I tried dev-orchestra in Antigravity

Introduction

Last time I used dev-orchestra with Codex, and before that with Claude Code. This time it’s Google’s Antigravity.

Here’s the conclusion up front.

• Talking to dev-orchestra from Antigravity works just fine
• However, handing design and review to the Antigravity CLI (agy) is limited
• What I recommend: talk to it in Antigravity, and let Claude or Codex do the work

I covered what dev-orchestra does in the introduction post.

dev-orchestra is open source on GitHub (MIT license). If it looks useful, a star would mean a lot.

→ github.com/istb16/dev-orchestra

What works and what doesn’t

To avoid disappointment, here’s the summary first.

	Support	Notes
Use dev-orchestra from Antigravity	Yes	Install it as a plugin and it runs when you ask
Hand the work to Claude / Codex	Yes	If they’re installed, work is assigned to them automatically
Let agy implement and fix	Yes	Running tests needs a setting
Let agy design and review	Partly	Read-only cannot be enforced, so it’s limited support with a warning
Install from the Marketplace	No	Clone and install via a link

Let me sort out the two names that come up here.

• Antigravity: the app you talk to. dev-orchestra goes in here as a plugin
• agy: Antigravity’s CLI. One of the agents dev-orchestra assigns design, implementation, and review to

“The place you talk to” and “the AI that does the work” are different things, and the limits only apply when you use agy as the latter.

What you need

Item	Notes
Antigravity	Already signed in
Python 3.11 or later	Runs on the standard library only
git	Used for cloning and for getting the diff to review
Claude Code or Codex	Not required, but if present the work can be handed to them (recommended)

Steps

1. Install

The Antigravity Marketplace is curated by Google, and you can’t add to it yourself. So instead, clone the repository and link it into Antigravity’s plugin folder.

git clone https://github.com/istb16/dev-orchestra.git
cd dev-orchestra
git checkout v1.0.0
./install/install.sh --antigravity

In Windows PowerShell, the last line becomes this.

.\install\install.ps1 -Antigravity

After installing, restart Antigravity. New plugins are only loaded at startup.

When installed via a link, the contents of the cloned folder are loaded as is. That’s why I recommend checking out the release tag (v1.0.0) before installing. If you don’t want the folder’s contents to change, you can install it as a copy with --copy (-Copy on Windows). On Windows it creates a junction, so Developer Mode isn’t needed.

2. Pick a preset the first time

From here it’s the same as with Claude Code and Codex. The first time you make a request that uses dev-orchestra, it asks you for a preset. If unsure, standard is fine.

3. When Claude Code is also installed (recommended)

With Claude Code also installed on the same machine as Antigravity, the configuration came out like this (excerpt of config show in dev-orchestra 1.0.0).

Preset: standard (implicit; fitted to claude, agy)

  Architect
    claude / fable / latest
  Implementer
    claude / opus / latest
  Reviews
    1. claude / opus / latest / general / claude-general
    2. claude / sonnet / latest / general / claude-general-2
    3. claude / sonnet / latest / security / claude-security (opus when high-risk)
    4. claude / sonnet / latest / test / claude-test

agy has no role at all. Design, implementation, and review are all Claude.

This is the setup I recommend most.

• You talk to Antigravity (your usual screen)
• Claude does the work (read-only can be properly enforced)

If Codex is also installed, Codex joins the reviews too, just like last time.

4. When only agy is installed

If neither Claude Code nor Codex is installed, every role goes to agy. The configuration then looked like this (excerpt).

Preset: standard (implicit; fitted to agy)
  note: claude, codex not found on PATH: architect went to agy (default); agy cannot be held to reading -- set architect in the global file to keep it off agy
  note: claude, codex not found on PATH: reviewer seat 2 (general) was not added; it would repeat agy-general
  note: claude, codex not found on PATH: reviewer seat 3 (security) was not added; agy cannot be held to reading
  note: claude, codex not found on PATH: reviewer seat 4 (test) was not added; agy has no cheap model named offline

  Architect
    agy / default / latest
  Implementer
    agy / default / latest
  Reviews
    1. agy / default / latest / general / agy-general

Two things to note.

• There’s only one reviewer. A second general reviewer would be the same agy as the first, so it isn’t added. The security seat isn’t filled because read-only can’t be enforced. The test seat isn’t added either, since agy has no cheap model you can specify by name
• Lines that assign design or review to agy carry the warning agy cannot be held to reading

It does work, but much of what makes dev-orchestra good (a different AI reading and reviewing without rewriting anything) is lost. If agy is all you have, I recommend adding Claude Code or Codex.

5. Check that everything is ready

Ask the agent “Run the dev-orchestra doctor”. The agy part came out like this (excerpt).

Antigravity CLI (agy)
  Installed: yes
  Model selection: supported
  Read-only runs: NOT ENFORCED (runs allowed, warned) -- agy cannot be held to reading only: ...
  Resume: NOT SUPPORTED -- agy does not resume sessions

NOT ENFORCED means that when agy does design or review, it runs in a state where it can modify files. dev-orchestra can’t stop that, so it runs with a warning.

If it ends with No problems found., you’re ready.

6. Make the request in one sentence

From here, you just talk to it like in any other environment.

Implement this issue with the configured workflow

The flow from plan approval to the final report is as I described in the Claude Code post.

Antigravity-specific features and limits

Things to know when using agy as a worker (as of dev-orchestra 1.0.0; see providers.md for details).

	Details
Caveat: read-only can’t be enforced for design and review	It runs able to modify the working tree and .ai/ (including approval records). Accepted only from the global config, with a warning
Caveat: as implementer, it can’t run tests out of the box	Shell commands are refused. Setting options.skip_permissions: true in the global config lets them run (see the note below)
Not available: can’t resume from where design left off	Even when revising the plan, it runs fresh every time
Caveat: slow to notice a stalled agent	Unlike the other CLIs, there’s no inactivity timeout. It waits until the overall time limit is reached
Caveat: heavy token use per run	Even a small request takes roughly 12,000–25,000 input tokens
Plus: leave the model to agy, or specify it by family name	Default is default (agy chooses). You can also specify a family name like gemini-flash / gemini-pro
Caveat: installing and updating are manual	Install via a link, and restart Antigravity after installing or updating

Setting options.skip_permissions: true adds --dangerously-skip-permissions to agy. It skips agy’s permission prompts for every shell command, not just test commands. Only turn it on if you understand that.

The contents of files agy reads are sent to Google. Since read-only can’t be enforced either, it can read secret files like .env. It’s safer to keep secret files out of reach, or to review such code with a local LLM (I touched on this in the introduction post).

dev-orchestra can’t check whether you’re signed in. If agy runs fail, try launching agy once and signing in.

Summary

• Install into Antigravity by cloning and linking (restart after installing)
• It works fine as the place you talk to. You can run dev-orchestra from your usual screen
• If Claude Code or Codex is also installed, the work is automatically assigned to them. This is what I recommend
• Handing design and review to agy is limited. Read-only can’t be enforced, so it comes with a warning
• If agy is all you have, adding Claude Code or Codex brings out what makes dev-orchestra good

Detailed usage is in the README. That covers usage in all three environments. From the next post on, I’ll get into configuration, such as presets and how to set up reviewers.

For how to update when a new version comes out, see Updating dev-orchestra.

All posts in this series are in the list of “dev-orchestra” posts.

GitHub: istb16/dev-orchestra (a star is always appreciated)