Running Coworker on Free OpenRouter Models and Its Agent Stack

Melvin Vivas · X post · 2026-08-24 · Open on X

Topics: AI Agents, Tool Use & MCP, LLM Fundamentals, AI Dev Tools & Productivity · Level: intermediate

Summary

The creator says you can run his open-source Coworker app (a Grok Bot clone) on free models through OpenRouter. The quoted post lists the stack: tested with OpenAI and OpenRouter models, local-model support through Ollama and LM Studio, Pi for the agent runtime, CopilotKit for the chat UI and Firecrawl for web search.

Key points

• Coworker is a free, open-source clone of Grok Bot.
• You can use free models through OpenRouter, so it costs nothing to run.
• It was tested with OpenAI and OpenRouter models.
• Local models are supported through Ollama and LM Studio.
• Agent runtime: Pi (@pidotdev). Chat UI: CopilotKit. Web search: Firecrawl.

Resources mentioned

• OpenRouter · tool · openrouter.ai · free
  A single OpenAI-compatible API that routes requests to hundreds of models from many providers, with one bill and model fallbacks.
  Also in: Customizing Your Coding Setup with Pi Coding Agent Extensions (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), The Jev model is now on OpenRouter (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Kev-4B model, an alternative to Jev, now available on OpenRouter (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Space Bunny Alpha: stealth 1M-context flash model on OpenRouter (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 42 more
• Coworker (donvito/coworker) · repo · github.com · free
  The creator's local-first desktop app where you pick an AI coworker and have it produce work such as invoices as finished PDFs.
  Also in: Claude Opus 5.5 for Video Making: Creator's Showcase Thread (Coworker) (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Coworker: free open-source desktop AI coworker app (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Coworker: Open-Source Desktop App for AI Agents (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Using Devin AI to Test the Coworker Desktop App on Windows (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 38 more
• OpenAI · tool · x.com · free
  An AI model provider whose models can be used through managed connectors.
  Also in: Creator's favorite OpenAI DevDay announcements (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), OpenAI Agents API with Bring Your Own Sandbox as a backend for a 'software factory' (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Building Software Factories on the OpenAI Agents API (Codex-Powered) (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Coworker: Free Local-First Desktop App for Running AI Agents (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 11 more
• Ollama · tool · x.com · free · recommended by both Bashiri Smith & Melvin Vivas
  Open-source tool for downloading and running LLMs on your own machine with minimal setup.
  Also in: Running LLMs Locally Without an Expensive Rig (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Adding Vercel AI Gateway as a provider in AIBackends with Devin (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Running Qwen3.8-27B Locally on an M5 Max MacBook with Inco Splash (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), AIBackends: An API Layer Between Your App and AI Models (Now with Jev) (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 12 more
• LM Studio · tool · x.com · free
  Desktop app for downloading and running LLMs locally, with a developer mode that serves models through an API.
  Also in: Running LLMs Locally Without an Expensive Rig (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Adding Vercel AI Gateway as a provider in AIBackends with Devin (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), LoRA Fine-Tune Qwen3.5-2B on Your Tweets with Unsloth Studio (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), AIBackends: An API Layer Between Your App and AI Models (Now with Jev) (Melvin Vivas on X · notes) and 31 more
• Pi (pi.dev) · tool · pi.dev · free
  Minimal coding agent with four core tools, plus an SDK for adding those tools to your own apps.
  Also in: Re-authenticate the Pi Agent with the New ChatGPT Sign-In (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Coworker: Open-Source Work Agent That Runs on Small Local Models (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Pi Coding Agent: Four Built-In Tools (read, bash, edit, write) (Melvin Vivas on X · notes)
• CopilotKit · tool · x.com · free
  An open-source framework for building in-app AI copilot and agent UIs.
  Also in: Coworker: Open-Source Work Agent That Runs on Small Local Models (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Coworker: Open-Source Grok Bot Clone Built on Pi and CopilotKit (Melvin Vivas on X · notes)
• Firecrawl · tool · x.com · free
  An open-source web data API with Search, Scrape and Interact features that turn web pages into LLM-ready markdown or structured data for AI agents.
  Also in: Firecrawl Keyless: Free Web Search & Scraping for AI Agents, No API Key (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Coworker: Open-Source Work Agent That Runs on Small Local Models (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Coworker: Open-Source Grok Bot Clone Built on Pi and CopilotKit (Melvin Vivas on X · notes), Serve LFM2.5-2.6B with vLLM and connect it to Hermes (Melvin Vivas on X · notes)

Try this

• Try Coworker with free models through OpenRouter.
• Build your own agent desktop app by combining an agent runtime (Pi), a chat UI (CopilotKit), web search (Firecrawl) and local or cloud models.