FAQ

We ship governed, ready-to-run agent pods and The Playbook — the field manual for operating them. OpenClaw handles persistence and channels; ORCA locks how thinking and actions are audited, logged, and reversed.

OpenClaw is the open-source runtime — memory, schedules, tools, channels (e.g. Telegram). ORCA (Operational Reasoning Control Architecture) is the governance layer on top: phase-locked execution, traceability, halts on deviation, reversibility tiers, and audit-friendly habits. Both are required for real agency the way The Playbook defines it.

Frameworks give you pieces to assemble. We sell operational packages: identity files, HEARTBEAT rhythms, safety tiers, and pod roles already wired to the same patterns we run in production. The goal is not a demo — it is sustained operation with receipts.

We verify process, not model weights. Governance means every meaningful action ties to a phase, a log, and a reversibility class. Drift and unapproved shortcuts surface as halts or vetoes — not as silent behavior changes.

Agents move through explicit phases (clarify → plan → execute → verify → handoff → learn, etc.) instead of improvising end-to-end in one blob. That structure is what makes multi-step work auditable and keeps “almost right” outputs from shipping.

Actions are classified (roughly Tier 1 safe automation, Tier 2 rollback-capable, Tier 3 halt or human gate). The Playbook’s framework stops irreversible moves unless they pass the right checks. Governance Booster ships REVERSIBILITY_TIERS.md and veto protocol templates for existing setups.

Before treating an action as committed, governed agents self-audit until confidence crosses the 0.99 standard documented in The Playbook. If they cannot get there, they stop and report instead of guessing.

Trust Meter™ surfaces confidence and compliance scores with traceability behind every number. Moby (Governance Lead) in the live pod holds audit and veto authority; product pods include governance hooks so you can mirror that pattern.

Working memory for the session, structured long-term anchors (decisions, mandates, outcomes), and explicit traceability links so you can answer “why did the agent do that?” later. Chapter 4 of The Playbook walks through building and maintaining it.

A scheduled consolidation pass: sales, queues, risks, and governance signals get summarized on a rhythm (often nightly). It is how the pod catches drift and produces a founder-facing brief instead of losing state across days.

You send crisp instructions; the pod expands them inside phase-locked execution and reports back with proof. That pattern reduces ambiguity, makes handoffs between agents legible, and matches how the CEO Pod and The Playbook recommend operating.

Six agents are live: Apex (CEO), Echo (Marketing), Sonar (Growth), Oreo (Technical), Fin (Operations), Moby (Governance). A seventh role — Biggie (Treasury) — is built and held dormant by design until first revenue triggers activation. Treasury is the highest-irreversibility domain in the pod; it earns activation by revenue, not by calendar. Chapter 7B in The Playbook is the full character and responsibility map — the template for how roles stay bounded.

The Foreword states that Apex answers builder questions at apexorca.io directly — not as an anonymous ticket queue. That reflects how we want serious operators to engage once they are running the system.

Chapter 0 is production OpenClaw setup (Node 22+, install paths, Cloudflare tunnels, multi-model cost routing, security hardening). The core chapters cover ORCA identity, memory, phase-locking, safety, multi-agent pods, ROI, and autonomous marketing. Bonus chapters include the Orca blueprint paper and Chapter 12 — seven real failures (identity drift, 24/7 posting, Stripe keys, blank identity, and more). You also get the full template pack: IDENTITY, SOUL, MEMORY, HEARTBEAT, SAFETY, handoff protocols, ROI tracker, glossary — as described on the /playbook product page.

It is a living document. Register your purchase at /playbook-register with the email you used at checkout; new editions ship to your inbox as they publish — no subscription, no upgrade fee. Cadence follows the live pod. Currently shipping as Volume 1.1 · April 2026.

Yes. The Foundation Kit ($0) includes the five foundation templates and a first-week plan so you can practice ORCA habits before buying The Playbook or a pod.

Open the What to Build catalog at apexorca.io/what-to-build: sixty concrete agent ideas sorted by the work people actually do — The Money Makers (income-first) lead the list, then personal productivity, marketing, ops, research, engineering, and more. Each has honest ROI signals. Pick one to stress-test with the Foundation Kit; graduate to The Playbook when you want the full ORCA architecture.

ORCA™ Research Scholar is free (persona pack + install bundle — see marketplace). The Playbook: The CEO Upgrade is $39 one-time — full PDF + markdown, templates, live edition drops by email when registered. Pods: CEO Pod $129, Marketing Pod $59, Technical Pod $79, Operations Pod $99, Governance Booster $49, Growth Engine $19, Pod Orchestrator $29. Apex Agents™ is a custom governed team build (not the off-the-shelf pod ZIPs) — free consult then scoped quote; from $1,999 self-host or $499/mo managed, with many self-host builds in the $1,999–$4,999 range (see marketplace card). The Foundation Kit is free — five foundation templates (SOUL, IDENTITY, MEMORY, HEARTBEAT, SAFETY) and a structured first week.

The Playbook if you want the full system, economics, and failure lessons and will adapt templates yourself. Pick a pod when you want a focused role (CEO, marketing, tech, ops, growth) with ORCA files tuned for that job. Use Pod Orchestrator when multiple pods need one nightly brief and cleaner handoffs. The Foundation Kit if you are not ready to pay yet.

Custom ORCA-governed teams on OpenClaw — not the marketplace pod templates. Free consult, scoped plan, then build; you choose agent names. Public anchors: from $1,999 self-host or $499/mo managed; typical self-host scope often $1,999–$4,999. Full detail on the Apex Agents™ marketplace card.

Node.js 22+ (LTS recommended), macOS/Linux or Windows with WSL2, 4GB RAM minimum (8GB for multi-agent pods), an LLM API key (Anthropic Claude is what we recommend and document first), and OpenClaw installed — script, Docker, or VPS paths are all in Chapter 0.

Yes. ORCA governs process; the model is swappable. The Playbook explains cost-aware routing (strong models for customer-facing work, smaller models for volume, approved providers for bulk research). The live ApexORCA pod runs a hybrid local-and-cloud stack — not vendor-locked.

Never route customer data, payments, credentials, or core IP through providers you do not trust jurisdictionally. The Playbook calls this out: those channels are for internal research and bulk reading, not sensitive payloads.

Telegram is the fastest path in Chapter 0 — create a bot, drop the token into config, message your agent. Discord and webhooks (e.g. Stripe) come next; Cloudflare Tunnel is documented when you need inbound webhooks without opening ports.

The Playbook targets under 30 minutes to a first governed agent once prerequisites are met; “one afternoon” for a serious pod pass including channels and safety checks is the honest operating band.

The Research hub links the Cure53 infrastructure audit and the ORCA whitepaper. Hunts document real bounties and verification work. Those sit alongside the security manifesto and checklists inside The Playbook.

Research Disciplines are the long-form methodology and references. Hunts are the live bounty and verification layer for the community. Both exist so buyers can evaluate us the way we evaluate agents — with evidence.

The Playbook and pod SKUs are one-time purchase — no subscription for those. For The CEO Upgrade, register at /playbook-register to receive edition drops by email as described on the product page. Apex Agents™ offers an optional managed tier from $499/mo on the marketplace. Your ongoing cost otherwise is your LLM and infrastructure spend; the economics section inside The Playbook helps you budget.

Case-by-case. We prefer to fix a delivery or access issue first — email info@apexorca.io or the role addresses on the site.

Apex Agents™ is the path for dedicated builds. For anything else, email us — we scope engagements individually.