CoWork OS

Public Adoption Signals

Generated 2026-07-21T06:04:45.479Z. These are public GitHub/npm adoption signals, not active-user or in-app telemetry numbers. Full report.

Why CoWork OS?

• Local AI super app — CoWork OS keeps coding, email, research, browser testing, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDFs, channels, devices, automations, memory, providers, and approvals in one governed local workspace.
• GUI-first, CLI-capable agent operations — Agents Hub, Mission Control, task timelines, visual boards, teams, devices, and automations remain the main operator console, while the cowork CLI gives terminal users the same local runtime for quick prompts and one-shot tasks.
• First-class cowork CLI — Type cowork for an interactive terminal UI or cowork run "task" for a local one-shot run. Normal local CLI use shares desktop provider/settings state and does not require a Control Plane token; --remote is the explicit token-gated path. CoWork CLI
• Long-running agent runtime — Chat, Execute, Plan, Analyze, Verified, Think With Me, Collaborative, Multi-LLM, Mixture of Agents, /multitask, structured input cards, Side Chat, adaptive recovery, and visible routing/fallback state make agent work inspectable while it is running. Chat mode · Mixture of Agents · Side Chat · Multitask
• Everything Workbench — Generated documents, spreadsheets, decks, web pages, PDFs, previews, and file outputs open beside the agent with follow-up context, so everyday knowledge work can be created and revised inside CoWork. Learn more
• Developer workbench — Real xterm.js + node-pty terminal tabs, title-bar terminal/browser toggles, Browser Workbench, responsive Browser V2 automation, screenshots, diagnostics, and visible web testing keep repo work, CLI work, and live app QA in the same workspace. Terminal Tabs · Browser Workbench
• Inbox and channels — Inbox Agent handles local-first mail triage, Ask Inbox evidence search, drafts, send/reply/forward, commitments, and @Inbox routing, while the gateway supports 17 messaging channels with specialization by workspace, agent role, guidance, and tool policy. Inbox Agent · Channels
• Visual automation and memory loop — The main-sidebar Automation Studio builds versioned, testable flows with variables, branches, approvals, and durable activity, while Workflow Intelligence, Heartbeat, Reflection, Dreaming, Suggestions, AI Playbook, Chronicle, Knowledge Graph, durable runtime context, and Usage Insights form the reviewable learning loop. Automation Studio · Workflow Intelligence · Chronicle
• Integrations, providers, and skills — 36 LLM provider options, configurable fallback chains, Mixture of Agents presets, provider-aware prompt caching, 47 MCP connectors, 36 bundled packs, 151 built-in skills, Composer @ mentions, message-box / shortcuts, Plugin Store, Skill Store, and external skill directories make the app extensible without giving up local control. Providers · Mixture of Agents · Plugin Packs
• Ops and portability — Zero-Human Company Ops, Digital Twin personas, managed devices, remote access, profiles, profile import/export, and best-fit workflow packs support both personal work and founder/operator-style autonomous company loops.
• Local-first security — Your data and API keys stay on your machine. Approval workflows, sandboxed execution, configurable guardrails, encrypted storage, session-scoped location prompts, private-memory filtering, and a verified automated test suite keep high-agency work bounded and reviewable.

Recent high-impact additions change the day-to-day product shape: Automation Studio, the cowork CLI, Mixture of Agents model presets, Browser Use Cloud routing, Codex Security workflows, automation outcome reporting, real terminal tabs, visible Browser Workbench, Side Chat, message-box shortcuts, Everything Workbench artifacts, and Secure MCP Tunnels. Detailed feature inventory remains below for deeper evaluation.

Ideas & Media

Stable workflow entry points for the newest high-impact capabilities.

• Ideas panel — curated launchpad of pre-written workflow prompts and capability-aware starting points, with deep links into common tasks.
• Research vaults (llm-wiki) — first-class workspace-local knowledge bases inspired by Andrej Karpathy's LLM Wiki concept, with deterministic raw-source capture, Obsidian-friendly notes, filed-back outputs, vault search, and vault-health analysis. Learn more
• Personal data cleanup (unbroker) — bundled global privacy/security skill for consent-gated data-broker and people-search removal, with a local PII ledger, opt-out queue, human-task digest, and recurring recheck support. Learn more
• Everything Workbench — generated documents, spreadsheets, decks, web pages, PDFs, and previews share the same artifact model: task-feed card, sidebar open, fullscreen workspace, follow-up composer, and refresh after the agent finishes the requested edit. It makes CoWork the default place to create, inspect, and revise everyday Word/Excel/PowerPoint-style work. Learn more
• Terminal Tabs — real PTY-backed terminal tabs live inside the task workspace, so coding and CLI work can stay beside agent tasks, artifacts, browser previews, and approvals. Learn more
• Document artifacts — task-created Word-style files render as compact artifact cards. .docx opens directly in an editable right-sidebar document surface with Google Docs-style controls, save, copy, external-open, fullscreen mode, and the same functional follow-up composer used by spreadsheet artifacts. .doc, .rtf, .odt, .ott, .pages, and related Word-style formats are recognized with best-effort preview or external-app/folder actions. Learn more
• Designed editorial documents — bundled kami skill for resumes, one-pagers, white papers, letters, portfolios, diagrams, and slide decks with workspace-local source scaffolding and PDF/PPTX export helpers. Learn more
• Format-aware file preview popup — clicking any file link in chat opens a unified preview modal that adapts to the format. Built-in support for HTML, Markdown, code (with highlight.js syntax colors), JSON / JSONL / GeoJSON (collapsible tree + raw toggle), CSV / TSV (RFC-4180 table), XLSX, DOCX, PDF (with page/OCR summary), images (fit / actual-size toggle, dimensions, alpha checkerboard), video, audio (with duration), LaTeX, and PPTX. Each format gets its own width profile, a header subtitle showing format-specific metadata, and a unified action bar with Copy path, Show in Finder, Open externally, and Close.
• Smart PDF attachments — uploaded PDFs are copied into the workspace, summarized into a compact prompt excerpt with page/extraction metadata, and read on demand with the document parser when the user asks for summaries, Q&A, extraction, comparison, or transformation. Scanned/image-heavy PDFs keep OCR/scan status visible, PDF excerpts are marked as untrusted document data, and read_pdf_visual remains reserved for layout, formatting, and page-appearance questions.
• Video attachments — uploaded .mp4, .mov, and .webm files are sampled into representative frames for image-capable models. CoWork extracts a contact sheet and full frame, stores them under .cowork/video-frames/..., and shows those screenshots inline in the task timeline. Learn more
• Spreadsheet artifacts — task-created spreadsheet files render as compact artifact cards. Excel workbooks and CSV/TSV files open in the editable right-sidebar viewer; native Numbers, Google Sheets shortcut, ODS, XLSB, and other recognized spreadsheet outputs still get the same card and external-app/folder actions. Fullscreen mode expands editable sheets across the app with cell/range/row/column selection, copy, zoom, add row/column, save, model picker, voice input, attachments, and follow-up task context. Learn more
• Presentation artifacts — generated .pptx decks render as compact artifact cards and open by default in the resizable right-sidebar presentation viewer. The viewer shows thumbnails, slide navigation, zoom, a white slide canvas, speaker notes, text-first fast loading, cached rendered slide images, fullscreen follow-up context, and background refresh after requested deck edits. Legacy PowerPoint formats are recognized with external-app/folder actions. Learn more
• Web page artifacts — generated .html / .htm pages and built React output such as dist/index.html, build/index.html, or out/index.html render as compact artifact cards and open by default in a resizable right-sidebar sandboxed iframe preview. Fullscreen mode keeps the functional follow-up composer and refreshes after the relevant file or build output changes. React-style source projects without build output show a clear build-output-needed state instead of auto-starting a dev server. Learn more
• Browser Workbench / Browser V2 — live website testing opens a visible in-app browser in the right sidebar by default. Browser-use tools target that shared webview through Browser V2, show cursor movement during actions, can resize the page to desktop/tablet/mobile breakpoints for responsive QA, prefer accessibility snapshot refs over selectors, expose console/network/download/storage diagnostics, support screenshots and annotation, and can expand to fullscreen with the normal follow-up composer. Explicit fallback routes include local Playwright, external Chrome/Edge CDP attach with consent, and Browser Use Cloud stealth browsers through browser_provider: "browser-use-cloud" for public HTTP(S) targets. Learn more
• Image generation — configurable provider ordering across Gemini, OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, and OpenRouter.
• Video generation — text-to-video and image-to-video routing with polling tools and inline preview.
• Programmatic technical video — bundled manim-video skill for Manim CE explainers, equation walkthroughs, algorithm visualizations, and animated architecture/data stories. Learn more
• Architecture design orchestration — bundled architecture-design skill and local Rhino, Blender, and ComfyUI MCP connectors for concept house/building workflows with project-contained artifacts and connector evidence. Learn more
• React/Next.js implementation guidance — bundled react-best-practices skill for React workspace changes, Next.js feature work, reviews, refactors, data-fetching improvements, bundle-size checks, and rendering-performance fixes. Learn more
• High-agency frontend design — bundled taste-skill for stricter anti-slop frontend work with stronger layout variance, typography, motion, and implementation rules.

See Everyday Agent, Workflow Intelligence, Dreaming, Core Automation, I Gave CoWork OS Workflow Intelligence, And Now It Learns From Reviewable Work | Full Guide, Features, Heartbeat v3, Providers, and Plugin Packs for current runtime details.

Latest Release

0.5.50 is the next release candidate. It adds GPT-5.6 ChatGPT subscription controls, Mixture of Agents orchestration, Browser Workbench annotations, inline email compose frames, video attachment analysis, approval-gated visible browser/computer use, governed memory writes, Google Calendar and architecture connectors, session retention controls, and the bundled unbroker privacy workflow. Start with Release Notes 0.5.50, then Features, Getting Started, and the Changelog.

The larger recent feature expansion landed in 0.5.45: Agent Builder, finance/legal packs, channel specialization, Google Workspace Tasks/Slides, mailbox compose/send upgrades, runtime network/sandbox policy controls, Dreaming memory curation, and /multitask lane fan-out. See Release Notes 0.5.45, Managed Agents, Claude-for-Legal Workflows, Multitask Command, and Dreaming.

Quick Start

Download the App

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases:

macOS unsigned app workaround

CoWork OS macOS DMGs are currently unsigned, so the first launch needs a one-time Gatekeeper override:

1. Open the downloaded .dmg and drag CoWork OS into Applications.

2. Open CoWork OS from Applications. If macOS says "CoWork OS" Not Opened, click Done.

3. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, and click Open Anyway next to "CoWork OS" was blocked to protect your Mac.

4. In the confirmation dialog, click Open Anyway.

5. On first startup, macOS may ask for access to the cowork-os Safe Storage keychain item. Enter your Mac login password and click Always Allow so CoWork OS can store local credentials securely.

Release maintainers can create this unsigned DMG/ZIP with npm run package:mac:unsigned.

Windows first launch: Windows SmartScreen may show a warning for unrecognized apps. Click More info > Run anyway to proceed.

First launch asks how you want to power AI: sign in with an existing ChatGPT subscription, use a local Ollama model if one is installed, or add an API key for Claude, OpenAI API, Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, and other providers. OpenRouter, Gemini through Google AI Studio, and Groq are marked when a free option is available. After at least two model routes work, you can create a Mixture of Agents preset that combines them. You can explore the app without AI, but tasks require one working model route.

Or Install via npm

npm install -g cowork-os
cowork-os
cowork
cowork run "who are you?"

cowork-os launches the desktop GUI. cowork launches the terminal UI, cowork run starts a local one-shot task, and commands like cowork status, cowork sessions list, cowork tools list, cowork mcp list, cowork backup create, and cowork security audit manage the same local profile, provider settings, workspaces, skills, and MCP configuration. Use --remote only when intentionally calling a remote Control Plane endpoint.

Windows npm install notes:

• Run npm install -g cowork-os / npm uninstall -g cowork-os from %USERPROFILE% (or another neutral directory), not from %APPDATA%\npm\node_modules\cowork-os, to avoid EBUSY lock errors.
• On Windows ARM64, first launch may take longer while native modules are rebuilt; this can run multiple fallback steps before the app opens.
• If native rebuild fails, install Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 (C++) and Python 3, then retry.
• If startup logs show ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND ... dist/renderer/index.html, reinstall the latest package and check Troubleshooting.

Or Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/CoWork-OS/CoWork-OS.git
cd CoWork-OS
npm install && npm run setup
npm run build && npm run package

Windows prerequisites: Native module setup may require Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 (C++) and Python 3. On Windows ARM64, setup automatically falls back to x64 Electron emulation when ARM64 native prebuilds are unavailable.

npm run setup also installs local git hooks (.githooks/) including a pre-commit secret scan. If needed, reinstall hooks with npm run hooks:install.

See the Development Guide for prerequisites and details.

How It Works

1. Choose an AI route — The easiest path for many users is Sign in with ChatGPT. If CoWork detects a local Ollama model, it offers that private local route. API-key providers are available for Claude, OpenAI API, Gemini, OpenRouter, Groq, and others, with free-option badges shown where applicable. Once several routes are configured, Mixture of Agents can use them as advisor and aggregator slots.
2. Create a task or start from Ideas — Describe what you want in the desktop app ("create a weekly plan", "create a quarterly report spreadsheet", "draft a DOCX memo", "build a small landing page"), begin from a curated Ideas prompt, or run a one-shot terminal task with cowork run "...". No workspace needed — a private starter workspace is used automatically if you don't select one.
3. Choose a mode — Pick Chat, Execute, Plan, Analyze, or Verified for the runtime behavior, then optionally toggle Autonomous (auto-approve actions), Collaborative (multi-agent perspectives), or Multi-LLM (compare providers with a judge) per task. For one-shot parallel lane work, start with /multitask [N] <task>.
4. Monitor execution — Watch the real-time task timeline as the agent plans, executes, and produces artifacts. Parallel tool bursts are grouped into lane summaries, shell commands stay visible, and the workspace can open real terminal tabs for direct interactive CLI work.
5. Ask without interrupting — Use /side to open Side Chat for read-only questions about the selected running session, or use the title-bar terminal and browser buttons when you need direct CLI or web inspection beside the task.
6. Respond when needed — Destructive operations require explicit approval (unless Autonomous mode is on), plan-mode tasks can pause for structured multiple-choice input, and location requests stay explicit and session-scoped.

Features

Agent Runtime

Task-based execution with dynamic re-planning, five runtime modes (Chat, Execute, Plan, Analyze, Verified) plus orchestration toggles (Autonomous, Collaborative, Multi-LLM, Think With Me), /multitask lane fan-out, a shared turn kernel, metadata-driven tool scheduling, graph-backed delegation, typed worker roles, optional workflow-pipeline execution with per-phase model routing, agent teams with persistence, agent comparison, git worktree isolation, AI playbook, and performance reviews. Learn more

Skills now follow an additive runtime model: CoWork can proactively shortlist or apply a relevant skill, but the original task remains canonical. Skills add context and scoped execution modifiers instead of replacing the task prompt. Learn more

Real terminal tabs now sit beside the task runtime: xterm.js renders the terminal, node-pty owns the OS pseudoterminal, macOS uses the user's login shell, and Windows uses cmd.exe through ConPTY/winpty. This makes CoWork a stronger everyday developer workbench because repository work, agent execution, approvals, browser testing, and direct CLI sessions no longer require switching to a separate terminal app. Learn more

Side Chat gives active sessions a read-only inspection lane. /side [question] opens a right-side conversation about the selected running task with hidden inherited parent context, a fresh parent-status snapshot for progress questions, a side-only visible transcript, and mutating tools denied. Learn more

Chronicle (Desktop Research Preview)

Chronicle is an opt-in desktop-only recent-screen context lane for vague on-screen references such as this, that, the failing one, latest draft, or why is this failing. Configure it from Settings > Memory Hub > Chronicle: passive capture is consent-gated, can be paused from Settings or the tray, resolves through screen_context_resolve, and promotes only task-used observations into existing recall, evidence, and optional linked screen_context memory entries instead of creating a second memory system. Learn more

Research Vaults (llm-wiki)

CoWork OS includes llm-wiki as a bundled, first-class research-vault workflow inspired by Andrej Karpathy's LLM Wiki idea: keep a /raw corpus, build durable linked notes on top, and make the result easy for agents to traverse later.

You can launch it from the GUI with a normal prompt such as Build a persistent Obsidian-friendly research vault for GRPO papers, from the welcome/onboarding starter cards, or with /llm-wiki when you want explicit slash syntax.

The welcome-screen Research vault browser is optional and disabled by default. Enable it from Settings > Appearance > Home widgets > Show research vault when you want the research/wiki vault card visible near the composer.

llm-wiki creates and maintains a workspace-local markdown wiki with:

• immutable raw/ source captures
• deterministic ingest helpers for articles, papers, repos, datasets, and images
• durable Obsidian-friendly notes and maps
• deterministic vault-first search across notes, raw captures, and filed slide decks
• filed-back Marp slide decks and SVG charts under outputs/
• SCHEMA.md, index.md, log.md, and inbox.md
• a GUI vault browser on the welcome screen for core files, recent notes, recent queries, outputs, and raw captures
• deterministic vault analysis for orphans, broken links, bridge pages, surprising cross-section links, and suggested follow-up questions

It works in desktop and gateway channels, supports inline chaining, and writes inspectable run artifacts alongside the persistent vault. GUI-first prompts can start the flow even before you supply a topic, in which case CoWork asks one short scoping question first. Learn more

Operator Runtime Visibility makes the runtime's learning and routing visible: task detail surfaces now show the learning progression, unified recall spans tasks/messages/files/workspace notes/memory/KG, shell sessions preserve operator state, and live routing/fallback events are surfaced in Mission Control and the task UI. Learn more

Workflow Intelligence reflections now use the same runtime with stricter safeguards: they start only after memory services are initialized, write durable target-scoped artifacts under .cowork/subconscious/ for compatibility, default to reviewable suggestions, learn from act/edit/snooze/dismiss/ignore feedback, and hand memory-specific drift/correction evidence to Dreaming for reviewable memory curation. Trusted code-change auto-create paths still require isolated git worktrees and skip non-git workspaces when isolation is required. See Workflow Intelligence, Dreaming, and Troubleshooting.

Output Completion UX

Completion state and file availability are now explicit:

• Everything Workbench: generated knowledge-work outputs share one artifact model across docs, sheets, decks, pages, PDFs, and previews, making CoWork the everyday place to create, review, edit, and revise office-style work with the agent beside it
• High-signal completion toast: finished tasks with outputs show Task complete with filename/count and actions for Open file, Show in Finder, and View in Files
• Right-sidebar focus: if you are viewing the completed task and the panel is collapsed, the Files panel auto-opens and highlights the primary output
• Unseen-output badge: if completion happens in another task/view, the collapsed right-panel toggle shows a numeric badge until you open Files
• Filename-first rows with clear location context: Files rows stay filename-only, with output folder context shown separately (or Workspace root)
• Artifact parity: artifact-only outputs are treated the same as normal file outputs in completion toasts, timeline details, and Files panel
• Spreadsheet artifact workbench: spreadsheet outputs render as compact cards. .xlsx, .xls, .xlsm, .csv, and .tsv open into a resizable editable sidebar by default; .numbers, .gsheet, .ods, and .xlsb are recognized as spreadsheet artifacts with external-app/folder actions. Editable sheets can expand into fullscreen spreadsheet mode with copy/save controls, zoom, attachments, voice input, and model selection for follow-up prompts
• Document artifact workbench: Word-style outputs render as compact cards. .docx opens into a resizable editable sidebar by default and can expand into fullscreen document mode with a Google Docs-style toolbar, save, copy, attachments, voice input, model selection, follow-up context, and automatic preview refresh after follow-up edits. .doc, .rtf, .odt, .ott, .pages, and related formats are recognized with preview/external actions according to local parser support
• LaTeX/PDF artifact workbench: explicit LaTeX/TikZ paper tasks can write .tex, compile it with a system TeX engine, and show the source plus rendered PDF together with Summary, source, and PDF tabs
• Smart PDF attachment reading: user-uploaded PDFs keep the initial prompt compact while preserving the workspace-relative path, page count, extraction mode, OCR/scan status, and a safe excerpt. For deeper PDF content tasks, CoWork calls parse_document on demand instead of stuffing the whole PDF into every turn; visual PDF inspection stays on read_pdf_visual
• Presentation artifact workbench: .pptx outputs show inline deck cards in task events and assistant summaries, then open into a resizable sidebar or fullscreen viewer with thumbnails, previous/next navigation, zoom, speaker notes, fast text-first loading, cached rendered slide images, external actions, and follow-up prompt context. .ppt, .pptm, .potx, .potm, .ppsx, and .ppsm are recognized with external-app/folder actions
• Web page artifact workbench: generated .html / .htm files and built React output entrypoints show compact web page cards, then open into a resizable sidebar or fullscreen sandboxed iframe preview with browser/folder/copy actions, persisted sidebar width, and follow-up prompt context. React-style projects without dist, build, or out HTML output show a build-output-needed preview state rather than auto-running a dev server
• Semantic completion labels: completed tool batches and verifier verdicts now feed the richer completion text shown in timelines, feed relays, and export surfaces

Guided Input & Runtime Recovery

Long-running tasks now have clearer operator handoffs and stronger recovery defaults:

• Structured input cards: plan-mode tasks can pause with 1-3 short multiple-choice prompts, with answers captured inline in the desktop UI or via the Control Plane web dashboard
• Adaptive turn recovery: main execute-mode tasks are uncapped at the turn-window level by default, still reserve room for a final answer, and use lifetime/emergency safety stops plus bounded follow-up recovery instead of strategy-assigned 30/30 style windows; explicit maxTurns / windowTurnCap still opt tasks into capped behavior
• Context overflow retry: context-capacity failures trigger compaction and retry instead of immediate hard failure when the model context window is exceeded
• Path repair: /workspace/... aliases and drifted relative paths can be normalized back into the active workspace or pinned task root, with strict-fail policies available when you want hard enforcement
• Parallel timeline lanes: read-only tool batches render as grouped timeline rows so the UI stays readable even when searches/fetches run concurrently

Feature Inventory

The top of this README is intentionally opinionated about what matters first. The broader surface area is still part of CoWork OS:

Mission Control

Centralized orchestration and monitoring cockpit with clear separation between Heartbeat-enabled agents, the global runtime queue, workspace-scoped Mission Board work, the real-time activity feed, core automation profile visibility, and a Core Harness view for traces, failure clusters, evals, experiments, and learnings. Learn more | Core Automation