openworker README

The project's README from github.com/andrewyng/openworker. As one markdown file: README.md.

OpenWorker

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Beta - OpenWorker is in open beta: fully usable, updates itself, and we're actively polishing rough edges. Issues welcome.

AI that gets your everyday tasks done. OpenWorker is an open-source AI coworker that lives on your desktop and delivers finished work, not just chat: your code reviewed for vulnerabilities with fixes ready to go, a polished document, a Slack reply with the numbers, a triaged inbox. It ships specialist Security coworkers first — attackers already use AI, and defenders deserve the same leverage, governed.

It runs on your machine and doesn't lock you into any model: bring your own API key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or an open-weight provider, or run fully local with Ollama. Your data leaves your machine only through the model and integrations you choose. Every action an agent takes is governed and logged — see Governed by design.

How OpenWorker works

Download

⬇ macOS (Apple Silicon) macOS 12+ · signed & notarized · auto-updates

⬇ Windows 10/11 (x64) builds are not yet code-signed, so SmartScreen will warn; signing is in progress

Open the app, add a model key (or point it at Ollama), and ask for something real.

Use cases

Pick a coworker, point it at real work, get a finished deliverable:

Specialist coworkers arrive with the tools, working style, and check-ins for one job already set up. Security coworkers ship first.

How it works

  1. Tell OpenWorker the outcome you want - "prepare a customer brief," "untangle my calendar," "draft a report," "check where the release stands across Jira and GitHub."
  2. It breaks the task into steps and works across your desktop, files, and connected apps.
  3. Before anything consequential - sending a message, changing a calendar, running a command - it checks in and you approve or redirect.
  4. You get the finished deliverable, not a to-do list.

Under the hood:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              OpenWorker desktop app            │  native shell + GUI
├────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           local agent server (Python)          │  engine · tools · connectors - built on aisuite
├───────────────┬────────────────┬───────────────┤
│  your files   │   your tools   │  your model   │  everything runs with your keys,
│  & terminal   │ 25+ connectors │  any provider │  on your machine
└───────────────┴────────────────┴───────────────┘

Governed by design

Governance is the architecture, not a plugin - the agent can't grant itself new permissions, and no prompt can talk it past a gate. Three tiers, all in this repo:

  1. Hard floors. A set of dangerous and irreversible operations is human-only, always. No mode - including full auto-approve - lowers these floors; they always escalate to you.
  2. A ladder of earned autonomy. Actions are approval-gated by default. One-off approvals can graduate into standing rules, then into config allowlists - each step explicit, visible, and revocable. In auto-approve mode a reviewer model lets routine actions through and escalates anything it isn't sure about to you; repeated denials trip a circuit breaker that pauses the reviewer and hands control back. Reviewer verdicts are judgments, not guarantees - the floors and the audit trail are what backstop them.
  3. An audit trail that answers "who did this, and why?" Every tool call is recorded with its approval provenance - auto-approved, user-approved, or denied, with the reviewer's reasoning attached - and persisted with the conversation.

Unattended runs never self-approve: their asks park in an inbox until a human answers. Found a vulnerability? See SECURITY.md.

What it can do

Bring your own model

Model access is yours: pick a provider, paste your key, switch anytime. Supported out of the box:

OpenAI · Anthropic · Google Gemini · BytePlus Ark · Volcengine Ark Agent Plan · Inkling (Thinking Machines) · GLM (Z.ai) · DeepSeek · Kimi (Moonshot) · Qwen · MiniMax · Mistral · Grok (xAI) - plus open-weight models via Together and Fireworks, and fully local models via Ollama.

A curated model list marks what we've verified for tool-calling work. Adding any model string works at your own risk.

Privacy

OpenWorker is local-first. Everything lives on your machine: the agent loop, your conversations, connector tokens, and model keys - all in the app's local secret store. The only cloud piece is a small service that brokers OAuth handshakes for connectors. You can always use the App without signing-in - use the connectors via manually-created credentials/API-keys.

Run from source

Prerequisites: Python 3.10+, Node 20+, and (for the desktop shell) the Rust toolchain via rustup.

git clone https://github.com/andrewyng/openworker
cd openworker

# 1. One-time bootstrap - creates the Python venv at .venv
#    (on Windows, run from Git Bash or WSL)
bash packaging/setup_dev_env.sh

# 2. Start the local agent server
.venv/bin/openworker-server --cwd ~/some/project --port 8765
#    (Windows: .venv\Scripts\openworker-server.exe)

# 3. In a second terminal, start the UI
cd surfaces/gui
npm install
npm run dev        # browser UI on the Vite dev port

The standalone server creates a per-launch token at <state-dir>/sidecar-8765.token; Vite reads that user-only file when it starts. For direct API calls, send its value in the X-OpenWorker-Token header. The desktop app uses an in-memory launch token instead and never writes it to disk.

To run the full desktop app instead of the browser UI, replace step 3 with npm run tauri dev (from surfaces/gui/) - the Tauri shell launches the window and supervises the server itself.

Tests: .venv/bin/pytest (server), npm test and npm run e2e in surfaces/gui (GUI unit + hermetic end-to-end). Desktop bundles are built with packaging/build_dmg.sh / packaging/build_windows.ps1.

Repository layout

Directory What's in it
coworker/ Python backend - agent engine, model providers, connectors, MCP client, memory, automations
surfaces/gui/ Desktop app - React UI + Tauri shell that supervises the server
stt/ Speech-to-text sidecar (Rust) for voice input
packaging/ Installer builds (macOS DMG, Windows), auto-update manifest, dev bootstrap
docs/ Design specs and decision logs
tests/ Backend test suite

Built on aisuite

OpenWorker's engine is built on aisuite, a lightweight Python library providing a unified chat-completions API across LLM providers and an agents layer with tools, toolkits, and MCP support. If you want to build your own agent harness rather than use ours, start there; this repo is a working reference for what aisuite can carry.

OpenWorker was originally developed inside the aisuite repository before moving to its own home here; thanks to the aisuite contributors whose work it builds on.

Contributing

Contributions and bug reports are welcome - open an issue or a pull request. The app updates itself, so fixes reach installs quickly. For any PR, please attach screenshots of what was broken and how it is fixed now. We will shortly add features that you can contribute to. Please note that we are actively developing based off a internal list and goal, so we may not approve PRs that add features that are already under-development or deviates from our vision.

License

MIT - see LICENSE.

openworker (andrewyng/openworker)

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18.6K ·GitHub
Openworker
What is this?OpenWorker is an open-source AI coworker that lives on your desktop and delivers finished work instead of just chat: reviewed code with fixes, polished documents, Slack replies with real numbers, triaged inboxes.
Is this a chatbot, or does it actually do tasks for me?It's an agentic desktop app: you describe the outcome you want, it breaks the task into steps and works across your files and connected apps, checking in before anything consequential, and hands you a finished deliverable rather than a reply or a to-do list.
How do I get it running?Download the signed macOS (Apple Silicon, macOS 12+) or Windows 10/11 (x64) build, open the app, add a model API key or point it at Ollama, and ask for something real. It can also be run from source with Python 3.10+, Node 20+, and the Rust toolchain.
Which AI providers can I use with it?You bring your own key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Kimi, Qwen, MiniMax, Mistral, Grok, open-weight models via Together/Fireworks, or run fully local with Ollama — there's no lock-in to a single provider.
Is the Windows build ready to use right now?It runs, but it isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen will show a warning when you open it while signing is in progress; the macOS build is already signed and notarized.
Can I run this on Linux, or only Mac and Windows?Only macOS (Apple Silicon, macOS 12+) and Windows 10/11 (x64) downloads are offered; Linux isn't listed as a supported build.
How does OpenWorker stop itself from doing something harmful on its own?A set of dangerous, irreversible operations are human-only 'hard floors' that no mode including auto-approve can bypass. Routine actions follow a ladder from one-off approvals to standing rules to config allowlists, and every tool call is logged with its approval source and reasoning.
Can it work inside Slack instead of its own app window?Yes — mention @OpenWorker in a Slack channel, a session opens on your desktop using your connected tools, and the finished answer comes back as a thread reply.
What is aisuite and why does the README mention it?aisuite is a lightweight Python library giving a unified chat-completions API and agent/tools layer across LLM providers. OpenWorker's engine is built on it, and the project actually started life inside the aisuite repo before moving to its own home.
What tools and apps can it connect to out of the box?25+ integrations including GitHub, Slack, Jira, Notion, Linear, HubSpot, Outlook, monday.com, Gmail, and Google Calendar, plus your terminal and local files, with any additional tool reachable over MCP.
What are similar projects?laya, starnet, taskuary, evenfire, brigade, open-swe, openfang, opensquilla
Which topics is it in?jira, notion, governance, assistant, slack, code-review, tauri, workflow-automation, ollama, security-tools, gemini, anthropic
Creator
andrewyng
Size
6 MB
Stars
18.6K
Updated
CommitOct 17Releasev0.3.1Oct 05
Age
2mo
Commits · 90 Days