cowork-server 0.1.1

FastAPI backend for the Minds Cowork desktop app

Cowork Server

FastAPI backend for the Anton desktop app. Manages projects, conversations, files, scheduling, memory, and agent orchestration with a SQLite-backed data layer.

Quick Start

Requires Python 3.12+ and uv.

# Install and run
uv tool install cowork-server
cowork-server

The server starts on http://127.0.0.1:26866. Confirm with:

curl http://127.0.0.1:26866/api/v1/health/

Development

# Run from source (auto-manages virtualenv + deps)
uv run cowork-server

When running alongside the Electron app in dev mode, the app spawns the server automatically — no manual start needed.

Dev setup helper

uv run cowork-dev-setup

Initializes the database and validates configuration.

Architecture

cowork/
  api/v1/endpoints/   # FastAPI route handlers
  services/           # Business logic
  models/             # SQLModel / DB models
  schemas/            # Pydantic request/response schemas
  db/                 # Database session and migrations
  common/             # Shared utilities, settings
  harnesses/          # Agent adapters (Anton, Hermes, etc.)

The server is designed to be agent-agnostic — core features (projects, conversations, files) are shared across agents, while agent-specific behavior lives in harness adapters. See docs/DESIGN.md for the full architectural rationale.

API

All endpoints live under /api/v1/. Key resource groups:

Path	Description
/health	Readiness probe
/projects	Project CRUD and working-folder management
/conversations	Conversation threads and message history
/responses	Streaming agent responses (SSE)
/files	OpenAI-compatible file uploads
/schedules	Recurring task scheduling
/skills	Agent skill definitions
/memory	Persistent agent memory
/artifacts	Agent-produced file previews
/publish	Publish HTML artifacts to 4nton.ai
/connectors	Third-party service connections and OAuth
/settings	User preferences and API keys

Configuration

Configuration is read from the database (UserSettings table) and can be managed through the Settings UI in the desktop app or via PUT /api/v1/settings/.

Environment variables fall into two namespaces:

Server-level (COWORK_*) — control the cowork-server process itself:

Variable	Default	Description
COWORK_SERVER_PORT	26866	Server port
COWORK_SERVER_HOST	127.0.0.1	Bind address
COWORK_PROJECTS_DIR	~/.cowork/projects	Project storage root
COWORK_FILES_DIR	~/.cowork/files	Uploaded files root
COWORK_VAULT_DIR	~/.cowork/data-vault	Connector credential vault

Harness-level (ANTON_*, HERMES_*) — configure a specific agent harness. These are read by the harness adapter, not by cowork-server core. They use the harness prefix because the upstream agent libraries (anton, hermes-agent) define them:

Variable	Harness	Description
ANTON_PUBLISH_URL	Anton	Artifact publish endpoint
ANTON_SKILLS_ROOT_DIR	Anton	Skill file storage
ANTON_GLOBAL_MEMORY_ROOT_DIR	Anton	Global memory files
HERMES_HOME / HERMES_ROOT_DIR	Hermes	Hermes data root

In Docker/Lightsail deployments, the container also receives ANTON_MINDS_API_KEY, ANTON_OPENAI_API_KEY, etc. — these are consumed by the Anton agent library directly (not by cowork-server settings), and are injected by the provisioning lambda via cloud-init user-data.

Docs

• docs/DESIGN.md — Architectural overview and design decisions
• docs/MIGRATION.md — Migration guide from the legacy server
• docs/MIGRATION_PROGRESS.md — Migration status tracker

License

See LICENSE.