Foxmayn Cowork: a terminal AI agent for your files

What it does

Cowork is a terminal interface (TUI) where you chat with a model about the files in one folder. You ask in plain words. It works in the folder you chose and nowhere else: any path that leads outside it, symlinks included, is refused. It is for people who like the terminal and want help with file chores: reading a stack of PDFs, renaming a batch, editing notes, searching a project.

Three PDF invoices read and summed up in one request. A made-up folder, with Claude Haiku 5.5 through OpenRouter.

Features

• 16 file tools: list, find, read, search inside files, create files and folders, edit, patch by search and replace, copy, rename and delete.
• Bulk changes: delete or rename a list of files, or every file whose name matches a pattern, behind a single confirmation.
• PDF reading. Cowork reads the text of PDF files.
• Confirmation before every edit, rename and deletion, and before creating or copying anything into a hidden path such as .git. --skip-confirmations turns this off for one session and shows a red badge while it is off.
• Your choice of model: OpenRouter (the default), Ollama, or a local GGUF model through llama.cpp in a source build with --features local.
• Sessions are saved per folder. /sessions lists them and /resume continues one.
• Slash commands with autocomplete: /dir changes the folder, /model switches model, /clear starts over. Type / to see the rest.

Before a deletion, Cowork lists every file and waits for y.

Install

Linux and macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nasroykh/foxmayn_cowork_cli/main/install.sh | sh

Windows PowerShell:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nasroykh/foxmayn_cowork_cli/main/install.ps1 | iex

Release builds cover Linux and macOS (x86_64 and aarch64) and Windows x86_64. Windows on ARM runs the x86_64 build. The scripts check each download against its SHA-256 checksum before installing. Release builds do not include the local model provider: build from source for that.

First run

The first launch opens a short setup: pick a provider, then paste an OpenRouter key or point Cowork at your Ollama server. Settings go to foxmayn-cowork/.env in your user config folder (~/.config on Linux), and foxmayn-cowork config changes them later.

Then open a folder:

foxmayn-cowork --dir ~/documents/invoices

Started without --dir, Cowork waits for you to pick a folder with /dir.

Why we built it

We wanted an assistant that works on files the way a colleague at the same desk would. Ask it to read the March invoices and list the totals. The model does the reading. You keep control through the folder you pick and the confirmation step.

Local models matter here. With Ollama, or a GGUF model in a build with --features local, your files never leave your machine. That build does not compile on macOS yet. With OpenRouter, you choose the model and pay for what you use, and the files the model reads are sent to that provider.

Cowork is written in Rust. CI runs formatting, clippy and the tests on Linux, macOS and Windows, checks the minimum Rust version (1.89) and runs cargo audit. The license is MIT. Source and issues are on GitHub. For AI that works on your ERP rather than your files, see Foxmayn Frappe CLI.