node-llama-cpp, GGUF) and executes the actual code changes,
so routine work costs nothing in API fees.
The idea: premium plans, local executes
A premium model is great at planning. The Forge is great (and free) at doing. Orkestral splits the job so you pay only for the thinking, not the typing.Fast Apply
The Forge pairs with Orkestral’s own Fast Apply, a deterministic engine that merges edits into your files:1
Exact match
Applies the change where it matches exactly.
2
Whitespace-normalized
Retries ignoring indentation/whitespace differences.
3
Safe fuzzy
A single-match fuzzy pass, and it rejects anything ambiguous rather than
writing the wrong content.
$0 by design
Offline and free
Because the model is bundled and runs locally, executing changes uses no API
credits and works with no internet connection. A cost view shows how many runs
were resolved locally vs. escalated to a premium model.
When it escalates
If the Forge can’t apply a change confidently, Orkestral escalates once to a premium model as a fallback, so correctness is never sacrificed for cost.The Forge model ships inside the installer, so it’s ready on first launch with
no extra download.
Greenfield projects
Setting up a new project’s base (runningcreate-next-app, installing dependencies) is not
file editing, it is running commands. Instead of the Forge writing a half-finished
package.json, setup for an empty project escalates once to the premium, which runs the
official scaffolder and confirms the base already builds. From there the Forge customizes on
top of it.
See also
The Capsule
How the premium compiles the task into a unit the Forge executes with fidelity.
Proven delivery
The gates that confirm the Forge’s change actually works.