OpenWork

OpenWork is a free, open-source desktop app made for sharing AI workflows. It is an open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and Codex for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Add one OpenWork MCP to Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, or another compatible agent and reuse the same skills, MCPs, and connected services across your tools, teammates, and machines. Create something once, share it with coworkers or friends, or keep it for yourself.

The desktop app is there when you want a dedicated workspace, but it is not required. You can use OpenWork from the agent you already have. For larger organizations, the admin interface lets you publish capabilities, manage access, and configure shared or per-user connections.

Download OpenWork

Install with your AI agent

Already use an AI agent? Copy this prompt and paste it into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT, or any agent that can run commands on your computer.

Install OpenWork on my computer, set up my first workspace, and open it ready to use. Follow the steps in https://openworklabs.com/start.md?v=hero

1. Installs OpenWork
2. Creates your workspace
3. Opens it ready to run

Use OpenWork from any agent

The OpenWork MCP brings your assigned skills, plugins, MCP connections, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365 capabilities into any compatible agent.

It exposes two tools: search_capabilities finds what you can use, and execute_capability runs it. After adding the MCP, your client opens a browser so you can sign in and choose your OpenWork organization.

Codex

codex mcp add openwork --url https://api.openworklabs.com/mcp/agent

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http openwork https://api.openworklabs.com/mcp/agent

OpenCode

Add this to opencode.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "openwork": {
      "type": "remote",
      "enabled": true,
      "url": "https://api.openworklabs.com/mcp/agent",
      "oauth": {}
    }
  }
}

Any MCP client

Use this remote MCP server URL:

https://api.openworklabs.com/mcp/agent

OpenWork Den

OpenWork Den is the control plane for managing OpenWork across a team or organization.

• Provision inference at scale and control which members and teams can use each model provider.
• Invite teammates, create teams, and manage access from one place.
• Set desktop policies, restrict local model access, and control which app versions your organization can use.
• Publish skills and plugins through marketplaces, then assign them to the organization, a team, or specific people.
• Import Anthropic-compatible plugins and make their supported skills and remote MCPs available through the OpenWork MCP.

Licensing

This repository uses a directory-split license, similar to GitLab:

• Everything outside ee/ is MIT — the desktop app and core platform are open source, free for any use.
• Everything under ee/ (OpenWork Den — the org control plane) is under the OpenWork EE License, a source-available license. The code is public so you can audit exactly what you deploy. Production use requires an OpenWork subscription, except that it is free for organizations with up to 5 users, free to evaluate for 30 days at any size, and always free for development and testing. Each ee/ release additionally converts to MIT two years after publication.

Versions released before this license was adopted remain under their original license (FSL-1.1-MIT). See pricing and the subscription terms.

Documentation

Read the OpenWork docs.

Local development

For one checkout, keep using pnpm dev; with no extra environment variables it reuses the existing shared dev profile.

To run multiple git worktrees at once, use:

pnpm dev:worktree

That sets OPENWORK_DEV_PROFILE=auto, derives a stable profile name from the worktree path, lets Electron choose a free CDP port, and asks Vite for a free dev-server port. You can also choose a named profile, for example OPENWORK_DEV_PROFILE=my-feature OPENWORK_ELECTRON_REMOTE_DEBUG_PORT=0 PORT=0 pnpm dev.

dev:worktree also defaults OPENWORK_ELECTRON_USE_MOCK_KEYCHAIN=1. A brand-new profile has no stored credentials, so on macOS the real keychain prompts as soon as Chromium persists an authenticated cookie, and that modal blocks Electron's main loop until it is dismissed. Set OPENWORK_ELECTRON_USE_MOCK_KEYCHAIN=0 if you specifically want the system keychain in an isolated profile.

Dev startup prints a banner like [openwork] dev profile=... cdp=http://127.0.0.1:9223; use it to find the profile directory and pass the CDP URL to local tooling.

If a second instance cannot get the profile lock it now says so and exits, instead of lingering with an open CDP port and no window.

Headless web (no Electron)

To run the OpenWork UI in a browser against a local openwork-server (no desktop shell):

pnpm world up ./worlds/dev-headless.ts

pnpm dev:headless-web is a compatibility alias for the same world-managed surface. The path-based command gets its dev-headless name and detached lifecycle from the world file, so common usage needs no --name or --detach flags. For compatibility, the alias remains foreground by default and accepts --detach.

This is an isolated launcher:

• Writes tmp/headless-server.json and never reads ~/.config/openwork/server.json
• Authorizes the chosen workspace root automatically, and merges (never rewrites) that config on relaunch, so workspaces you add through the UI survive --replace
• Starts Vite + openwork-server with a stable owner bearer forced into the UI. Crash-restarts reuse that bearer so open tabs keep working; --replace mints fresh tokens (pass --keep-tokens to preserve them). The privileged host token stays on the server process and is never inlined into the Vite bundle.
• Proxies Den Cloud calls same-origin: Vite serves /api/den (forwarded to the Den control plane) and the app pins its Den API there via VITE_DEN_API_BASE_URL, so Cloud calls are never CORS-blocked and stale localStorage base URLs are cleared on load
• Publishes agent-facing URLs/tokens at tmp/dev-headless-web.json (owner-only, 0600), and allows browser calls to the local server only from the web app's own origins — not every site you visit
• Uses stable ports by default (web 5178, server 8778; falls back to free ports when taken, override with OPENWORK_WEB_PORT / OPENWORK_PORT)
• Is single-instance per world name: re-running the same name reuses its healthy instance, while --name can launch another isolated stack; stale instances are cleaned up automatically and --replace forces a restart
• Keeps Vite and the backend under a detached supervisor, so either sibling exiting stops the other instead of leaving an orphan
• Starts detached through world up, waits for health, prints the URLs, and exits; the compatibility alias preserves its previous foreground default

Open the printed Web URL. Cloud sign-in in headless web uses the copy/paste handoff (hosted Den cannot redirect session grants back to http://127.0.0.1):

1. Account → Sign in (opens Den; the paste field opens in Settings)
2. Sign in on Den
3. Copy the OpenWork link / one-time code Den shows
4. Paste it under Paste sign-in code → Finish sign-in

Point Den at a local stack with OPENWORK_DEV_DEN_PROXY_TARGET=http://127.0.0.1:3005 while pnpm dev:web-local is running. Set OPENWORK_DEV_HEADLESS_WEB_DEN_PROXY=0 to disable the Den wiring.

The other checked-in world files are worlds/headless-prod-live.ts and worlds/desktop-prod-live.ts. Both intentionally share installed production state and therefore require --allow-shared-state on every launch. List saved worlds and auto-discovered definitions with pnpm world list. The headless production world is hard-limited to loopback; remote-access/public-host settings are refused because its browser session uses production credentials.