About OpenHands
OpenHands is an open-source project for AI-driven software development. Its current README centers on Agent Canvas, a self-hosted developer control center for starting conversations with coding agents and automating everyday engineering tasks. It is written mainly in TypeScript and released under the MIT license.
By default Agent Canvas uses the open-source OpenHands agent, but it can also drive third-party agents such as Claude Code, Codex and Gemini, or any ACP-compatible agent. It runs locally by default and can connect to several agent backends, including Docker containers, virtual machines and company infrastructure, so agents can be moved between local, remote and cloud setups without interrupting your work.
Automations can be triggered on a timetable or by incoming webhook events and connect with tools such as Slack, GitHub, Linear and Notion, for example publishing reports to Slack or breaking GitHub issues into tasks. Agents can optionally run on OpenHands Cloud or OpenHands Enterprise. It suits engineering teams that want to coordinate several coding agents from one self-managed place.
Key features
- Self-hosted control center for coding agents
- Runs OpenHands, Claude Code, Codex and Gemini
- Local, Docker, VM and cloud agent backends
- Scheduled and webhook-triggered automations
- Integrations with Slack, GitHub, Linear and Notion
- Optional OpenHands Cloud and Enterprise hosting
Good fit for
- →Managing several coding agents in one place
- →Automating issue triage into tasks
- →Publishing recurring reports to Slack
- Built with
- TypeScript
- Tags
- ai-agents
- coding-agent
- developer-tools
- automation
- self-hosted
- llm
- typescript
- acp
OpenHands: questions and answers
- What is OpenHands used for?
- OpenHands is a self-hosted control center for running coding agents, including OpenHands, Claude Code and Codex, locally, in Docker or in the cloud, with automations. It is a good fit for managing several coding agents in one place, automating issue triage into tasks and publishing recurring reports to Slack.
- Is OpenHands open source?
- Yes. OpenHands is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at OpenHands/OpenHands and is written mainly in TypeScript.
- Is OpenHands free?
- Yes. OpenHands is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
- What is OpenHands an alternative to?
- OpenHands is an open-source alternative to Devin, Claude Code, Manus and Amazon Q Developer. Other open-source alternatives to Devin include OpenCode, Cline and Goose.
- Is OpenHands actively maintained?
- Yes. The most recent commit to OpenHands was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v1.24.0, published on 25 September 2026. The project has 90k stars on GitHub.
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