OpenWork vs Kortix: which open-source AI workspace fits your team

01Which one fits: the short answer

OpenWork fits one person or a small team that wants an AI agent working on local files from a desktop app. It is a free, open-source desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux where agents work on your own files, it is built on OpenCode, and it takes your own model keys (openworklabs.com). Pick OpenWork when the work stays on one machine and you want to share skills and MCP servers with teammates by importing a link.

Kortix fits a team that wants to run the company from one owned system. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, skills, company memory, and connectors live in one git repo you own, and the agents work on real cloud computers, landing work as changes a person approves (Kortix on GitHub). Pick Kortix when agents must reach 3,000+ apps, run in Slack or Microsoft Teams, and put every change through a review before it reaches main.

The same decision, written by the Kortix team, is on the Kortix blog: Kortix vs OpenWork.

02What OpenWork is

OpenWork is a free, open-source desktop application that runs AI agents on your own files. It ships for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and it is built on OpenCode, so it works with any model OpenCode supports, including local models. The desktop app needs no account, and you bring your own model keys. Teams package skills, MCP servers, and plugins so a teammate imports the same setup in one click (github.com/different-ai/openwork). For larger organizations, OpenWork Den is a separate control plane that provisions inference, manages access, and sets desktop policies.

03What Kortix is

Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System. Your agents, skills, company memory, and connectors live in one git repo you own, and each session runs on its own cloud computer. A session is one unit of agent work on its own isolated sandbox and branch. When the work is ready, the agent opens a change request, and a person reviews the diff before it merges to the default branch. You reach it from the web app, the CLI, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or a trigger (Kortix on GitHub).

04Where the configuration lives

The two tools keep their configuration in different places. OpenWork manages agents, skills, and connections inside the desktop app and shares them through the OpenWork MCP; its app and core are open source, and its org control plane is a separate layer. Kortix keeps the configuration in a git repo. kortix.yaml declares the machine image, connectors, triggers, and secret names and grants, while agents and skills are markdown files. Because it is a repo, the configuration is versioned and diffable, and any change to an agent or a skill is reviewed like code. The CLI scaffolds it with kortix init.

05Where the models come from

Kortix is model-agnostic. It runs any model provider with your own keys, or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for. OpenWork works with any model OpenCode supports, which is 50+ providers plus local models you run yourself. Both let a team keep its own keys. The difference is where the session runs: Kortix runs it on a cloud computer, and OpenWork runs it on the machine in front of you.

06Where each one fits

OpenWork suits a knowledge worker who wants an agent beside their own files without a server. It runs locally, keeps files on your machine, and makes sharing a skill a one-click import, which is a strong fit for one person or a small team on a laptop.

Kortix suits a company that wants a system rather than a single app. Agents run in the cloud, reach the apps the company already runs on, and land work through a change request a person approves. The configuration, the memory, and the connectors are files in one repo the company owns, so the setup is versioned and moves with the company.