OpenWork, an opensource Claude Cowork alternative, is silently relicensing under a commercial license
Posted by lrq3000@reddit | LocalLLaMA | View on Reddit | 42 comments
OpenWork is a locally hosted AI agent harness that was presented as a MIT-licensed opensource Claude Cowork alternative based on opencode.
Just a heads up for any user of the app that it has silently relicensed some components under a commercial license and modified the overall project's MIT license to limit its reach (which I am not even sure makes it a MIT license anymore).
More details here: https://github.com/different-ai/openwork/issues/1412
Note that as a fellow opensource developer myself, I perfectly understand the need to secure income streams to be able to continue working on packages the public loves, but these changes were not announced anywhere and the likely AI-generated commit's description omitted the licensing changes, somehow...
/PS: I deleted a previous post because there was a typo in the title that made people think it was about OpenCode.
Outrageous_Client272@reddit
Hi I'm Ben creator of OpenWork. Openwork will remain a true open-source solution. We're just re-licensing parts of the stack that are for enterprise.
Here's what happened
- a few weeks ago we started relicensing only parts of the app. specifically our cloud, enterprise features, and landing page.
- the app is 100% open-source (MIT) and doesn't require any of these to operate
Two things I want to share about this:
- We should've communicated better on this and the current license is not final.
- The app will remain 100% open-source we're not planning on changing that.
- We were thinking of using FAIR (it's license that star as less permissive becomes MIT in 2 years) for all non-desktop app things like cloud
Additionally, our team is composed of hardcore open source believers. I personally shipped every single app I built for the last 5 years as MIT (or similar license).
Again, I think we kind of screwed up here and apologize for letting you down. This will be addressed in the next 24h.
lrq3000@reddit (OP)
Thank you for your reply and your explanation.
Could you please also clarify what was the rationale to place the windows base build (without enterprise features nor cloud functionalities) is now behind a $99/year paywall, whether the sourcecode for the windows build will remain opensource under MIT (which would allow anyone to build the windows binary and distribute it freely), and whether the builds for other OSes are going to also be similarly placed behind a paywall in the future ?
Cool_Preference_8587@reddit
Windows is the most costly Os for us to maintain.
We were running an experiment to see how many people really cared about windows. Cared enough to pay.
We’re refunding all users that paid during the experimentation period .
lrq3000@reddit (OP)
Thank you for taking the time to explain this situation.
I do not think that users do not "really care" about the project when they are not agreeing to suddenly and without an explanation be required to buy a $99/year price tag to get a build for a locally runnable app that is advertised as opensource. And given the clear interest around your project and the number of PR you get, it seems clear to me this is a beloved project, although I unfortunately could not yet try it myself due to the issue below.
I am surprised maintaining Windows users is currently more costly compared to other platforms given the builds are non-functional since sessions cannot be displayed nor accessed on Windows since at least a month despite a community PR waiting to be merged since 2 weeks. Was this decision based on empirical data, and if so, would yol agree to share some datapoints so we can better understand and maybe build a community effort around helping with the maintenance ?
Additionally, can you please provide further details as to how making the access to the Windows build fitted with the opensource ethos you described earlier, and if future builds for other platforms, the base ones without enterprise features just like for the Windows build, may be considered to also be paywalled if their maintenance also become costly ?
Thank you very much once again for taking the time to clarify the situation and the future plans around the project.
Empty_Hovercraft8739@reddit
u/lrq3000, this is how much the codebase has changed since the Windows session not working was reported a month ago.
This how much the codebase has changed since the community PR was made two weeks ago.
My framework for thinking about this is the following:
- Many things in Windows are broken.
- 3 core developers are handling everything.
- There may not be enough bandwidth to patch it.
Giving support to Windows implies that:
1) it works,
2) has feature parity with Mac and Linux, and
3) there are resources committed to fixing the bugs.
I would turn the question back to you. Would you prefer to:
A) pay for a $99 / yr license
B) for OpenWork to leave windows in a broken state,
C) for the community to make PRs to fix the Windows version,
D) for OpenWork to remove Windows until it can offer support for it again?
GreenGreasyGreasels@reddit
D
Empty_Hovercraft8739@reddit
Well, you'd have to take a leap of faith here but we'd obviously a) fix windows or b) refund the money.
We don't even use a Windows laptop. We've been testing the builds with Parallels and got to a stage where we could not replicate some of the issues that other people were reporting because `it worked on our machines`.
Similar issues with `arch-linux`. The way we bundle opencode inside our app makes it really hard to follow the bundle patterns that arch-linux wants and expects.
We've released a fix for it via bundling from Debian.
Quick question re: windows. Would you be okay with a webapp for the time being? We haven't decided anything yet but it's one of the options we're actively considering.
I_am_McAdam@reddit
> Windows since at least a month despite a community PR waiting to be merged since 2 weeks.
Ill check out this PR, and try to borrow a windows laptop to test with. Thats the hard part.
> Was this decision based on empirical data, and if so, would you agree to share some datapoints so we can better understand and maybe build a community effort around helping with the maintenance ?
In 2 weeks before, most issues created by non maintainers on github were windows related. 24/67 "feedback form submissions" were about windows issues.
> Additionally, can you please provide further.... paywalled if their maintenance also become costly ?
We've learnd from this. We all use Mac devices, those builds are easy to fix and resolve immediately. Linux is a whole other world, and we rely 100% on the community to report and fix issues, and theyre used to that in the linux world. Windows is hard because people will send you angry emails if its broken. And we dont have capabilities to test every function on windows before we publish a build.
I_am_McAdam@reddit
> whether the sourcecode for the windows build will remain opensource under MIT (which would allow anyone to build the windows binary and distribute it freely)
Yes, that did not change at all. Anyone can build the windows app.
The sourcecode for the app is MIT
> whether the builds for other OSes are going to also be similarly placed behind a paywall in the future ?
No they wont
decentralize999@reddit
It seems always when company or brand has "open" in name get finished in such way. I turned for alternatives now.
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Nothing finished, nothing changed. Its not closed source, its still open. They just didnt publish windows builds for a while because they were broken.
ItilityMSP@reddit
Thanks for the reply, look forward to clarification
BidWestern1056@reddit
fuck them
use incognide
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/incognide
I_am_McAdam@reddit
you know theres better ways to share and talk about your own project
BidWestern1056@reddit
maybe but this works quite well too
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Maybe for a short while, but longer term it causes more harm. lots of things we OS devs and project leads can learn from each other. Theres always another challenge to solve.
BidWestern1056@reddit
agreed, and we gotta keep working together.
claru-ai@reddit
this hits a nerve. been dealing with rug pulls on open source projects for the past year. started a workflow automation project, got some traction, then bam - suddenly they want a commercial license for anything useful.
the worst part is they often don't even announce it properly, just quietly update the terms and hope nobody notices. makes it impossible to build anything reliable on top of these tools.
BidWestern1056@reddit
ignore these get-rich-quick fucks and build on npc tools. I design them for my own research and work, and my business plan for them is to offer encrypted data-syncing services for users to access their conversations and memories and knowledge graphs from the web and across multiple machines
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/npcpy
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/npcsh
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/incognide
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/npcrs
we're also working on building a fully-independent browser engine written natively in rust
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/incognidium
which houses an npc team and a set of jinja execution templates that run on a schedule to iteratively improve the way it renders by comparing a set of sites across it, firefox, and chromium. still working through some of those kinks but it's promising and will serve as a way for me to collect current events and to create a search index which will be part of a product offering through sibiji.com
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Thats uncalled for. And you will face the same issues. You're blasting people who eat, sleep and breath open source.
> my business plan for them is to offer encrypted data-syncing services for users to access their conversations and memories and knowledge graphs from the web
You going to do that as MIT too? how will that fit into your stuff
BidWestern1056@reddit
and i eat sleep and breathe open source too lol i mean you can not trust me too but actions speak louder than words
Ornery-Peanut-1737@reddit
faah, the audacity to change a license in a minor commit and hope nobody notices lol. r/localllama literally lives in the github commit history, people were obviously gonna find out. this is why we can't have nice things in the agent space. guess it’s back to openclaw or just building custom scripts with ollama. real talk, transparency is the only currency these projects have. once that's gone, the stars don't mean anything.
lrq3000@reddit (OP)
Still took 3 weeks. Imagine if it was a backdoor.
I_am_McAdam@reddit
as an opensource maintainer... I have to scan every single PR to make sure nobody is adding in backdoors. Its become so expensive.
but no, this wasnt malicious at all
I_am_McAdam@reddit
The license did not change. It was and still is MIT. literally everything in the repo outside of /ee is MIT
Some cloud stuff was centralized and put under a separate license.
pmttyji@reddit
Open source alternatives please?
I_am_McAdam@reddit
It is open source, its MIT the most open of sources.
Emotional-Breath-838@reddit
I want a truly open source self-hosted Claude Cowork alternative.
Tell me which one will be nearly as good (assuming I have the right LLM running on my Mac Mini 24GB M4.)
BidWestern1056@reddit
incognide comes with a way for agents to natively control all of its panes and open browsers, terminals, files, etc.
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/incognide
and npcsh can help too
https://github.com/npc-worldwide/npcsh
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Looks great, gave you a star
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Its MIT, it is truly open source. The cloud stuff makes life easier for teams, thats FSL which means it automatically becomes MIT in 2 years
decentralize999@reddit
I am researching alternatives now too.
Here is the most legit:
https://github.com/eigent-ai/eigent
Emotional-Breath-838@reddit
Really looks great. I am realistic and only expect 50-75% of Claude Cowork’s abilities.
glenrhodes@reddit
This is the classic "we need revenue but are embarrassed to say so" move. Quietly updating a license in a commit with vague message is a red flag regardless of motivation. If you're going a commercial route, just say so upfront, people generally respect that more than finding out via diff.
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Not at all. Was clear from the start. A cloud service, thats optional. And a free MIT desktop app. Both work independantly.
bucolucas@reddit
Honesty? In this day and age?
Tointer@reddit
Good thing that there is 113 other AI harnesses out there
JamesEvoAI@reddit
I pointed Claude at this reddit thread, there are now 114
I_am_McAdam@reddit
can you give me repo linkfor yours, I want to point my codex at it and make the count 115
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Yes, developers love fragmentation of standards
I_am_McAdam@reddit
Hey Omar here (OpenWork contributor, made the commit in question).
Yeah, I messed this up. There was a broader repo cleanup and this got merged without clearly communicating it. That's on me.
For context:
- The core app was, is and always will be MIT. Nothing changed there since inception.
- The only change was making it explicit that /ee (cloud-related features) has a different license.
- Those cloud bits were previously scattered around the repo. This PR was mainly about cleaning that up and clarifying the licenses.
On licensing for cloud stuff:
- We discussed options (I even suggested AGPL at one point), but Ben wanted to keep the core MIT.
- We initially put AGPLv3 for the EE/cloud parts while we looked at FSL. That's now clarified properly and EE is at FSL.
On Windows:
- We were spending a huge amount of time debugging Windows issues (like \~60% at one point), and none of us use Windows. We had to borrow a donated laptop to test things.
- Builds were flaky, costly (CI), and hard to maintain, so we paused them temporarily.
- No special “Windows-only” code or licensing, just a maintenance issue.
- We'll bring builds back once we can properly support them.
I'm very pro open source (I run a COSS community, maintain other projects, contribute to tons of communities, and still pay to support old projects I stopped maintaining like UnInbox, etc). Definitely not trying to pull a Redis/MinIO-style move here, actively trying to avoid it!
Happy to answer questions / fix anything unclear.
synn89@reddit
I find it interesting how we now have this new wave of enshitification which is unique to "open source" projects.