What an app is
An app adds one focused tool to Orbital. There are three:
| App | What it does |
|---|---|
| Watchlists | Lists of symbols with notes, which workflows and dashboards can use. |
| Backtesting | Strategies, their backtests and their forward tests. |
| Trade | Runs your strategies, and your own orders, on an Alpaca paper account. |
An app is installed for a workspace and used in the projects you choose. Watchlists and Backtesting have a switch per project. Trade's projects are ticked when it is installed. No plan limits which apps you can install. Each app has its own guide: Watchlists, Backtesting and Trade.
Open Apps
Click your avatar at the bottom of the sidebar and choose Apps under Workspace. The direct link is app.orbitalaip.com/settings/workspace/apps.
Each app has a row with its status and a byline. Watchlists and Backtesting read By Orbital AI · Built in. Trade's byline names its release, such as By Orbital AI · Version 0.1.30. The chevron on a row opens the app's page, and ← Apps returns to the list.
Every member can open Apps, but only workspace owners and admins see the Trade row.
| Action | Who can do it |
|---|---|
| Switch Watchlists or Backtesting on or off in a project | That project's owner or editor, or a workspace owner or admin |
| Install or uninstall Watchlists or Backtesting | A workspace owner or admin |
| See, install and update Trade | A workspace owner or admin |
What a new account starts with
At sign-up, Orbital installs Watchlists and Backtesting in your Personal workspace and switches both on in its project, Investing.
Orbital then sets up Trade in that project, with every permission its release asks for. Meanwhile the Trade it on paper card in Chat reads Trade is setting up…. If setup does not finish, the card reads Set up Trade and opens Settings → Apps, where you can install Trade yourself.
A workspace you create later has only Watchlists installed, switched on in its project, Investing. Backtesting and Trade start as Not installed there.
Statuses
Watchlists and Backtesting show Installed or Not installed. Trade's row usually shows one of these:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not installed | Trade is not set up in this workspace. |
| Setup pending | Orbital is still setting Trade up. |
| Installed | Trade is running its current release. |
| Update available | A newer release waits for your review, usually because its permissions changed. |
| Permission change pending | An approved permission change is still being set up. Trade cannot be opened until it finishes. |
| Needs attention | Setup did not finish. |
When setup did not finish, Trade's page may offer Review setup again. Click it, then install again.
Switch an app on or off in a project
For Watchlists and Backtesting:
Open the app's page
Click the chevron on its row. A line under the status says where it is on, such as On in Investing. or Off in every project.
Flip the project's switch
Under Projects, each project has a switch. A change saves at once: Saving…, then Saved.
Go to the app
When the app is on in the project you are in, Open takes you there.
If your role does not allow the change, Couldn't save that change appears with the reason.
Switching an app off removes it from that project's sidebar. Its page then reads Watchlists is turned off in this project or Backtesting is turned off in this project. Its workflow nodes, Chat tools and agent tools go too. A workflow that uses one of its nodes is skipped, not failed. With Backtesting off, Claude and ChatGPT have every tool call refused.
Nothing is deleted. Switch the app back on and everything is where it was.
Install or uninstall Watchlists or Backtesting
When an app is Not installed, owners and admins see Turn it on in a project below to install it. on its page.
Switch it on for a project
Flip the switch beside the project.
Confirm
A dialog such as Turn on Backtesting in Investing? explains that this also enables the app for the workspace. Click Turn on.
Other members see the switches disabled, with a note to ask a workspace admin.
To uninstall an app:
Open the app's page
Click the chevron on its row.
Click the uninstall button
Under Uninstall from this workspace at the foot of the page, click the button, such as Uninstall Backtesting.
Confirm
Click Uninstall.
The app turns off in every project at once. Its data is kept and reappears if you install it again.
Install Trade
Trade is installed through a review, not a switch.
Open Trade's page
Click the chevron on the Trade row. The page is headed Install Trade.
Read the release
What's new shows the release notes, and Served from is the address Trade loads from.
Read the access
Access lists every permission the release asks for, split into Read and Write.
Choose projects
Under Projects, tick each project that gets Trade, up to 32. Other projects get no access.
Agree and install
Tick the box that starts Allow the app access shown above, then click Install.
The page shows setup progress until it reads Ready. Trade then appears in the sidebar of each project you chose.
Trade's page
Once Trade is installed, its page reads Ready, and Open takes you to Trade. Access counts the Read and Write permissions, and Show all 26 permissions lists them. Projects lists each project with its access, such as All 26 permissions. Release 0.1.30 expands to show the release notes and the state of setup.
Trade's projects are chosen at install. The page has no switch and offers no way to uninstall Trade.
What the permissions cover
Trade can use only these permissions, and its release asks for no other access to Orbital. Your broker connection stays with Orbital, and Trade reaches it only through these permissions. Release 0.1.30 asks for 26:
| Access | Permissions |
|---|---|
| Read (15) | Account, Account Feed V1, Account Feed V2, Accounts, Activity Page, Clock, Deployments, Orders, Permissions, Portfolio History, Positions, Quote, Stop Everything Status, Strategies, Symbol Search |
| Write (11) | Cancel All, Cancel Order, Close All, Close Position, Deploy, Deployment Control, Pause All, Place Order, Review Command, Save Limits, Stop Everything |
Trade trades only on a paper account. See Connect Alpaca.
Update Trade
Orbital moves Trade to a newer release by itself when that release asks for the same permissions. Each project keeps its access. A release that changes the permissions waits for a workspace owner or admin, and the Trade row shows Update available until then.
Open the review
Click Review update on the Trade row or on Trade's page.
Check the permissions
The review lists what the release adds and what it no longer uses.
Approve
Tick the box, then click Approve and update. If you open the review before Orbital applies an update with unchanged permissions, the button reads Update.
After a permission change, Trade shows Permission change pending and cannot be opened until setup finishes. It keeps running its current release meanwhile.
Request an app or use Chat
To ask for an app that is not listed:
Open the form
Click Request an app under the list.
Describe it
Fill in Which app do you need? and, if you like, What would you use it for?
Send it
Click Send request.
Set up an app with Chat asks Chat to help you choose and install an app. Chat can show a setup card for Watchlists or Backtesting. Nothing changes until you click its button: Turn on, or Install & turn on. Chat cannot install Trade.
Still stuck? Write to hello@orbitalaip.com or ask on Discord.