Local-first, model-agnostic AI research workbench for macOS, Windows & Linux.
Formerly Open Science. An open-source desktop alternative to Claude Science and similar AI-for-science workbenches — built with Tauri, MCP, agent skills, and reproducible artifacts. It connects agents, notebooks, files, figures, reports, runs, and review into one auditable desktop workflow.
🎉 Recognition: Open Science Desktop ranks #1 by scored-task average on ResearchClawBench, an end-to-end benchmark for autonomous scientific research agents (Pass@1 leaderboard, July 9, 2026).
✨ What it does🎬 See it in action🧪 Current capabilities🔌 Skills and connectors📦 Install🚀 Build from source🔒 Safety and privacy🗂️ Repository layout📌 Status🤝 Contributing⚖️ License
Runs the whole research loop — from a broad direction to a finished paper: exploration, literature survey, hypothesis, experiment code, analysis, figures, and write-up, in one continuous, auditable session.
Autonomous research agents— the bundledai4s-agent
chains specialist skills end to end (explore → survey → experiment → write), and each stage drops a real, inspectable artifact into your workspace, not just a chat reply.Everything traces back— figures, tables, reports, notebooks, and run outputs link to the exact code, inputs, environment, model output, and conversation that produced them.Local-first and yours— sessions, data, provenance, notebooks, and run records live in local folders on your machine. Nothing leaves by default.Model-agnostic runtime— the UI talks throughpackages/sdk
to a bundled, pinned OpenCode sidecar. Bring your own model; providers, skills, and MCP servers stay pluggable.Reproducible by construction— local, SSH/Slurm, Modal, and notebook-batch runs are captured as reproducible run records, not loose terminal scrollback.Extensible— agent skills, MCP servers and one-click science connectors,/
commands,!
shell mode, and a model-agnostic SDK.
One prompt -> a complete, traceable analysis. Simulate data, fit a model, save a publication-grade figure, and write a report where every number traces to the code.
Every artifact traces back to its code, inputs, and conversation.
Literature -> verifiable report. Search papers, draft a manuscript rendered as a PDF, and audit citations, unsourced numbers, and figure/code consistency.
The research loop, as skills. One meta-skill runs the full pipeline; each stage is a self-contained skill that produces a real, gradeable artifact — runnable on any model OpenCode supports:
| Skill | Role | Primary output |
|---|---|---|
ai4s-agent |
||
| Runs the four skills below, in order | The full research package | |
research-explorer |
||
| Turn a broad direction into concrete topics | research_exploration.md , topic_matrix.md , literature_pre_survey.md |
|
literature-survey |
||
| Write a literature survey | 6–20 pp PDF, 60+ real citations, LaTeX source, taxonomy figures | |
experiment-suite |
||
| Build an experiment package | Design doc, runnable code, results.json with provenance, figures, report |
|
paper-writer |
||
| Write a research paper | 8–14 pp PDF, 200+ citations, 4–8 figures, tables | |
mindmap-render |
||
| Render a mindmap | Image generated from a topic_matrix.md |
|
integrity-auditor |
||
| Audit a paper's integrity | Image / numerical / logical findings, 4-level evidence grading, audit_report.md |
These ship in the ai4s-skills
pack alongside first-party review skills and the office/document skills below.
| Area | Current state |
|---|---|
| Desktop shell | Tauri 2 + React + TypeScript + Vite, with macOS, Windows, and Linux desktop builds. |
| Runtime | Bundled OpenCode sidecar, auto-started by the app, isolated from the user's own OpenCode config/data. |
| Sessions | Multi-session chat/history, dated workspace folders, global history across workspaces, / commands, and ! shell mode. |
| Files | Global and per-session file browsing, context menu actions, external open/reveal, copy path, and local preview server. |
| Notebooks | Real .ipynb files, Python and R notebook creation, local kernel execution, managed Jupyter environment via bundled uv , and an Open JupyterLab action. |
| Runs | Append-only run logs, global SQLite run index, search/facets/pagination, local/remote surfaces, output links, logs, and reproduce prompts. |
| Provenance | .openscience/provenance.jsonl tracks file versions and links produced artifacts back to the run or edit that created them. |
| Review | Traceability, statistics-integrity, domain-check, large-file, publication-figure, remote-compute, and Modal run skills are bundled as first-party skills. |
| Viewers | PDF, image, video, HTML, Markdown, code, CSV/TSV tables with charts, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, molecules, 3D meshes, genome tracks, FITS, DOS/DOSCAR, EIGENVAL bands, qcode, anomaly maps, and phase files. |
| Models | OpenCode provider catalog, OAuth/API-key provider flows, custom OpenAI-compatible endpoints, and local/provider-specific options supported by OpenCode. |
| Interface languages | English, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, and Korean. Portuguese (Brazil) and Arabic are registered but not selectable yet. |
Bundled skills are fetched for builds and releases instead of being committed into git history:
ai4s-skills
pack fromai4s-research/ai4s-skills
.- Office/document skills from the Apache-2.0
anthropics/skills
repository:docx
,pdf
,pptx
, andxlsx
. - First-party core skills in
runtime/skills/core/
:traceability-review
,stats-integrity
,domain-check
,large-file
,publication-figures
,remote-compute
, andmodal-run
.
One-click science MCP connectors currently include:
- Literature search: arXiv, PubMed, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, bioRxiv/medRxiv.
- Biomedical databases: PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, MyVariant/ClinVar.
- Materials Project.
- FRED economic data.
- Space weather.
- Open-Meteo weather and climate.
- USGS water data.
You can also add any local or remote MCP server from Settings. See docs/CONNECT_YOUR_TOOLS.md.
For a neutral positioning note, see Open Science Desktop vs OpenScience.
Download the latest installer from the Releases page.
macOS:.dmg
/.app
, Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 13 Ventura or later.Windows: NSIS.exe
and.msi
, Windows 10/11 x64.Linux:.deb
and.rpm
on x86_64 Linux.
Builds are not code-signed or notarized yet.
macOS: if Gatekeeper says the app is damaged or from an unidentified developer, install it into Applications and run:
xattr -cr "/Applications/Open Science.app"
Windows: if SmartScreen appears, choose More info -> Run anyway.
Linux:
sudo apt install ./OpenScience_*.deb
sudo rpm -i OpenScience_*.rpm
Prerequisites:
- Node.js >= 20
- pnpm 9
- Rust toolchain
- macOS, Windows, or Linux system dependencies required by Tauri
git clone https://github.com/ai4s-research/open-science
cd open-science
pnpm install
bash scripts/dev/fetch-opencode.sh
bash scripts/dev/fetch-uv.sh
bash scripts/dev/fetch-skills.sh
pnpm --filter @ai4s/desktop tauri dev
pnpm --filter @ai4s/desktop tauri build
Useful checks:
pnpm test
pnpm typecheck
pnpm lint
- Workspace files, raw data, session history, provenance, notebooks, and run records stay local by default.
- Command execution, file deletion, dependency installation, and remote connections are human-approved flows in the desktop app.
- Provider credentials are written to app-private runtime config, not to the workspace, provenance, git, exports, or global OpenCode config.
- Settings includes a plain-language data-flow view explaining what can be sent to the selected model provider.
| Path | Purpose |
|---|---|
apps/desktop/ |
|
| Tauri + React desktop app. | |
packages/sdk/ |
|
OpenCodeClient ; keeps the UI from calling OpenCode directly. |
|
packages/shared/ |
|
| Shared domain types and chart palette. | |
packages/ui/ |
|
| Shared UI package. | |
runtime/skills/core/ |
|
| First-party scientific skills. | |
runtime/skills/external/ |
|
| Build-fetched external skills. | |
runtime/harness/ |
|
| Runtime harness knowledge and operator context. | |
runtime/mcp/ |
|
| MCP runtime notes/configuration. | |
examples/ |
|
| Built-in example workspaces. | |
scripts/dev/ |
|
Sidecar, uv , skill fetchers, and focused regression probes. |
|
docs/ |
|
| Product, technical, operator, connector, and research notes. |
The project is a working desktop MVP in active development. The most reliable current implementation log is PROGRESS.md. Product and architecture notes live in
docs/PRD.md
, but those documents include target design as well as historical status notes.
docs/TECHNICAL_DESIGN.md
Near-term work is focused on signed/notarized releases, broader Windows/Linux verification, auto-update, richer connector hardening, and continued reproducibility review.
Issues and PRs are welcome. Keep changes minimal and verifiable, follow AGENTS.md, and run the checks before opening a PR. For discussion, join the
Open Science Discordor the
linux.docommunity.
MIT. Bundled third-party skills and connectors keep their own licenses.
Open Science Desktop is beta research tooling. Treat outputs as drafts: verify numbers, citations, code, and conclusions before publication or decision-making.