# Run an open-source Claude Cowork alternative on Windows

> A Windows team runs Kortix, the open-source AI Operating System, straight from the browser, and every session works on its own cloud computer. Work starts from the web app, Microsoft Teams, or Slack, and nothing installs on the Windows machines.

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

## Where a Windows team’s agents actually run

`kortix.com/docs`

```
Each session runs on its own cloud computer.
Web, desktop and mobile apps: Start and follow sessions, review change requests, and manage projects and accounts.
CLI: kortix creates projects, runs sessions, and manages agents, secrets, connectors and triggers from a terminal or a script.
Slack, Teams and email: Mention the bot in Slack or Microsoft Teams with a task, and it starts a session.
Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network.
```

Source: https://kortix.com/docs

From the Kortix docs: every session works on its own cloud computer, and the same work starts from a browser, a chat channel, or your own infrastructure.

## What a hosted desktop assistant assumes

Claude Cowork runs on web, desktop, and mobile, and its work happens in Anthropic’s cloud or in a cloud provider account you already hold on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Foundry. You steer it from one of those surfaces, and it keeps running when your laptop is closed ([Claude Cowork](https://claude.com/product/cowork)). It is a hosted product with no self-host path, so the question for a Windows-based team is where the agent’s work runs and how the team reaches it.

## What a Windows-based team actually runs

Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, skills, company memory, and connectors live in one git repo you own, and every session runs on its own cloud computer. That architecture removes the operating-system question. A person on Windows opens the web app in a browser to start and follow sessions, review change requests, and manage projects and accounts. The agent then does its work on its own cloud computer with the repo and its tools already on it, so nothing installs on the Windows laptops themselves.

## Where the work starts from a Windows desk

The surfaces that start a session do not depend on what the team’s machines run. The web app is the default: start a session, watch it, and read the change request it opens. Microsoft Teams is a live channel, so a team that lives in Teams mentions the bot with a task and a session starts from that chat. Slack works the same way. Kortix also ships a CLI for teams that script their sessions, plus a REST API and an MCP server for anything else. The session is the same object on every surface, with one session ID, one sandbox, and one branch.

## When the work has to stay on your own network

A Windows-based team that cannot send work to a vendor cloud can run Kortix itself. Kortix runs on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free. That path installs the full stack on infrastructure you control, and the same browser access works from Windows. The [self-hosting guide](/self-hosting) covers the commands and the questions the first run asks.

## How the work lands

An agent session does not reach `main` on its own. It commits to its session branch, opens a change request, and a person reviews the diff and merges it. Across a Windows fleet, that review gate applies to every agent the same way, whatever the machines run.

## Which one fits

Claude Cowork is a finished hosted product, and a team that wants a single assistant inside Anthropic’s environment may choose it. Kortix fits a team that wants the agent layer to be open source, in a repo it owns, reachable from Windows with no platform-specific install, and able to run on its own infrastructure when a review asks for it. The [Claude Cowork for teams](/claude-cowork-for-teams) page covers the team setup, including roles and approval gates.

_FAQ_

## Questions Windows teams ask

Short answers on the desktop build, Microsoft Teams, self-hosting, and where the agent’s work runs.

### Is there a Windows app for Kortix?

You do not need one. Kortix is used from the web app in a browser on Windows, and each session runs on its own cloud computer, so nothing is installed on the Windows machine.

### Can a Windows team run agents from Microsoft Teams?

Yes. Microsoft Teams is a live Kortix channel. Mention the bot with a task in a Teams chat and it starts a session, and Slack works the same way. No install is needed on the team’s machines.

### How does a Windows-based team self-host Kortix?

Run the full stack on infrastructure you control. 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 first-run questions.

### Where does the agent’s work actually run?

Each session runs on its own cloud computer, not on the team’s Windows machines. The web app, Microsoft Teams, and Slack all start the same kind of session, so the team’s operating system does not change how the agent works.

## Run an agent company from Windows.

Open source, browser-first, and yours to self-host.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com)