OpenHands Agent Canvas
A self-hosted control center for coding agents — run OpenHands, Claude Code, Codex, or any ACP agent
Supports self-hosting with local/remote/cloud backend choices, but the actual trust boundary depends on whichever agent backend you connect; no isolated verification was performed for this review.
The project is mid-migration — its README explicitly states the Agent/Agent Server source has moved to software-agent-sdk and the Canvas frontend to agent-canvas, so this repo is not the final stable shape.
Positioning shifted from an early standalone autonomous coding agent to a control center that can plug into OpenHands, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or any ACP-compatible agent — broader applicability, but effectiveness now depends heavily on the backend actually connected.
Documentation is currently split across several repos and an external docs site due to the migration, which is less immediately navigable for new readers without extra lookups.
80k+ stars reflect strong historical impact, but there is no independently reproducible evidence of output quality under the repo's newly repositioned scope.
This review relied on the README and repo metadata only — no actual deployment or multi-backend switching test was performed.
- This repository is mid-migration: Agent/Agent Server source now lives in OpenHands/software-agent-sdk and the Canvas frontend in OpenHands/agent-canvas — confirm which part you actually need
- The real security boundary depends heavily on which agent backend you connect (local, Docker, remote, or cloud), not on this repo alone
- This is a static review; no isolated dynamic verification was performed
What it does & when to use it
OpenHands was originally known as an autonomous software-engineering agent; this repository has since repositioned as Agent Canvas — a self-hosted developer control center for starting agent conversations and automating everyday tasks (like generating a report that publishes to Slack, or decomposing a GitHub issue into tasks). It can run agent backends locally, in Docker, remotely, or in the cloud, and lets you switch between the built-in OpenHands agent, Claude Code, Codex, or any other Agent-Client Protocol (ACP) compatible agent.
Provides a self-hosted console for starting conversations and configuring automation workflows; connects to agent backends running locally, in Docker containers, on VMs, or in the cloud, and integrates with third-party services like Slack, GitHub, Linear, and Notion, triggering automations on a schedule or via webhook events.
- Automatically decompose a GitHub issue into tasks and hand them to an agent
- Generate a recurring report and publish it to a Slack channel automatically
- Self-host on internal company infrastructure to manage multiple agent backends centrally
- Switch between the built-in OpenHands agent and third-party agents like Claude Code, Codex, or Gemini as needed
Pros & cons
- Not locked to a single agent — switch between local, Docker, remote, and cloud backends
- Built-in automation that integrates with common collaboration tools like Slack, GitHub, and Linear
- Large accumulated community (80k+ stars) with a rich ecosystem and discussion history
- Fully self-hostable, suiting teams with data-compliance requirements
- The repository is mid-migration, with source split across newer repos, making it a bit harder to find the current implementation right now
- Positioning has shifted from a single autonomous coding agent to a more general control center — if you just want an out-of-the-box coding assistant, this may not be the most direct choice
- Actual security and effectiveness depend heavily on the specific agent backend you connect; this repo is primarily an orchestration layer
How to install
This repository is currently mid-migration: the console frontend source now lives in OpenHands/agent-canvas, and the agent/Agent Server source lives in OpenHands/software-agent-sdk. Follow the Self-Hosting section of the official docs (docs.openhands.dev) for current local/VM deployment steps rather than relying on this repo's older install instructions directly.
How to use
Once deployed, start a conversation from the console, pick which agent backend to use (built-in OpenHands, Claude Code, Codex, etc.), describe the task, or configure an automation trigger (scheduled or webhook-based) for the console to dispatch to that backend.
Compared to similar agents
Unlike single-vendor terminal coding agents such as Claude Code or Codex CLI, OpenHands Agent Canvas positions itself as an "agent orchestration console" — it isn't an agent itself, but a self-hosted interface for managing and dispatching to multiple agent backends plus automation. If you just need a coding assistant you can run in a terminal, Codex CLI or opencode is more direct; if you need unified orchestration and automation across multiple agents and backends, Agent Canvas fits that use case better.