Practical overview
When it fits
Use Stoneforge when a single coding agent no longer covers the workload and parallel agents need coordinated tasks, persistent state, isolated branches and centralized visibility.
Who it is for
- Developers already running several AI coding agents in parallel.
- Teams coordinating planner, coding, review and merge activities across autonomous agents.
- Builders interested in an event-sourced foundation for custom agent-management integrations.
Documented uses
- Coordinate multiple AI coding agents through a shared dashboard.
- Dispatch tasks according to priority and dependencies.
- Give coding agents isolated Git worktrees to reduce overlapping edits.
- Track agent output, tasks, metrics and persistent project activity.
- Manage merge review and follow-up work when integration fails.
Requirements & limits
The project is available as a public GitHub repository under the Apache-2.0 license. The repository lists Node.js 18 or later, Bun support, TypeScript 5 or later and React 19.
- Smithy is the installable orchestration layer; Quarry is the underlying data SDK and can also support custom integrations.
- The workflow is designed around autonomous agents with permissions bypassed and no human approval gates.
- Parallel operation can use substantial coding-agent token allowances.
- SQLite and JSONL event-sourced state is intended to persist across restarts and provide an activity trail.
- The software is described as early-stage experimental and actively changing.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Install the Stoneforge orchestration layer
Prepare the Smithy orchestrator for coordinating AI coding agents.
Before you start
- A development environment with Node.js 18 or later, or Bun.
- A project workflow involving multiple AI coding agents.
- Awareness that Stoneforge is early-stage experimental software.
Steps
Install the Smithy layer, identified by the repository as the Stoneforge component to install.
Start the Stoneforge server.
Open the web dashboard to direct the coding-agent team.
Use the dashboard’s orchestration features to manage sessions, tasks and worktree-based agent activity.
Expected outcome
The Smithy orchestration layer is prepared for managing multiple AI coding agents through the Stoneforge dashboard.
Guide limitations
- The repository describes the software as early-stage and experimental.
- The documented setup does not establish a successful deployment or a specific provider configuration.
- Agents run with permissions bypassed and without human approval gates.
Compare options for AI coding assistance
These projects document a common task and share a project role. This is a source-based comparison, not an execution benchmark or a guarantee of interchangeability.
| Project | Documented purpose | Platform | Access and requirements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stoneforge | Coordinate multiple AI coding agents through a shared dashboard. | Cloud, Self-hosted, Server, Web | The project is available as a public GitHub repository under the Apache-2.0 license. The repository lists Node.js 18 or later, Bun support, TypeScript 5 or later and React 19. |
| Spectra | Clarify requirements and compare approaches before proposing a change. | CLI, Desktop | The README lists a macOS and Windows desktop app, and a Homebrew installation for macOS. The CLI is published through npm and requires Node.js 22.14 or newer. |
| Skills — michaelshimeles | Install reusable task-specific skills into a coding-agent setup. | CLI | The repository README provides an npx installation command for most coding agents and describes automatic or explicit skill invocation in Claude Code. |
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 3 October 2026
- Original website title
- stoneforge-ai/stoneforge · Official homepage title · retained in its source language