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OpenWorker is an open-source AI coworker that runs on your desktop and delivers finished work, not just chat: a polished document, a Slack reply with the numbers, an updated calendar, a sorted inbox. It is model-agnostic, so you can bring your own API key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or an open-weight provider, or run fully local with Ollama. Follow the steps below to connect OpenWorker with a model hosted on SambaCloud.

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Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have: If you plan to run OpenWorker from source, you also need Python 3.10+, Node.js 20+, and the Rust toolchain (via rustup) for the desktop shell.

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Install OpenWorker

You can install OpenWorker in one of two ways.

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Option 1: Download the desktop app

Download the latest OpenWorker build for your operating system from the project’s releases page:
  • macOS: .dmg installer (Apple Silicon)
  • Windows: .exe installer or .msi package
Open the downloaded file and follow the standard installation flow for your platform, then launch OpenWorker.

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Option 2: Run from source

Clone the repository and bootstrap a local development environment:
Once the UI is running, open the URL printed by npm run dev in your browser.
setup_dev_env.sh builds the virtual environment with whichever python3 comes first on your PATH. The python3 that ships with macOS is 3.9, which fails with Package 'coworker' requires a different Python. Put a 3.10+ python3 ahead of it before running the script, and delete any .venv a failed attempt left behind, because the script reuses an existing one.

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Setup

SambaCloud serves an OpenAI-compatible API, so you connect it through OpenWorker’s OpenAI provider with a custom endpoint.
1

Open the provider settings

The desktop app opens a Welcome screen on first launch that asks you to pick a model provider. The browser UI you get from Option 2: Run from source does not show it, and neither does the desktop app once you have dismissed it. In both of those cases, open Settings and select the Models section instead.
2

Point the OpenAI provider at SambaCloud

Select OpenAI from the provider list, then:
  1. In OpenAI API key, paste your SambaCloud API key.
  2. Click Custom endpoint to expand it, and enter https://api.sambanova.ai/v1 in the field. This is what sends requests to SambaCloud instead of api.openai.com.
  3. Click Test.
The form has no separate save button. Test checks the key against the endpoint and saves both fields, then returns to the provider list with the card marked ✓ Connected. If the test fails, nothing is saved.In the Welcome flow, continue with Next once the card shows ✓ Connected. The Skip setup link answers with “Nothing works without a model” whether or not you have saved a provider, so ignore that prompt if your key is already in — you can skip the remaining connector steps safely.The check lists the models at that endpoint rather than running a completion, so a key that SambaCloud no longer accepts for inference can still pass it.
OpenWorker Welcome screen with the OpenAI provider connected, the key tested and saved, and the custom endpoint set to the SambaCloud API
3

Add a SambaCloud model

Saving the key does not change the model list: the picker still offers only the OpenAI models OpenWorker curates, and none of them exist on SambaCloud. Add the model you want as a custom entry, for example MiniMax-M2.7.Type the model ID exactly as SambaCloud publishes it, with no prefix. Models added under the OpenAI provider are stored as typed and sent to the endpoint unchanged. See Supported SambaCloud models for the full list of model IDs.The new row carries a Make default button. Click it to use the model for every new session, or leave the default alone and pick the model per session from the model button in the composer. Until you do one of the two, OpenWorker keeps a GPT model as the default and every task fails with model_not_found.Deselect the GPT models in the same list once your SambaCloud model is the default. They stay in the picker otherwise, and choosing one sends an OpenAI model ID to SambaCloud, which rejects it.
Settings Models pane with MiniMax-M2.7 selected and badged as the default, and the four OpenAI GPT models deselected
4

Delegate work to OpenWorker

Open a new task in OpenWorker and describe the finished deliverable you want, such as:
  • Draft a status update from the last week of activity in this project folder
  • Reply to the latest thread in my Slack #launch channel with the current KPI numbers
  • Triage my inbox and archive newsletters, then summarize the rest
OpenWorker will plan the steps, call the SambaNova model, use the integrations you have connected, and return the finished artifact.
An OpenWorker session answering on MiniMax-M2.7, shown under the session title and in the composer's model button

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Configure the agent server from the command line

If you are running OpenWorker from source, you can set the startup model with the --model flag instead of using the model picker:
Then start the UI as shown in Option 2: Run from source. To make a SambaCloud model the startup model for every run, set it in the global config file rather than passing --model each time:
The endpoint is not configurable through the environment. It comes from the OpenAI provider profile you save in Settings > Models, so complete the setup steps above at least once before driving the server from the command line.
Both --model and model = set the startup model only. The moment you pick a model in Settings > Models, OpenWorker saves that choice next to the config file, in prefs.json, and the saved choice wins on every later launch. From then on --model and model = are ignored, with no message on startup. Change the model in the UI instead, or delete the default_model entry from prefs.json.
OpenWorker reads OPENAI_API_KEY from the environment before the key you saved in Settings > Models. If you already export an OpenAI key for other tools, unset it in the shell you start the server from. Otherwise that key is sent to https://api.sambanova.ai/v1 and every request fails with invalid_api_key. The desktop app does not inherit your shell environment, so this affects the from-source path.
OpenWorker runs locally on your machine. Your data leaves your device only through the model provider and the integrations you explicitly connect. When using SambaCloud, prompts and completions are sent to https://api.sambanova.ai/v1.

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Troubleshooting

OpenWorker still has a GPT model set as the default. Go to Settings > Models, click Make default on your SambaCloud model, and deselect the GPT models so the picker can’t send an OpenAI model ID to SambaCloud.
OpenWorker reads OPENAI_API_KEY from the environment before the key saved in Settings > Models. Unset it in the shell you start the server from, or your other OpenAI key gets sent to https://api.sambanova.ai/v1 instead. This only affects the from-source path.
OpenWorker saved your last Settings > Models choice to prefs.json, and the saved model wins on every later launch with no startup message. Change the model in the UI, or delete the default_model entry from prefs.json.
The script built the virtual environment with the system python3, which is 3.9 on macOS. Put a 3.10+ python3 ahead of it on your PATH, delete the .venv the failed attempt left behind, and rerun the script.

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Additional resources