Is OpenBuddy really free and open source?

Yes. OpenBuddy is MIT-licensed, with no premium tier, no telemetry, and no phone-home. The full source code is auditable on GitHub and every release is PGP-signed.

How does OpenBuddy compare to WorkBuddy?

OpenBuddy is a pixel-close, 100% open source rewrite of WorkBuddy on Electron + Pi. Same design tokens, same UI; the difference is the open core, the BYOK model, and the data path. See the full comparison at /docs/comparison.

Which LLM providers does OpenBuddy support?

Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Bedrock, OpenRouter, Ollama, NewAPI, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Bring your own key or use a service token against a Casdoor / NewAPI gateway.

Where does my data live?

All conversations, prompts, skills, and the audit ledger live on your machine in ~/.openbuddy/. No telemetry by default; opt-in spans only.

v0.15.0 · MIT licensed · 469 test files

The open desktop AI workspace you can actually read, fork, and own.

OpenBuddy is a WorkBuddy-grade desktop AI workspace rebuilt as 100% open source (MIT) on Electron + Pi. Polished UI, plan mode, skills, MCP connectors — every byte auditable, every provider BYOK.

Download for free→Star on GitHub Read the docs

capability packages: 63
test files in repo: 469
license, forkable: MIT
platforms · Win/macOS/Linux: 3

openbuddy://chat

OpenBuddy desktop — primary workspace with conversation and tool sidebar

Integrations & core

Casdoor
NewAPI
Anthropic
OpenAI
MCP
OIDC
Cordis
Pi Agent
Electron
React 18
Vitest
Playwright

install · v0.15.0

macOS

brewcurl

$ brew tap louloulin/openbuddy && brew install --cask openbuddy

notemacOS 13+, Apple Silicon & Intel. SHA-256 verified by the installer.

Other platforms, see Getting Started →

capability packages: 63; Cordis services under @openbuddy/*
test files: 469; Visible in the repo, run with pnpm workspace:test
UI packages: 27; Sidebar, settings, workbench, dialogs, theme, locale, hmr…
collaboration packages: 8; Coordinator, evidence, inbox, room, network, protocol…

Product

Real screenshots, not CSS mock windows.

OpenBuddy desktop workspace showing multi-turn chat, source preview, and capability sidebar — Chat, code, and tools side-by-side.desktop

Capabilities

Four things done well. Everything else is replaceable.

Local-first

Your conversations, prompts, and skills live on your machine.

SQLite workspace at ~/.openbuddy/workspace.db
No telemetry by default; opt-in spans only
Offline-capable once providers are configured

Multi-provider

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Bedrock, OpenRouter, Ollama — same surface.

@openbuddy/provider-* adapters, swappable at runtime
Casdoor / Workbuddy-ID OIDC, BYO API keys
NewAPI gateway compatible

Plugin mesh

Six layers — bundle, pi, renderer, cordis. Each surface is open.

@openbuddy/extension-mcp — Model Context Protocol
@openbuddy/extension-skills — reusable capability skills
Cordis service registry for dependency injection

Open source

MIT. No phone-home. No premium tier. Read the code.

PGP-signed releases, public verification log
MIT · 63 packages · 469 test files
Public roadmap, RFC process, monthly release notes

Architecture

Three layers: process boundary, capability mesh, UI render.

layer 1
Electron host
Process boundary, native window, IPC bridge. Owns the filesystem and OS-level capabilities.
- electron 33
- contextBridge
- app.getPath("userData")
- node-pty
layer 2
Cordis mesh
Service registry. Capabilities register, resolve, and depend. Swappable without touching the host.
- @openbuddy/plugin-host
- cordis 4
- service-mesh
- capability-contracts
layer 3
React renderer
Chat UI, capability panels, settings. Talks to the host only through the IPC bridge.
- React 18
- next 14
- zustand
- react-virtuoso

Get started

Read the code. Run it. Make it yours.

MIT licensed. 63 packages. 469 test files. Star us, clone us, send a PR.

Download for desktop→View on GitHub Read the docs