        }
      }
    }

    Paste under mcpServers. Fully quit and reopen Claude after editing.

    CLI or .mcp.json
    claude mcp add cli-agent-orchestrator -- uv tool install git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main --upgrade

    Run from your repo. Commit .mcp.json to share with your team.

    .cursor/mcp.json
    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "cli-agent-orchestrator": {
          "command": "uv",
          "args": [
            "tool",
            "install",
            "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
            "--upgrade"
          ]
        }
      }
    }

    Global path: ~/.cursor/mcp.json. Reload window after editing.

    .vscode/mcp.json
    {
      "servers": {
        "cli-agent-orchestrator": {
          "command": "uv",
          "args": [
            "tool",
            "install",
            "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
            "--upgrade"
          ]
        }
      }
    }

    VS Code uses the "servers" key (not "mcpServers").

    ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json
    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "cli-agent-orchestrator": {
          "command": "uv",
          "args": [
            "tool",
            "install",
            "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
            "--upgrade"
          ]
        }
      }
    }

    Open via Cascade → hammer icon → Configure.

    cline_mcp_settings.json
    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "cli-agent-orchestrator": {
          "command": "uv",
          "args": [
            "tool",
            "install",
            "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
            "--upgrade"
          ]
        }
      }
    }

    Open via the Cline sidebar → MCP Servers → Edit.

    ~/.continue/config.json
    {
      "experimental": {
        "modelContextProtocolServers": [
          {
            "transport": {
              "type": "stdio",
              "command": "uv",
              "args": [
                "tool",
                "install",
                "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
                "--upgrade"
              ]
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }

    Continue uses modelContextProtocolServers with a transport block.

    ~/.codex/config.toml
    # ~/.codex/config.toml
    [mcp_servers.cli-agent-orchestrator]
    command = "uv"
    args = [
      "tool",
      "install",
      "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
      "--upgrade",
    ]

    Codex uses TOML. Each server is a [mcp_servers.<name>] subtable.

    ~/.config/zed/settings.json
    {
      "context_servers": {
        "cli-agent-orchestrator": {
          "command": {
            "path": "uv",
            "args": [
              "tool",
              "install",
              "git+https://github.com/awslabs/cli-agent-orchestrator.git@main",
              "--upgrade"
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    }

    Zed calls them "context_servers". Settings live-reload on save.

    ChatGPT → Apps directory

    CLI Agent Orchestrator doesn't ship a hosted HTTPS endpoint today. ChatGPT supports remote MCP servers only — to use this server in ChatGPT you'll need to deploy it to a public HTTPS URL first (e.g. via Cloudflare Workers or Vercel) or wait for an official remote build.

  2. 2

    Set required secrets

    No credentials required — this MCP runs over stdio without authentication.

  3. 3

    Try a minimum working prompt

    Minimum working prompt pending verification. Try any prompt from the MCP’s README once installed.

Tools & permissions

ToolDescriptionArgsSide effects
handoffSynchronously delegate a task to another agent and wait for the result.target: string, task: stringWrite
assignAsynchronously assign a task to a worker agent.target: string, task: stringWrite
send_messageSend a message to another agent in the session.target: string, message: stringWrite
list_sessionsList active agent sessions.Read

Security & scope

Access scope
Read + write
Sandbox
Each agent runs in an isolated tmux session on the local machine. The orchestrator coordinates them over MCP; the agents themselves hold whatever credentials their CLI is configured with.
Gotchas
  • Worker agents inherit the credentials and write access of the CLI they run — scope those before letting a supervisor dispatch unattended.
  • Some CLI integrations are experimental; do not assume every supported CLI is equally stable.
  • Parallel agents can race on a shared filesystem — keep each agent scoped to its own working directory.

Agent prompt pack

— copy into Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT.
Paste into Claude, Cursor, or ChatGPT. Edit the [brackets] before sending.
Recommend the best MCP servers for [task: e.g. agent orchestration work] in [client: Claude Code].

Constraints:
- Prefer tools that are [official | open-source | read-only] — pick what matters for my use case.
- Exclude MCPs that require [e.g. a paid plan, OAuth-only flows, remote-only transport].
- Return at most 3 picks, ranked.

For each pick include:
1. One-sentence rationale.
2. The ready-to-paste install snippet for my client.
3. Any required secrets I need to create before installing.

Cross-check the top-mcps.com listing: https://top-mcps.com/top-mcps-for-agent-orchestration
Compare CLI Agent Orchestrator against a real alternative. Swap the second MCP in [brackets] if you want a different match.
Compare CLI Agent Orchestrator MCP vs [Claude Task Master MCP] for the following job: [describe the job, e.g. "let an agent create GitHub issues on bug triage"].

Judge them on:
- Setup time and complexity (what a new user hits first).
- Auth model (none / API key / OAuth 2.1) and credential risk.
- Transport (stdio / Streamable HTTP / SSE) and where the server runs.
- Required secrets and the blast radius if they leak.
- Operational risk in an unattended agent loop.
- Which one is "good enough" for a weekend prototype vs. production.

End with one sentence: which should I pick for my scenario, which is: [my scenario].

References:
- https://top-mcps.com/mcp/cli-agent-orchestrator
- top-mcps.com listing for Claude Task Master
Asks the agent to install and verify. Works inside Claude Code, Cursor Agent, Codex CLI.
Install the CLI Agent Orchestrator MCP server for my [client: Claude Code] at the default config path for that client.

Use the exact install snippet published at https://top-mcps.com/mcp/cli-agent-orchestrator (fetch https://top-mcps.com/mcp/cli-agent-orchestrator.json for the canonical server.json if you can read URLs).

Before finishing:
1. Create the required secrets (no secrets) and put them in the appropriate env block — do not hard-code them.
2. Restart or reload the client so it picks up the new server.
3. Verify the server is connected (green / running state) and at least one tool is listed.
4. If anything fails, read the client's MCP logs and report the exact error — do not silently retry.

Confirm when done and list the tools the server now exposes.

Frequently asked questions

What changed

2 updates tracked.
  1. Refreshed install snippets and fact sheet; verified for 2026.

  2. Initial directory listing.

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