OpenWork

OpenWork is an extensible, open-source “Claude Work” style system for knowledge workers.

It’s a native desktop app that runs OpenCode under the hood, but presents it as a clean, guided workflow:

• pick a workspace
• start a run
• watch progress + plan updates
• approve permissions when needed
• reuse what works (templates + skills)

The goal: make “agentic work” feel like a product, not a terminal.

Quick start

Download the dmg here https://github.com/different-ai/openwork/releases (or install from source below)

Why

Current CLI and GUIs for opencode are anchored around developers. That means a focus on file diffs, tool names, and hard to extend capabilities without relying on exposing some form of cli.

OpenWork is designed to be:

• Extensible: skill and opencode plugins are installable modules.
• Auditable: show what happened, when, and why.
• Permissioned: access to privileged flows.
• Local/Remote: OpenWork works locally as well as can connect to remote servers.

What’s Included

• Host mode: runs opencode locally on your computer
• Client mode: connect to an existing OpenCode server by URL.
• Sessions: create/select sessions and send prompts.
• Live streaming: SSE /event subscription for realtime updates.
• Execution plan: render OpenCode todos as a timeline.
• Permissions: surface permission requests and reply (allow once / always / deny).
• Templates: save and re-run common workflows (stored locally).
• Skills manager:
  • list installed .opencode/skill folders
  • install from OpenPackage (opkg install ...)
  • import a local skill folder into .opencode/skill/<skill-name>

Skill Manager

Works on local computer or servers

Quick Start

Requirements

• Node.js + pnpm
• Rust toolchain (for Tauri): cargo, rustc
• OpenCode CLI installed and available on PATH: opencode

Install

pnpm install

OpenWork now lives in packages/desktop. Root scripts forward to that package.

Run (Desktop)

pnpm dev

Run (Web UI only)

pnpm dev:web

Architecture (high-level)

• In Host mode, OpenWork spawns:
  • opencode serve --hostname 127.0.0.1 --port <free-port>
  • with your selected project folder as the process working directory.
• The UI uses @opencode-ai/sdk/v2/client to:
  • connect to the server
  • list/create sessions
  • send prompts
  • subscribe to SSE events
  • read todos and permission requests

Folder Picker

The folder picker uses the Tauri dialog plugin. Capability permissions are defined in:

• packages/desktop/src-tauri/capabilities/default.json

OpenPackage Notes

If opkg is not installed globally, OpenWork falls back to:

pnpm dlx opkg install <package>

OpenCode Plugins

Plugins are the native way to extend OpenCode. OpenWork now manages them from the Skills tab by reading and writing opencode.json.

• Project scope: <workspace>/opencode.json
• Global scope: ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/opencode/opencode.json)

You can still edit opencode.json manually; OpenWork uses the same format as the OpenCode CLI:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "plugin": ["opencode-wakatime"]
}

Useful Commands

pnpm typecheck
pnpm build:web
pnpm test:e2e

Security Notes

• OpenWork hides model reasoning and sensitive tool metadata by default.
• Host mode binds to 127.0.0.1 by default.

Contributing

• Review AGENTS.md and MOTIVATIONS-PHILOSOPHY.md to understand the product goals before making changes.
• Ensure Node.js, pnpm, the Rust toolchain, and opencode are installed before working inside the repo.
• Run pnpm install once per checkout, then verify your change with pnpm typecheck plus pnpm test:e2e (or the targeted subset of scripts) before opening a PR.
• Add new PRDs to packages/desktop/pr/<name>.md following the .opencode/skill/prd-conventions/SKILL.md conventions described in AGENTS.md.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.