OpenMuse is a self-hosted personal AI agent released by CopilotKit, the company known for its AI agent development framework. It combines an always-on browser, a Linux terminal and file operations into a single task engine that keeps working on requested tasks in the background. It handles everyday chores across domains, such as drafting replies to school emails, sorting expenses in a household-budget CSV and watching product pages for price drops, while showing progress and pending approvals on screen as it goes. The source code is published under the MIT license, and as of September 2026 it is offered as an alpha release.
Key Features
- Always-on browser: Browses and operates public pages using a persistent, Playwright-based Chromium profile. When a step needs human judgment, such as signing in, you can take over the browser session yourself
- Isolated Linux workspace (optional): Runs commands and manages files inside a non-root container. By design, it does not mount host directories or credentials
- A task engine that picks up where it left off: Supports pause, resume, retry and approval flows, and can recover interrupted work
- Gmail and Google Calendar integration: With Google OAuth configured, you can hand off email-thread housekeeping and calendar actions. Any external write requires your review first
- Automatic PDF form filling: Reads the fields from a PDF attached to an email, creates a filled-in copy and, after your review, sends the reply
- Goal monitoring: Periodically checks specified pages for changes or price thresholds and sends de-duplicated alerts
Language models can be chosen from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google through CopilotKit’s configuration, so you are not locked into a single vendor. The interface runs on the web as well as in mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Pricing
OpenMuse itself is open source under the MIT license and free to self-host. However, features such as conversation persistence (Rich Threads) require a project key for CopilotKit Intelligence, a separate service, and the README lists it as a required setting.
| Plan | Monthly price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| OpenMuse itself | Free | MIT license, self-hosted, source can be modified |
| CopilotKit Intelligence Developer | Free | 1 seat, 200 threads, 3-day retention, 1 GB storage |
| CopilotKit Intelligence Pro | $39 | 5,000 threads, 5-day retention, 10 GB storage |
| CopilotKit Intelligence Team | $100/seat | Up to 5 seats, 25,000 threads, 14-day retention, 100 GB storage |
| CopilotKit Intelligence Enterprise | Contact sales | Unlimited threads, VPC/on-prem deployment, SSO, SLA |
On top of this, you pay separately for the language model APIs you use (OpenAI, Anthropic or Google) and for the server you self-host on.
Pricing is as of September 2026. Check CopilotKit’s pricing page for the latest pricing.
Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Because it runs on your own server, you do not have to hand personal data such as email and calendars to a third-party agent service
- A confirmation screen always appears before anything is sent or written externally, so delegating to the AI is less likely to cause unintended actions
- With the full source code available, you can verify what the agent is doing behind the scenes and adapt it to your own needs
- Since the language model is swappable, you can switch between OpenAI, Anthropic and Google depending on cost and performance
⚠️ Cons
- As an alpha release, it does not support automated checkout or multi-user use
- It works on the free Developer plan, but conversations are retained for only 3 days, so serious use means considering a paid CopilotKit Intelligence plan
- Getting it running requires development knowledge, including Node.js, pnpm, Docker and Google OAuth setup
- Voice control and integrations with banking, health and social media are still on the roadmap as of September 2026
Comparison with Similar Services
| Service | How it differs from OpenMuse |
|---|---|
| Manus | A closed, hosted autonomous agent. It works right away with no setup, but you cannot inspect the source or self-host it |
| OpenManus | An open-source Manus alternative from the MetaGPT team. It focuses on reproducing an autonomous agent, a different direction from OpenMuse’s personal use case built around approval flows and email/calendar integration |
| browser-use | A Python library specialized in browser automation. It is meant to be embedded as a component of an agent and does not include task management or mobile apps |
Who Is It For
- People who want AI to handle their personal email and calendar but would rather not hand that data to an external cloud service
- People who want to watch what an AI agent does and gradually widen what they delegate to it
- Developers who want to learn from a working example of an agent app built with CopilotKit and AG-UI
- People who want to automate recurring chores such as price-drop watching or regular page checks
Summary
For anyone who wants to hand off chores to AI but is uneasy about not knowing what it will do, OpenMuse is a strong option: every outbound action requires confirmation, and all of its code is open to read. On the other hand, it is still an alpha release and setup requires development knowledge. A good first step is to run it on your own machine with the free Developer plan and see how far it can take your everyday tasks.