# Claude Cowork on a Mac, and the open-source AI Operating System a team can run instead

> Claude Cowork on a Mac needs a paid Claude plan and, for local files, the Claude Desktop app open and connected, while the session runs in Anthropic's cloud. When a Mac team wants the agent layer in its own repo, Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System it can run from a browser, self-hosted or managed, with no desktop install.

URL: https://opensourceclaudecowork.com/claude-cowork-for-mac

_Quickstart_

## Install Kortix from a Mac terminal

`terminal`

```sh
kortix login
kortix init my-agent
kortix ship
kortix sessions new --prompt "Add a skill that drafts the weekly status report"
kortix doctor
```

Source: https://kortix.com/docs/quickstart

Five commands from the Kortix quickstart; the install script supports macOS on x86_64 and arm64.

## Claude Cowork on a Mac, in one line

Claude Cowork on a Mac needs a paid Claude plan and the Claude Desktop app, and its sessions run in Anthropic's cloud. A person on a Mac who wants the agent layer in a repo the team owns can run Kortix instead, the open-source AI Operating System: agents, skills, memory, and connectors in one git repo you own, used from a browser or a terminal.

## What Claude Cowork needs on a Mac

Cowork is Anthropic's agent for non-coding knowledge work, and on a Mac it starts with the Claude Desktop app ([Claude Cowork](https://claude.com/product/cowork)). [Anthropic's get-started guide](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/13345190-get-started-with-claude-cowork) says Cowork is available on paid plans only, on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise, and is used from the Claude Desktop app for macOS, from the web at claude.ai, or from the Claude mobile app. The free Claude tier is chat only, so a paid plan comes first. [Anthropic's install guide](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/10065433-install-claude-desktop) lists macOS 13 (Ventura) or higher as the requirement: download from the Claude downloads page, open the file, launch Claude from the Applications folder, and sign in.

Two more requirements shape the experience. The get-started guide says a Cowork session runs in the cloud on Anthropic's servers, in an isolated environment, and that your sessions and files are saved to your Claude account, so the session is not tied to the local machine. For local file access, browser use, or computer use, it says the Claude Desktop app must be open and connected, because those abilities reach things on your Mac even though the session runs in the cloud, and an active internet connection is required throughout.

Anthropic is also folding Cowork and chat into one assistant. The get-started guide says Cowork is now just Claude, rolling out gradually, so the message box may no longer show separate Chat and Cowork options. The Mac requirements do not change with that rollout.

## Why a Mac desktop app is a ceiling for a team

The unit of work is one person. A Cowork session, its files, and its memory live with your Claude account, and the get-started guide's current limitations note that sessions can't be shared with others, though you can share individual artifacts. The configuration and the model come from Anthropic, and there is no self-hosted edition. For one person on one Mac, that is a complete product. For a team that wants shared agents, a shared memory, and a review gate on every change, it is a ceiling.

## The open-source path a Mac team can run instead

Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own. A person on a Mac does not install a desktop app to use it. Kortix is used from the web app in a browser to start and follow sessions, review change requests, and manage projects and accounts, and from the CLI, which installs on macOS on x86_64 and arm64. The install is one command:

```sh
curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash
```

From a Mac terminal, the first run is `kortix init`, which creates the project repo and asks which local coding tools to wire up. Then `kortix ship` validates `kortix.yaml`, commits, and pushes. Every session runs on its own cloud computer, not on the Mac, with its own isolated sandbox and branch, so the heavy work does not run on the local machine. Session work reaches `main` through a change request. Merge is default-deny for agents, so a person reviews the diff and merges it.

For a team that cannot send work to a vendor cloud, Kortix runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free. The [self-hosting guide](/self-hosting) covers the commands, and the same browser access works from any Mac.

## Which one fits a Mac team

If one person on a Mac wants a finished document from a vendor cloud, Claude Cowork does that on Anthropic's terms, on Anthropic's models. If the agent layer itself has to be open source and in a repo the team owns, on a model the team chooses, and able to run on its own infrastructure, Kortix is the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work. [Claude Cowork for teams](/claude-cowork-for-teams) covers the team setup, and [migrating from Claude Cowork](/migrate-from-claude-cowork) is the move checklist.

_FAQ_

## Claude Cowork on a Mac, the questions people ask

### Does Claude Cowork keep working when a Mac is asleep?

A cloud session keeps running when the laptop closes, and the get-started guide's scheduled tasks run in the cloud with no device online. Local file access, browser use, and computer use need the Claude Desktop app open and connected.

### What runs the agents inside Kortix?

OpenCode is the harness. An agent is `agents/<name>.md` (behavior) plus an `agents.<name>` block in `kortix.yaml` (governance), and each session runs on its own cloud computer.

### Can a Kortix session merge its own work?

Merge is default-deny for agents. Work reaches `main` through a change request a person approves, unless an admin granted the merge capability.

## Run an agent team from a Mac, in a repo you own.

Open source, any model on your own keys, self-hosted or managed cloud.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Read the self-hosting guide](https://opensourceclaudecowork.com/self-hosting)