CowAgent

by zhayujie

CowAgent is an open-source personal AI assistant that plans tasks, uses tools and skills, and keeps long-term memory and a knowledge base. It runs on your own computer or server and can be used through a web console or chat apps such as WeChat, Telegram and Slack.

Worth a lookEstablished, with a few things to check (listed below).

View on GitHub Project website

Stars: 47.6k +7 a day
Licence: MIT
Runs on: Your computer
Setup: Moderate
Language: Python
Age: 1542 days

What you can do with it

Chat with an AI agent that plans multi-step tasks and uses tools such as a browser, terminal, file access and web search
Connect it to messaging apps like Telegram, Slack, WeChat, Feishu or DingTalk so a team can talk to it there
Install ready-made skills or create your own by describing them in plain language, and build teams of agents with different roles

Make money with it

A freelancer could set up and customise private AI assistants, with tailored skills and chat app connections, for small businesses as a paid service.

An idea, not financial advice. Check the licence before charging for anything built on it.

Ways a business could use it

Set up a shared assistant in Slack or Telegram to answer routine questions, search the web and draft documents for a small team
Automate repetitive admin by creating skills and scheduled tasks, such as summarising files or following up on unfinished work

Can you use it commercially?

Free to use, change and sell, including in paid products. Keep the copyright notice.

Not legal advice. Read the project's licence file before building a product on it.

Getting it running

Install with a one-line shell or PowerShell script, use Docker Compose, or download the desktop client for macOS or Windows, then open the web console at localhost:9899.

Follow the official instructions in the project README.

Things to check

Needs API keys from a model provider, which usually cost money, unless you run your own model
The agent can control your computer and run terminal commands, so restrict access and set a web password on any server
The one-line installer pipes a remote script into your shell, so check it before running
Many features and docs are aimed at Chinese platforms and may be less polished for others