LobsterAI

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All-scenario office assistant Agent.
The first open-source desktop-grade Agent among major Chinese tech companies, built by NetEase Youdao.

Features  ·  Developing  ·  Community

Download LobsterAI

LobsterAI is a desktop Agent that can operate in your real working environment: local files, terminal commands, browser workflows, documents, spreadsheets, slides, IM channels, scheduled jobs, and project workspaces.

Cowork is the LobsterAI product/session layer. OpenClaw is the runtime and gateway underneath it. That split lets LobsterAI keep local persistence, permissions, UI state, artifacts, agents, memory, and IM bindings in the desktop app while using OpenClaw for agent execution.

Features

Desktop Cowork Sessions

Run long-form Agent tasks against local projects and files. LobsterAI streams progress, keeps session history, renders tool output, and asks for approval before sensitive actions such as file operations, terminal commands, or network access.

Multi-Agent Workflows

Create custom Agents with their own identity, model choice, skills, working directory, enabled state, and IM bindings. Keep the Main Agent for general work and use specialized Agents for repeatable roles.

Expert Kits

Install scenario-oriented Expert Kits that package capability selections and references for common workflows. Kits are selected independently from direct skills, so a workflow can combine curated kits with individual tools.

Skills

LobsterAI ships with 28 built-in skills configured in SKILLs/skills.config.json, including web search, Word documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint, PDF processing, Remotion video generation, browser automation, image/video generation, stock research, content writing, email, weather, and skill creation.

MCP Servers

Connect external tools and data sources through Model Context Protocol servers. LobsterAI stores user-configured servers locally and syncs enabled servers into OpenClaw.

Scheduled Tasks

Create recurring work either by conversation or through the scheduled task UI. Use it for daily news digests, inbox summaries, website monitoring, weekly reports, and other repeatable work.

IM Remote Control

Reach your desktop Agent from WeChat, WeCom, DingTalk, Feishu/Lark, QQ, Telegram, Discord, NetEase IM, NetEase Bee, POPO, and email. Multi-instance platforms can bind different accounts or channels to different Agents.

Rich Artifacts

Preview and manage generated HTML, SVG, images, video, Mermaid diagrams, code, Markdown, text, documents, and local service artifacts inside the desktop app.

Local Memory And Data

Sessions and app data live locally in SQLite. OpenClaw workspace memory uses files such as MEMORY.md, USER.md, SOUL.md, and daily notes, so durable preferences and project context can carry across sessions.

Real-World Prompts

How It Works

• Renderer: React, Redux Toolkit, Tailwind, artifact renderers, settings, agent/session UI, skills, MCP, scheduled tasks, and IM configuration.
• Main process: Electron lifecycle, IPC, SQLite persistence, auth, logging, OpenClaw startup, runtime repair, skill sync, IM gateways, and artifact services.
• OpenClaw integration: openclawEngineManager, openclawConfigSync, openclawRuntimeAdapter, and coworkEngineRouter translate LobsterAI state into OpenClaw runtime behavior.

Install

Desktop

Download the latest macOS and Windows installers from Official Website or GitHub Releases.

Run From Source

Requirements:

• Node.js >=24.15.0 <25
• npm >=11.17.0 <12 (older versions: npm install -g npm@11.17.0)
• git and pnpm, needed on the first run to build the pinned OpenClaw runtime from the sibling ../openclaw checkout

better-sqlite3@13.0.3 includes prebuilt N-API binaries for Windows, macOS, and Linux on x64/arm64. The allowScripts entry in package.json skips npm's unnecessary implicit rebuild for this version, so installing it does not require Visual Studio C++ Build Tools on Windows. Other dependencies' install scripts still run. Recheck this entry when upgrading better-sqlite3.

git clone https://github.com/netease-youdao/LobsterAI.git
cd LobsterAI
npm install

First development run:

npm run electron:dev:openclaw

Daily development after the pinned OpenClaw runtime exists:

npm run electron:dev

The renderer dev server runs at http://localhost:5175.

Developing

# Production renderer bundle
npm run build

# Electron main/preload TypeScript build
npm run compile:electron

# Official Vitest entry used by CI
npm test

# Full ESLint across src; may expose existing legacy debt
npm run lint

# CI-style lint for touched TypeScript files
npx eslint --ext ts,tsx --report-unused-disable-directives --max-warnings 0 <files>

OpenClaw Runtime

The pinned OpenClaw version and third-party plugin list live in package.json under openclaw.

# Build the current-platform runtime manually
npm run openclaw:runtime:host

# Use a custom OpenClaw source checkout
OPENCLAW_SRC=/path/to/openclaw npm run electron:dev:openclaw

# Force runtime rebuild
OPENCLAW_FORCE_BUILD=1 npm run electron:dev:openclaw

# Keep a local OpenClaw checkout on its current branch/tag
OPENCLAW_SKIP_ENSURE=1 npm run electron:dev:openclaw

DeepSeek Harness Runtime

The pinned dsh version and one archive descriptor per platform live in package.json under dsh. Development reads vendor/dsh-runtime/current; shipped apps download the archive on first use and verify it against the digest they carry.

# Build and activate the current-platform runtime
npm run dsh:runtime:host

# Boot it once and assert the web UI answers
npm run dsh:runtime:verify

# Full gate: build, pack, install over HTTP, boot, assert provider/model over RPC
npm run dsh:e2e

# 1. Build (applies the pinned patches, prunes to ~160 MB)
npm run dsh:runtime:mac-arm64

# 2. Pack; prints the sha256 and size
npm run dsh:runtime:pack mac-arm64

# 3. Upload vendor/dsh-dist/dsh-runtime-<version>-mac-arm64.tar.gz to the CDN,
#    then record where it landed. Digest and size come from the local manifest,
#    so they cannot drift from the bytes that were packed.
npm run dsh:runtime:url mac-arm64 "https://cdn.example.com/<uploaded>"

# 4. Confirm the URL serves exactly those bytes
npm run dsh:runtime:verify-urls mac-arm64

Packaging

# 1. Install dependencies exactly as pinned in package-lock.json.
#    npm ci removes node_modules itself, so do not delete it by hand and do not
#    run npm install first: that installs everything twice and may rewrite the
#    lock file. postinstall applies patches/. better-sqlite3 uses its bundled
#    N-API binaries in both Node.js and Electron.
npm ci

# 2. Remove stale build output. dist-electron is compiled by tsc, which keeps
#    files whose sources were deleted.
npx rimraf dist dist-electron

# 3. Build the installer. Output goes to release/.
npm run dist:mac            # macOS, host architecture
npm run dist:mac:x64
npm run dist:mac:arm64
npm run dist:mac:universal
npm run dist:win            # Windows x64
npm run dist:linux

# Full installer for a distribution channel
npm run dist:win:channel -- --keyfrom <channel> [--silent]

# Web installer: a small stub that downloads the package from your CDN
npm run dist:win:web -- --keyfrom <channel> [--silent] [--pkg-base-url <cdn-dir> | --pkg-url <package-url>]

Project Map

Security And Data

• Renderer windows use context isolation, disabled Node integration, and sandboxing.
• Renderer-to-main access goes through preload IPC APIs.
• Sensitive tool actions are permission-gated and logged.
• App data is stored locally in lobsterai.sqlite under Electron userData.
• OpenClaw state, workspace memory, generated config, and gateway logs live under userData/openclaw.

Community & Support

Join the WeChat group for help, feedback, and release updates:

Please use the repository issue templates for bugs and feature requests. For pull requests, include a short summary, linked issue when relevant, screenshots for UI changes, and notes for Electron-specific behavior such as IPC, storage, runtime, or windowing changes.

Star History

License

MIT License

Built and maintained by NetEase Youdao.