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Guide / Switch / Migration map

Switch · Migration map

Migrate from Claude Cowork to open source Kortix

Kortix is the open-source alternative to Claude Cowork, and it keeps the work Cowork does while handing you the whole system as files you own. If you already run Cowork, this page maps every part of it to Kortix and gives you a six-step switch.

Kortix is open source (Elastic License 2.0) — self-host, read and modify the code.

What maps to what

Every piece of Claude Cowork has a direct equivalent in Kortix. The difference is ownership: the desktop app becomes a system you start from anywhere, and the folder you grant becomes one git repo the company owns.

01Desktop app on your machine
Web, CLI, Slack, email, mobile and API — start the same session from any of them
02A folder you grant
The whole company in one git repo you own — agents, skills, memory and connector config
03Anthropic models only
Any model, your keys — Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint, per agent, per session, per message
04Anthropic's cloud only
Self-host on your laptop, a VPS, your VPC or on-prem — or managed cloud
05A paid subscription
Open source: self-host free; managed cloud $40/seat/mo + usage
06No source to read
Elastic License 2.0 — read, fork and audit the code
07Vendor-managed permissions
Per-resource permissions and allow / ask / block per tool call
08Work happens in the app
Every session gets its own isolated Linux machine; work lands as a change request a human reads as a diff

Six steps to switch

  1. Inventory what Cowork does today — folders, recurring jobs, connectors.
  2. Bring the company up as one repo: curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash then kortix init (creates kortix.yaml plus your agents, skills and runtime config).
  3. Add your model keys, or sign in with the ChatGPT subscription you already pay for; pick a model per agent.
  4. Wire the connectors you used — 3,000+ apps, plus any MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL or HTTP API; credentials are brokered server-side.
  5. Move one job first. Run it beside Cowork and compare output.
  6. Ship it: kortix ship, then let every change land as a change request you review as a diff.

What you keep

You keep the files: the company is one git repo holding your agents, skills, memory, connector config and triggers. You keep your model keys, so Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or your own OpenAI-compatible endpoint stays your choice. You keep your infrastructure, whether that is your laptop, a VPS, your VPC or on-prem. And you keep an audit trail — every session runs on its own isolated Linux machine and nothing reaches main until a human approves the change request.

Get started with open-source Kortix at kortix.com. Set up your own host with self-hosting, or follow the installation guide.