Nolen began their writing career in 2019, with three years dedicated to editing the Creative section at MakeUseOf. Their expertise lies at the crossroads of technology and creativity, covering areas like photography, video editing, and graphic design.
Outside of work, you'll often find Nolen diving into a good book, writing their own stories, or playing video games.
Claude Cowork made a pretty convincing case for letting an AI loose in your folders. All you had to do was give it access and give it a job, and then it went off and did the job, often on a schedule when you're off doing something else entirely. Anthropic has since merged Cowork into the main Claude app, but the workflow is still there and largely the same - and I think many of us still call it "Cowork", to be honest.
The catch is (because there's always a catch) that the whole pipeline runs on Anthropic's models, which means Anthropic's usage limits as well. Enter OpenWork, a free, open-source Cowork app built on OpenCode. I pointed it at the same folders that Claude works in, and it really surprised me.
What is OpenWork?
It's like OpenCode, but built for people who don't live in a terminal
OpenWork is a free, open-source desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The site straight up calls it the open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and Codex. It's built on OpenCode, the open-source coding agent I've been spending a lot of time with lately, so there was already that sense of familiarity. OpenCode has always leaned toward developers, terminal and all, and OpenWork is basically that same engine with an interface for people who just want to get work done. Anything OpenCode can do works here too.
The folder setup is pretty much the same as any other cowork app. It only touches the folders that you authorize it to read and write, and in desktop mode, your files stay entirely local, with the prompts going straight to whichever model provider you pick. You don't need an account to get started, however, I recommend creating a free account because it'll give you access to more features.
OpenWork uses the same SKILL.md format as Claude Cowork and Claude Code, so a custom skill you've made in Claude will show up in the library without requiring you to import anything. If your setup is bigger than mine, there's a migration prompt you paste into an agent like Claude Code that moves your plugins and skills over. It even uses OpenCode's config format for things like custom providers.
The model choice is bizarre
Claude only runs Claude; this runs anything you want
Model choice is probably where OpenWork is further ahead of Claude. It pretty much works with anything OpenCode supports across over 50 providers. And if you still like Claude, just bring your Anthropic key and keep using a Claude model. There's also a ChatGPT sign-in for Plus or Pro subscribers, which is handy if you're already paying OpenAI anyway.
Local models are also an option. There's a built-in Ollama screen where you pick a model and add it to your workspace, and LM Studio connects through a config file. Once the model's downloaded it runs without an API key or an internet connection, and your prompts and files stay on your machine. There is a little tradeoff here though: smaller local models chat fine but they can struggle to call tools reliably, so it's probably best to keep a cloud model connected for long and more intensive tasks, unless you have a large GPU.
Then there are the free models, which come through OpenCode Zen. Big Pickle is the one most people will recognize, a stealth model that's free for a limited time, with a rotating handful of other free options. You don't need an account for these, but there's a weekly cap and signing in gets you a bigger allowance. Data collected through Big Pickle during its free period may also be used to improve the model.
Automations are the whole point
A cowork app should do the work while you're doing something else
Automations are exactly what make a cowork app feel different from the other one million chatbot apps. Setting one up in OpenWork is dead simple - you simply write the instruction in plain language, pick a time, pick a model, and activate it. You can also describe recurring work in chat and let OpenWork propose the automation for you - I'd keep this one pinned to a specific workspace so it only ever works in that particular folder.
The per-model automation picker is super useful, and not something that any of the big-name cowork apps have because they're tied to their own company's models. My main one pulls AI news from the web and saves the key points as plain text notes in a read-later folder. A job like this doesn't need an expensive model, while other tasks might require you to pick something a little more robust, such as from OpenAI, for example.
Automations need a free OpenWork account, and on the free plan they run on your desktop, so OpenWork has to be open when the schedule hits. Cloud automations are a Team plan feature at $10 per seat a month. Claude keeps working after you’ve closed your laptop, and I take it that this could be a massive downside depending on your workflow.
Something I learned is that every run starts fresh. For example, I asked for a new summary of the files in a folder since its last check, and since there was no last check to compare it against, OpenWork offered to save a baseline. Now I just tell automations to keep their own notes from the first run. Missed runs do get recovered when the app's back up, at least.
What you'd give up by switching to OpenWork
It's not a perfect swap
The built-in browser was something I thought would give OpenWork an edge, but Claude got its own built-in browser a few months ago, so this one's more of a tie than anything. One of the differences I've noticed is that OpenWork will ask before every click or bit of typing, which some might appreciate, but others might find tedious pretty quickly.
Mobile accessibility is the clearest miss. Claude works from your phone, while OpenWork's phone app is still something that's on the roadmap. Live dashboards that refresh with current data are in preview too. Your conversation history and scheduled tasks won't come across either, so you'll have to rebuild those.
My files don't care which app is reading them
The actual name "Cowork" has been retired by Claude, but the functionality remains in features like Claude Docs, Claude Slides, Claude Design, the built-in browser, and filesystem access. Those aren't features I reach for often in Claude anyway because I'd rather save my limits for more important work. And this is exactly where a free cowork app like OpenWork comes in. It handles all the tedious admin stuff I used to rely on Claude Cowork for, except I get to pick any model I want.
