Cowork-Z

A local-first AI workspace that keeps your work private, organized, and ready to run.

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Why Cowork-Z?

Most AI tools force you to choose between capability and privacy — and leave you rebuilding context from scratch every time. Cowork-Z takes a different approach.

Each project lives in its own workspace: one folder, all your files, sessions, and agent history in one place. Your data never leaves your machine. And a built-in Skills Catalog and Starter Packs mean you're productive in minutes, not hours.

Whether you're a developer protecting proprietary code, a researcher with sensitive data, or a knowledge worker who wants AI on your local files — if privacy matters, this is for you.

Features

🔒 Private by design

Sandboxed Permissions

Your files never leave your machine. The agent reads and writes locally — nothing is uploaded to cloud servers. You control exactly what it can access:

• Folder-level access controls — grant read or read-write per directory
• Runtime permission prompts — if the agent needs a folder you haven't approved, it asks first
• Per-session tracking — permissions are scoped and persisted per task

The agent asks before accessing folders outside your approved list

Multi-Provider Flexibility

Connect to 12+ AI providers and switch between them at any time:

Direct API — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, xAI, DeepSeek, Z.AI
Cloud Platforms — GitHub Copilot, AWS Bedrock, Azure AI Foundry
Proxy Services — OpenRouter, LiteLLM
Local Models — Ollama

Credentials are stored in the OS Keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, Linux Secret Service) — never in plain text files.

Connect to any provider — credentials stored in the OS Keychain

📁 One project at a time

Workspace-per-Project

Work is organized around workspaces — one folder, one focus. Each workspace holds its own files, chat sessions, permissions, and agent history in one place. Switch workspaces to switch projects; nothing bleeds between them.

• File tree browser — lazy-loaded sidebar tree with real-time filesystem watching and search
• File preview panel — preview code (syntax-highlighted), Markdown, images, video, PDF, and HTML without leaving the app; supports fullscreen mode
• "Add to Chat" — insert any file as an @path reference into the chat input directly from the preview panel

One workspace per project — files, sessions, and history in one place

Rich Chat Experience

• Inline file previews — file paths render as clickable links with thumbnails for images and video
• Image gallery — click any thumbnail to open an in-app preview with "Show in Finder"
• URL previews — links in agent responses open in your default browser
• Drag-and-drop — drop files or folders from Finder or the file tree into the chat to reference them
• Multi-line input — compose detailed prompts with Shift+Enter
• Todo tracking — see the agent's task progress in a sidebar panel with a progress bar
• Artefacts panel — all files the agent creates or modifies are tracked in the sidebar

File paths render as clickable links with inline media previews

⚡ Ready in minutes

Starter Packs

Hit the ground running with 6 guided workspace packs covering writing, research, security audits, legal review, and more. Each pack bundles template files, prompts, and step-by-step guidance:

1. Browse packs on the Home screen and click Install
2. Choose a destination folder — the app creates the workspace automatically
3. The agent opens START_HERE.md and walks you through the task

No configuration, no setup from scratch.

Browse and install guided workspace packs from the Home screen

Skills Catalog

A built-in catalog of reusable AI skill templates, installable with one click:

• Category tabs — browse by domain (Marketing, Sales, Enterprise, and more)
• Search — filter by name, description, or category in real-time
• One-click install — skills are copied to ~/.config/opencode/skills/ and auto-discovered by the agent
• Update detection — SHA256 checksums flag outdated skills with a Re-install prompt

One-click install of reusable AI skills — no manual file management

Skills Manager

A dedicated window for managing skills from Git repositories:

• Register Git repos — add any public or private Git repository as a skill source
• Auto-discovery — skills are automatically discovered from cloned repos by scanning for SKILL.md files
• Browse & install — search, filter, and install skills from registered repos into any global skills directory
• Sync & update — repos sync on app launch; outdated skills show an Update prompt
• Multiple targets — install to ~/.config/opencode/skills/, ~/.claude/skills/, or ~/.agents/skills/

Extensible with MCP Servers

Connect external tools and data sources via the Model Context Protocol. Supports both local (command) and remote (URL) servers, configurable from the Settings panel.

🖥️ Desktop-Native Experience

• Keyboard shortcuts — Cmd+N new task, Cmd+, settings, Escape cancel
• Multiple themes — light and dark modes with runtime switching
• Auto-updates — checks for updates on launch with signed, verified bundles
• Cross-platform — macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel) today; Windows and Linux builds available

Switch between light and dark themes at any time

Download

macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel)

Go to the latest release and download the .dmg for your architecture:

Windows

Windows support (dev) — Cowork-Z now runs on Windows. Full feature coverage hasn't been completed yet, so please expect rough edges and report issues you encounter.

Linux

Linux builds (x64 and ARM64) are produced by CI. Check the releases page for .deb and .AppImage files.

Quickstart

[!NOTE]
Early access — Cowork-Z is under active development. Some features may be rough around the edges. Feedback and bug reports are very welcome.

1. Install OpenCode

Cowork-Z requires OpenCode as its AI engine. Install it globally:

npm install -g opencode-ai

If the app can't find opencode on launch, it will show a dialog with installation instructions. Make sure the opencode binary is on your shell's PATH.

2. Launch the app & configure a provider

1. Open Cowork-Z
2. Press Cmd + , (or click the gear icon) to open Settings
3. Pick an AI provider (e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Ollama ...)
4. Enter your API key — credentials are stored securely in the OS Keychain, never in plain text

3. Start a task

Type a prompt in the launcher (or press Cmd + N) and hit Enter. The agent will plan, execute, and report back — all running locally on your machine.

Try these:

• "Summarise all PDFs in this folder into a single report"
• "Review this codebase for security issues and write findings to AUDIT.md"
• "Organise the photos in ~/Downloads by date into year/month folders"

Go further (optional)

• Starter Packs — Browse the Home screen, pick a guided workspace pack, and click Install. The app creates a workspace and the agent walks you through START_HERE.md.
• Skills Catalog — Click Install on any skill from the Home screen to add it to your OpenCode skills directory. No restart needed.
• Skills Manager — Open the Skills Manager from the sidebar to register Git repositories as skill sources, browse discovered skills, and install or update them across multiple skills directories.
• MCP Servers — Open Settings > MCP Servers to connect external tools and data sources (databases, APIs, file systems) via the Model Context Protocol.

Tech Stack

Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, coding guidelines, and how to submit pull requests.

Quick dev start

git clone https://github.com/kevinlin/cowork-z.git
cd cowork-z
pnpm install
cd src-tauri/sidecar-opencode && pnpm install && cd ../..
pnpm tauri dev

Prerequisites

• Node.js v20+, pnpm v9+
• Tauri v2 toolchain (see https://v2.tauri.app/start/prerequisites/)
• Rust toolchain (for the Tauri backend)
• OpenCode (npm install -g opencode-ai)

Windows: Rust with MSVC toolchain

Tauri on Windows requires the MSVC toolchain. If you see missing dlltool.exe errors or your rustc -vV shows host: x86_64-pc-windows-gnu, follow these steps:

1. Install Microsoft C++ Build Tools

   • Download Visual Studio Build Tools
   • In the installer, select the Desktop development with C++ workload
   • Verify the MSVC v143 toolset and Windows 10/11 SDK are included
   • Open a new terminal after install and confirm with where cl

2. Install rustup (if rustup/cargo aren't found)

   • Download and run rustup-init.exe — choose the default install
   • Ensure %USERPROFILE%\.cargo\bin is on your PATH
   • Verify: rustup --version && cargo --version

3. Switch to the MSVC toolchain

   rustup toolchain install stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
   rustup default stable-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
   

   Verify with rustc -vV — you should see host: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.

4. Remove any per-repo GNU override (common gotcha)

   rustup override list
   # If your repo is listed with ...-gnu:
   cd path\to\cowork-z
   rustup override unset
   

5. Clean and rebuild

   cd src-tauri && cargo clean && cd ..
   pnpm tauri dev
   

Note: Windows 11 ships with WebView2 pre-installed. If the build complains about WebView2, install the runtime and retry.

Roadmap

See the requirements document for the full feature spec. Outstanding items:

• Windows testing and polish
• Database encryption at rest (Req 5.2.2)

Track progress on the issues page or check the changelog for recent releases.

Acknowledgments

• Cowork-Z's UI is based on Accomplish. Thanks to the Accomplish team for their work on the original implementation.
• The Workspace, Starter Packs and Skills Catalog features were inspired by and heavily referenced from Tandem. Thanks to the Tandem team for pioneering this pattern.

License

MIT — Copyright (c) 2025-present Kevin Lin and contributors