Qwen office alternative — open-source agent that runs Qwen models
OpenWorkBuddy is an open-source alternative to the Qwen app's office features: a local-first agent that writes real files and can run Qwen models through DashScope or Ollama.
The short version
Qwen (Tongyi Qianwen) is Alibaba's model family and AI assistant app, which includes office features such as slides and documents.
People look for an alternative when they want an agent that works on their own files, mixes Qwen with other models, or runs fully offline.
OpenWorkBuddy runs Qwen through Alibaba Cloud DashScope (Bailian), or a local Qwen model through Ollama, next to DeepSeek, Doubao and the rest.
What you get with OpenWorkBuddy
Real files on your disk
PPTX, DOCX, XLSX and HTML are written to your own folder. If the agent claims a file it didn't write, the run is stopped and redone.
Bring your own model
DeepSeek, Qwen (DashScope), Doubao (Volcengine Ark), GLM, Kimi, OpenAI, Claude, OpenRouter or a local Ollama model — switch in the settings, per task.
Runs on your machine
Sessions, files and keys stay local. The server listens on 127.0.0.1 by default; put it on your own server when a team needs it.
Uses Claude Code or Codex as an engine
Already have the Claude Code or Codex CLI installed? Pick it as the engine and keep your existing plan.
Skills are Markdown files
36 built-in skills, 43 tools, 52 connectors, MCP. Adding a skill means dropping a skill.md into a folder — no rebuild.
Desktop, web and command line
An Electron app, a browser UI and an openworkbuddy CLI share the same sessions. Scheduled tasks and chat bots (Feishu, QQ, WeChat; DingTalk, Telegram and Slack through a webhook) can drive it too.
When to stay with Qwen
You want Alibaba's hosted app experience and don't need local files or other models.
Try it in three minutes
Download the installer, or clone the repo and run npm install && npm start. Add one model key in the setup wizard and ask for your first file.
Other comparisons
- Open-source Claude Cowork alternative — self-hosted, any model
- Codex alternative for office work — open-source AI agent that makes files
- Open-source WorkBuddy alternative — local AI office agent
- Doubao office alternative — open-source, runs Doubao models locally
- DeepSeek agent harness — open-source AI agent that runs on DeepSeek