What Is Kortix? The Open-Source AI Management System

Published: 2026-09-25

Kortix is the open source AI Management System — the AI Command Center for your company — distributed as the GitHub repository Kortix on GitHub.

What Kortix is

If you're asking what is Kortix, the short answer is that Kortix is the open source AI Management System: a platform that gives a company one place to run its agent workforce, on any model and any infrastructure. The repository at Kortix on GitHub is titled "The open-source AI Management System" and positions Kortix as "the leading open-source alternative to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work" (Kortix on GitHub). Kortix puts your agents, the skills they share, your company memory, and every connector into a single git repository — versioned, diffable, and shared by the whole company. Kortix is not a chatbot or a single assistant: its agents, skills, memory, and connectors are literally files in a repo you own (Kortix on GitHub).

The architecture: project → session → sandbox → change request → merge

Kortix describes itself in its documentation as "the Autonomous Company Operating System" — a cloud computer where a workforce of AI agents runs your company, and where "everything is code you own" (kortix.com/docs).

The work model is a deterministic loop. A project is a git repository plus a kortix.yaml manifest. Each session runs an agent inside an isolated sandbox, on its own branch named after the session. The agent commits and pushes its work, then opens a change request. A human reviews that change request and merges it to the default branch — so finished work reaches main only through a reviewed change (kortix.com/docs).

The sandbox is disposable by design. Every session gets its own cloud computer — an isolated Linux sandbox on its own branch — where the agent can install, run, and even break anything; only what it commits survives (Kortix on GitHub).

Three commands to start

Kortix ships as a three-command loop documented in the README (Kortix on GitHub):

1. Install the CLI — curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash
2. Scaffold a project — kortix init, which creates kortix.yaml plus your agents, skills, and runtime config.
3. Ship it — kortix ship, which pushes your repo and brings the whole thing live in the cloud.

From there you start sessions with kortix sessions new, review what an agent proposes with kortix cr ls, and talk to a session's agent with kortix chat. If you prefer zero setup, you can sign up at kortix.com, create a project, and start a session with nothing to install (Kortix on GitHub).

Self-host free vs managed cloud

Kortix runs on your own infrastructure — a laptop, a VPS, your own VPC, or your own on-prem network (Kortix on GitHub). You start a production-style local instance from Docker images, then switch the CLI between hosts with kortix self-host start and kortix hosts use selfhost, or flip back with kortix hosts use cloud.

Pricing splits cleanly: self-hosting is free, while managed Kortix Cloud costs $40 per seat per month plus usage (Kortix on GitHub). Cloud is built to survive a security review rather than slip past one — one isolated machine per session, per-resource permissions for people and agents, connector credentials brokered server-side, and a secrets manager encrypted at rest (kortix.com/about).

Any model, your own keys

Kortix is not locked to one model vendor. The README's comparison table lists Models as "Any provider, your own API keys" — or you can bring the ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor subscription you already pay for (Kortix on GitHub). Connectors span 3,000+ apps in a click, plus MCP, OpenAPI, GraphQL, and raw HTTP, with credentials brokered server-side through one scoped token so the raw key never enters the machine.

How Kortix compares to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work

The Kortix README publishes its own comparison table; the competitor rows reflect publicly documented behavior as of July 2026 (Kortix on GitHub):

	Claude Cowork	ChatGPT Work	Kortix
Source	Closed	Closed	Open source — read it, fork it, audit it
Models	Anthropic only	GPT-5.6 only	Any provider, your own API keys
Where it runs	Anthropic's cloud, or Bedrock / Google Cloud / Microsoft Foundry — no self-host	OpenAI's cloud, no self-host	Our cloud, your VPC, or your own on-prem network
Your configuration	In their product	In their product	Files in a git repo you own
Access	Paid plans (Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise)	Paid plans, usage-metered	Self-host free · managed cloud $40/seat/mo + usage

One note on the licence: Kortix is open source under the Elastic License 2.0 (LICENSE) — you can read, fork, and audit it, self-host it, and modify it. The licence reserves to Kortix the right to provide the software to third parties as a hosted or managed service.

When Kortix is (and isn't) the right fit

Kortix suits teams that want to own their company's operating layer outright: versioned agents and skills, self-hosting on your own network, any model with your own keys, and a deny-by-default merge path for agent work (Kortix on GitHub).

Kortix is less the right fit if you want a single-vendor assistant you never self-host and never review through a change request. Even on managed Kortix Cloud, the architecture — git repo, sessions, change requests — is still a system you operate rather than a chat window you just open.

FAQ

Is Kortix open source?

Yes. Kortix is open source under the Elastic License 2.0 (LICENSE): you can read, fork, self-host, and modify the code. The licence reserves to Kortix the right to provide the software to third parties as a hosted or managed service.

What does "AI Management System" mean?

An AI Management System is a platform for running and governing a company's whole agent workforce — its agents, skills, memory, and connectors — as one versioned system, rather than as settings inside a single vendor's product. Kortix keeps those as files in a git repository the company owns (Kortix on GitHub).

How much does Kortix cost?

Self-hosting is free. Managed Kortix Cloud costs $40 per seat per month plus usage (Kortix on GitHub).

Does Kortix lock me into one AI model?

No. Kortix works with any model provider using your own API keys, or with the ChatGPT, Claude, or Cursor subscription you already pay for (Kortix on GitHub).

How do I install Kortix?

Run three commands: curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash, then kortix init, then kortix ship (Kortix on GitHub).

Can I self-host Kortix?

Yes. Run it on your own laptop, VPS, VPC, or on-prem network with kortix self-host start, and switch hosts with kortix hosts use selfhost (Kortix on GitHub).

How does Kortix compare to Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work?

Kortix is open source, runs any model with your own keys, runs on your own infrastructure, and stores your configuration in a git repo you own — while Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work are closed, single-vendor, cloud-only products (Kortix on GitHub).

How does finished work actually land in a Kortix project?

Each session runs an agent in an isolated sandbox on its own branch; the agent commits and pushes, opens a change request, and a human merges it to the default branch (kortix.com/docs).