Open-source desktop platform for multi-agent AI collaboration
Empowering AI agents with local tools, parallel teamwork, and seamless workplace integration.
δΈζζζ‘£ β’ Why OpenCowork β’ Features β’ Architecture β’ Quick Start
Traditional LLM interfaces are often "environment-isolated islands." Developers spend 50% of their time copy-pasting code, terminal logs, and file contents between the chat and their IDE.
OpenCowork solves this by providing:
- Local Agency β Agents can directly read/write files and execute shell commands with your permission.
- Context Awareness β No more manual context feeding. Agents explore your codebase and logs autonomously.
- Task Orchestration β Complex tasks ("Refactor this module and update tests") are broken down and handled by specialized sub-agents.
- Human-in-the-loop β You stay in control with a transparent tool-call approval system.
OpenCowork is deeply inspired by Claude CoWork. We believe the future of productivity lies in a "Co-Working" relationship where humans provide direction and AI handles the iterative execution, tool manipulation, and cross-platform communication.
- 4-layer Electron architecture β Main process, Preload bridge, Renderer UI, and Agent runtime running in main process.
- Provider-agnostic β Works with any LLM provider; bring your own model.
- TypeScript throughout β End-to-end type safety from database to UI.
Every conversation chooses the right mode for the task:
chatβ Conversational Q&A, no tool access.clarifyβ Ask questions to refine vague requirements before execution.coworkβ Full agent mode: code search, file I/O, shell, and sub-agent delegation.codeβ Focused code generation and editing with Monaco Editor integration.acpβ Autonomous coding pipeline: plan, implement, review autonomously.
- Built-in tools β File I/O, Shell (bash/powershell), Code Search (glob/grep), Web Scraping, OCR, Excel/Word/PDF processing.
- Extensible Skills β Load domain-specific capabilities via Markdown-defined skills:
- 1RPA β Supplier invoice upload for SRM systems.
- CSV Pipeline β Filter, join, aggregate, and transform tabular data.
- Document Suite β Create & edit DOCX, XLSX, PDF with tracked changes and formatting.
- Web Scraper β Extract structured content from live pages.
- Image OCR β Read text from screenshots and scanned documents.
- Email Drafter β Compose professional correspondence from templates.
- WeChat UI Sender β Send messages via desktop WeChat automation.
Bridge your local agents to any messaging platform:
| Platform | Support |
|---|---|
| Feishu / Lark | β |
| DingTalk | β |
| Discord | β |
| β | |
| Telegram | β |
| WeCom (WeChat Work) | β |
| Weixin (Official Account) | β |
| β |
- SQLite persistence β Messages, sessions, projects, tasks, and plans survive restarts.
- Cron scheduling β Schedule agents for daily reports, log monitoring, or any recurring task.
- Multi-channel delivery β Results can be delivered via desktop notification or any messaging plugin.
- Node.js >= 18
- npm >= 9
git clone https://github.com/AIDotNet/OpenCowork.git
cd OpenCowork
npm install
npm run dev| Command | Description |
|---|---|
npm run dev |
Start Electron + Vite with hot reload |
npm run build |
Typecheck then build for production |
npm run build:win |
Build Windows installer |
npm run lint |
ESLint with cache |
npm run typecheck |
TypeScript check (main + renderer) |
npm run format |
Prettier auto-format |
Data directory:
~/.open-cowork/β contains SQLite database (data.db), config, agents, commands, and prompts.
OpenCowork follows a 4-layer Electron architecture for security and performance.
graph TB
subgraph "Renderer β React 19 UI"
A[React UI] --> B[Agent Loop]
B --> C[Tool System]
C --> C1[File I/O]
C --> C2[Shell]
C --> C3[Code Search]
C --> C4[Sub-Agents]
end
subgraph "Preload β Secure Bridge"
D[contextBridge API]
end
subgraph "Main Process β System Access"
E[IPC Handlers]
F[SQLite / File System]
G[Shell / SSH]
H[Messaging Plugins]
I[Cron Agent]
end
subgraph "Agent Runtime β Main Process"
J[js-agent-runtime.ts]
K[MCP Client]
L[LLM Provider Abstraction]
end
A -.->|ipcRenderer.invoke| D
D -.->|ipcMain.handle| E
E --> F
E --> G
E --> H
E --> I
A -.->|Direct Call| J
J --> K
J --> L
- Renderer β React 19 UI, agent loop, and tool system.
- Preload β Secure
contextBridgewith a narrow API surface. - Main Process β IPC handlers, SQLite, filesystem, shell, SSH, plugins.
- Agent Runtime β Provider-agnostic runtime (
js-agent-runtime.ts) with MCP client support.
- Autonomous Coding β Let agents refactor code, fix bugs, and write tests directly in your workspace.
- Automated Ops β Schedule agents to monitor logs or system status and report to Feishu/Slack.
- Data Research β Agents can scrape web data, process local CSVs, and generate visual reports.
- Repository: qxcnm/Codex-Manager
- Recommended pairing: use Codex-Manager as the management or orchestration entry point for Codex-centric workflows, while OpenCowork handles local file operations, multi-agent execution, workplace messaging, and desktop automation.
- Best for: teams that want to separate task management and workflow organization from local execution and office integration.
- A simple way to think about it: Codex-Manager organizes the work, OpenCowork executes it in the real workspace.
We welcome contributions! Please see our Development Guide for more details.
Licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
If this project helps you, please give it a star. β
Made with β€οΈ by the AIDotNet Team