Alternatives
Products that do what Understudy does
Open-source desktop agent that learns from demonstrations
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I built Understudy because a lot of real work still spans native desktop apps, browser tabs, terminals, and chat tools. Most current agents live in only one of those surfaces. Understudy is a local-first desktop agent runtime that can operate GUI apps, browsers, shell tools, files, and messaging in one session. The part I'm most interested in feedback on is teach-by-demonstration: you do a task once, the agent records screen video + semantic events, extracts the intent rather than coordinates, and turns it into a reusable skill. Demo video:…
Mar 2026 · github.com
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hi hn, i built openwork, an open-source, local-first system inspired by claude cowork. it’s a native desktop app that runs on top of opencode (opencode.ai). it’s basically an alternative gui for opencode, which (at least until now) has been more focused on technical folks. the original seed for openwork was simple: i have a home server, and i wanted my wife and i to be able to run privileged workflows. things like controlling home assistant, or deploying custom web apps (e.g. our customs recipe app recipes.benjaminshafii.com), legal torrents, without living in a terminal. our initial setup…
Jan 2026 · github.com
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I've been building computer-use tools for a while, and I quietly launched this about a month ago (122 Stars on GH). I figured it was worth sharing here. Over the last few months, a lot of computer-use agents have come out: Codex, Claude Code, CUA, and others. Most of them seem to work roughly like this: 1. Take a screenshot 2. Have the model predict pixel coordinates 3. Click x,y 4. Take another screenshot 5. Repeat That works, but it's slow, expensive in tokens, and fragile. If the UI shifts a few pixels, things break. And the model still doesn't know what any element actually is. But the…
May 2026 · github.com
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The power of Codex with local, self-hosted models and voice
Jul 2026 · opencodesuper.app
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Hey HN! My name is Christian, and I’m the co-founder of https://frigade.ai. We’ve built an AI agent that automatically learns how to use any web-based product, and in turn guides users directly in the UI, automatically generates documentation, and even takes actions on a user’s behalf. Think of it as Clippy from the old MS Office. But on steroids. And actually helpful. You can see the agent and tool-calling SDK in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPe0t3A1Vpg How is this different from other AI customer support products? Most AI "copilots" are really just…
2025 · frigade.ai
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Write a task in plain English. An AI agent runs it on a simulator on your Mac and tells you if a real user could complete it. Save the successful run as a regression check you can replay later.
23d ago · app.deltix.ai
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Hey HN! We've just open-sourced Agent, our framework for running computer-use workflows across multiple apps in isolated macOS/Linux sandboxes. After launching Computer a few weeks ago, we realized many of you wanted to run complex workflows that span multiple applications. Agent builds on Computer to make this possible. It works with local Ollama models (if you're privacy-minded) or cloud providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and others. Why we built this: We kept hitting the same problems when building multi-app AI agents - they'd break in unpredictable ways, work inconsistently across…
2025 · github.com
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Hi HN I recently got married, promptly had a bit of a meltdown, and decided to lock myself in a room and build for a while. At the same time, I was trying to outbound sell for my startup and kept running into the same problem: I wanted an automation tool that could actually use my computer like a person. Click through UIs, copy/paste between apps, handle messy workflows — not just APIs and webhooks. I couldn’t find anything that felt: - consumer-friendly (non-technical) - local-first - flexible enough for real-world, UI-driven tasks So I challenged myself to see how far I could get…
Jan 2026 · automatewithtasker.com
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Hi HF, I'm Terrell, and we built an open-source app that lets developers create their own Operator with a Next.js/React front-end and a flask back-end. The purpose is to simplify spinning up virtual desktops (Xfce, VNC) and automate desktop-based interactions using computer use models like OpenAI’s There are already various cool tools out there that allow you to build your own operator-like experience but they usually only automate web browser actions, or aren’t open sourced/cost a lot to get started. Spongecake allows you to automate desktop-based interactions, and is fully open…
2025 · github.com
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