Apr 04, 2026 18:00:00

Review of OpenWork, a free and open-source alternative to Claude Cowork.

Claude Cowork is a convenient AI tool that allows you to instruct an AI to perform desktop operations, but it requires a fee because it uses Claude Code . OpenWork , on the other hand, is free and open-source, and by using OpenCode , which allows you to freely choose your AI provider service, you can build an automation environment for free.

different-ai/openwork: An open-source alternative to Claude Cowork built for teams, powered by opencode
https://github.com/different-ai/openwork

OpenWork — The open source Claude Cowork alternative
https://openworklabs.com/

◆How to use OpenWork
It launches as a GUI application. The AI model, OpenCode Zen , is available by default and can be tried for free.

- As a chat
If you type 'Please describe a use case for OpenWork' into the chat input field and click 'Run Task'...

The feedback I received included a summary of OpenWork use cases, such as 'automating daily tasks' and 'automating browser operations.'

- Automating browser operations
If you type 'Launch your browser and access the Google homepage' and click 'Run Task,' your browser will launch and access the Google homepage as specified.

Task scheduling
When I entered 'Please display gigazine.net in a maximized browser at 0 minutes past every hour, take a screenshot, and save it to the Pictures folder in the user folder' and clicked 'Run Task,' I received a message confirming that the task had been set up.

In reality, the task involves registering the OpenCode execution command, which will pass the specified instructions, with the Task Scheduler.

A few hours later, it was confirmed that screenshots of gigazine.net were being taken every hour.

However, because the screenshots are taken without waiting for the site to render, some images are missing due to the effects of delayed loading. It seems necessary to devise a method for instructing the system to 'wait a certain amount of time after the page is displayed before taking the screenshot.'

File search
When I typed 'Get a list of text files located directly under the Documents folder in the user folder' and clicked 'Run Task,' I was able to get a list of text files.

- Creating and editing files
If you type 'Create a file named 'test.txt' on your desktop and write 'OpenWork test successful' inside it' and click 'Run Task', a text file with 'OpenWork test successful' written in it will be created on your desktop as instructed.

When I typed 'Launch Notepad and type 'OpenWork test successful'', Notepad launched but failed to input text, and the command was displayed instead. Depending on the task, it may or may not work.

- Use of Skill and MCP servers
Because it utilizes OpenCode, it's possible to register

agent skills and MCP servers to trigger command processing in specific situations and to instruct operations in conjunction with external services.

◆OpenWork Development Status
The creator

commented on the social news site Hacker News that 'it's still in the early stages of development, and there are many rough edges.'

◆ How to install OpenWork
This time, we'll be setting it up on Windows. Open PowerShell and install Scoop .

 Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser
 Invoke-RestMethod -Uri https://get.scoop.sh | Invoke-Expression

Install OpenCode using Scoop.

 scoop install opencode

Click 'Download for free' on the official OpenWork page .

Click the Windows installer from the download page and save it.

Run the downloaded installer.

A setup dialog will appear, so click 'Next'.

The installation location will be displayed, so click 'Next'.

The installation is ready, so click 'Install'.

Once the installation is complete, click 'Finish'.

OpenWork will launch automatically.

While there are privacy and security concerns due to the ability to read and write files on the PC, this can be prevented by setting the OpenCode model to Local LLM.