Open Claude Cowork is an open-source desktop agent harness and orchestrator developed by ComposioHQ. It provides a dedicated co-working environment powered by the Claude Agent SDK and the Composio Tool Router, bringing autonomous agent workflows to a desktop interface. In day-to-day operation, users interact with a cross-platform Electron application running on macOS, Linux, or Windows. The interface maintains persistent multi-session chat contexts and streams model responses in real time using Server-Sent Events (SSE). The orchestrator leverages the Claude Agent SDK along with Opencode to support multi-turn agentic loops, providing structured visual feedback for every tool call and action taken by the model. Unlike traditional CLI-only agents that restrict execution to local shell commands and file editing, Open Claude Cowork specializes in cross-service orchestration. Through the Composio Tool Router, the harness connects models to more than 500 third-party APIs and developer services (including GitHub, Slack, Gmail, and Google Drive), allowing the agent to bridge local development with cloud-based workflows. Open Claude Cowork is open-source software released under the MIT License. It is free to inspect, modify, and self-host, requiring users to bring their own API credentials for model access and connected external tools.
Composio Tool Router Integration — Connects the agent harness to over 500 external services and APIs, including GitHub, Slack, Gmail, and Google Drive. - Claude Agent SDK & Opencode Backend — Drives autonomous multi-turn reasoning and agentic workflows using Anthropic Claude models and Opencode compatibility. - Cross-Platform Electron Interface — Native desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux supporting multi-session conversational workspaces. - Real-Time SSE Streaming — Streams agent output, reasoning tokens, and tool status updates using Server-Sent Events. - Visualized Tool Invocations — Displays structured parameter payloads, tool execution states, and output logs within the desktop UI. - MIT Open-Source License — Freely customizable, inspectable, and extendable codebase written in JavaScript/TypeScript.
Use cases
Use Case: Cross-Service Developer Automation A developer configures the agent with GitHub and Slack access via the Composio Tool Router to triage open pull requests, summarize CI/CD failures, and post formatted progress reports directly to a team channel.
Use Case: Persistent Project Management Coworking A technical lead opens distinct workspace sessions across multiple repositories, retaining isolated conversation histories and tool state while tasking the agent with cross-referencing documentation across Google Drive and local project files.
Use Case: API and Service Orchestration An engineer prompts the desktop agent to monitor an external API endpoint, parse returned error responses, generate fix branches in GitHub, and draft email alerts to affected stakeholders in a single continuous agentic loop.
Who it is for
This tool is designed for developers, technical product managers, and power users who want an open-source, desktop-based AI orchestrator capable of bridging model reasoning with hundreds of third-party SaaS services. It is less suitable for engineers looking for a lightweight, terminal-only CLI agent with zero GUI dependencies or those operating in strictly air-gapped environments.
Install guide
Installation Open Claude Cowork can be built from source using Node.js and npm (standard build method for the ComposioHQ repository): bash # Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/ComposioHQ/open-claude-cowork.git cd open-claude-cowork # Install project dependencies npm install
First Run Configure your environment variables and start the application in development mode: bash # Export your Anthropic API Key and Composio API Key export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-anthropic-api-key" export COMPOSIO_API_KEY="your-composio-api-key" # Launch the desktop application npm start Authenticate any required third-party services (such as GitHub or Slack) through the Composio configuration settings in the application interface.
Example Session Once the application is running, start a new session and prompt the agent to interact across connected tools: text Check the latest 3 open pull requests on 'org/backend-service' via GitHub, summarize any failing checks, and draft an update message to the #engineering channel in Slack.
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