OpenWork is the open-source alternative to Claude Cowork: a desktop app that lets knowledge workers do real work with AI agents on their own files — with any model, on any infrastructure.
OpenWork is an open-source project on GitHub with around 24,000 stars and active development in 2026, backed by Y Combinator. Built on OpenCode, it gives non-technical users a point-and-click workspace where agents can read, write, and organise local files, run automations, and draw on a library of shared skills, MCP servers, and plugins that teammates can package into a single import link. It supports more than 50 LLM providers — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and local models — and in desktop mode your files never leave your machine.
OpenWork’s pitch is sovereignty for knowledge work: the company describes a model where teams start with the free desktop app and add cloud management only when they need it. The cloud tier centralises distribution of agent setups across an organisation — one admin can publish a configuration and every teammate’s app picks it up — while enterprise deployments can run private instances and bring their own inference endpoints.
OpenWork is freemium. The desktop app is free and open source with no account needed. OpenWork Cloud’s Team plan includes the first 5 seats free, then $10 per seat per month, adding SSO, API access, and the Extension Marketplace; an Enterprise tier adds SCIM and policy controls.
Knowledge workers and teams who want Cowork-style agent assistance on documents and projects, but refuse vendor lock-in — and organisations that need central management without giving up an open-source, local-first core.