Skip to content

Open Cowork

A desktop AI workspace built on OpenCode. Configurable, brandable, automation-ready, and engineered like a public product — not a demo.

Get started Why this exists

2 / 2
Bundled MCPs / skills
18+
Built-in chart tools
macOS · Linux
Release targets
SDK-pinned
OpenCode runtime

What it is

Open Cowork is the desktop product layer built on top of OpenCode.

The split is deliberate and load-bearing:

  • OpenCode executes — sessions, agents, approvals, MCP calls, tool semantics, event streams.
  • Open Cowork composes — UI, branding, packaging, automations, sandbox UX, downstream config.

That boundary is what lets you embed the same battle-tested runtime that the OpenCode CLI uses, while still shipping a distinct product with your own branding, providers, skills, and automations.

Core capabilities

  • Project & sandbox threads

    Real-filesystem project threads for code work. Private, Cowork-managed sandbox threads for reports, drafts, and artifacts — no risk of polluting your repo.

    Desktop App Guide

  • Review-first automations

    A durable control plane for scheduled work. Inbox, work items, runs, deliveries, retry, and heartbeat — wrapped around the same OpenCode plan / build agents you already trust.

    Automations

  • Built-in & custom MCPs

    Ships with a charts MCP (18+ Vega-Lite + Mermaid tools) and a skills MCP. Add your own stdio or HTTP MCPs from Settings, with SSRF and shell-metacharacter policies enforced at save time.

    Skills & MCPs

  • Reusable skill bundles

    Skills are folders with a SKILL.md entry point. Use bundled ones like chart-creator, ship your own as part of a downstream distribution, or author them from chat with skill-creator.

    Skills & MCPs

  • Sub-agent delegation

    Use @agent in chat to invoke specialist sub-agents. Custom agents compile down to native OpenCode agent definitions — no parallel execution layer, no hidden indirection.

    Architecture

  • Downstream-ready packaging

    Rebrand and reconfigure without forking. Three env vars rename the app; a config overlay ships your providers, skills, MCPs, and permissions. Same binary, distinct product.

    Downstream Customization

Find your path

Role Goal Start here
End user Install the app, run my first session Getting Started → Desktop App Guide
Power user Schedule recurring work, build skills Automations → Automation Recipes
Downstream distributor Ship a branded internal build Configuration → Downstream Customization
Contributor Land my first PR First Contribution → Architecture
Operator / release manager Cut a release, run the gates Operations and CI → Release Checklist
Security reviewer Confirm the threat model holds Security Model → Telemetry and Privacy

Install

Download the latest .dmg from GitHub Releases, drag to /Applications, and launch.

v0.0.0 is an unsigned public preview; signed macOS builds are planned from v0.0.1.

# Verify the checksum before opening
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS.txt

Download the .AppImage (portable) or .deb (Debian / Ubuntu).

chmod +x Open-Cowork-*.AppImage
./Open-Cowork-*.AppImage

node -v
# Expected: v22.12.0 or newer
corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@10.32.1 --activate
pnpm -v
pnpm install
pnpm dev          # builds shared + MCPs, then hot-reloads Electron + Vite
pnpm build        # full build (shared + MCPs + desktop)

See Getting Started for prerequisites.

Engineered like a public project

  • Security model

    Three-process Electron split, hand-audited preload bridge, fail-closed credential storage, MCP URL/stdio policies, sandboxed chart frame, SLSA provenance + SBOMs on every release.

    Read the security model

  • Releases & supply chain

    Signed macOS artifacts once signing is configured, SHA256 checksums, CycloneDX + SPDX SBOMs, SHA-pinned actions. Monthly maintenance probes paired OpenCode SDK/runtime updates against typecheck and tests.

    Packaging and Releases

  • Performance gate

    Markdown patching, sidebar virtualization, session eviction, dashboard backfill — all with a pnpm perf:check baseline that runs in CI on every PR.

    Performance

  • Roadmap, in the open

    Three-phase plan, explicit non-goals, transparent list of deferred work (a11y, i18n, versioned docs, in-app updates). No surprises.

    Roadmap

What this is — and isn't

✅ This is ❌ This isn't
A polished desktop product layer on top of OpenCode A second AI runtime
A configurable, brandable shell for internal builds A SaaS — everything runs locally
A durable scheduler around OpenCode plan / build A new agent framework
A fork-friendly source you can rebrand without touching the code A black box
  • Glossary — every term that shows up across these docs.
  • Getting Started — install, sign in, run a session.
  • Architecture — the layers, the invariants, and why they're invariants.