Tandem
AI coworkers that run on your computer. Bots sign in to your apps, use them the way you
do, and come back with the job done. Free and open source. Bots run on the Claude Code plan
you already have.
Website: https://tandem-c6l.pages.dev
Install
Mac app: download Tandem-mac.zip,
unzip it, and drag Tandem to Applications. It's for Apple silicon and macOS 13 or later, and it bundles its own Node.
The app isn't notarized yet, so the first time you open it, right-click Tandem and choose Open.
It lives in the menu bar and keeps your Bots working after you close the window.
Or with Terminal:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NeilGilani/tandem/main/install.sh | bash
The installer downloads Tandem to ~/tandem, sets it to run in the background and start at
login, and opens http://127.0.0.1:4747.
Requirements: macOS, Node 22.13+, Google Chrome (or Chromium, Edge or Brave), and
Claude Code installed and signed in (claude on your PATH).
tandem open | status | logs | uninstall
tandem start # run in the foreground instead
tandem install --lan # also reachable from your phone on the same network
If you like it, star the repo.
How it works
| Feature | How Tandem does it |
|---|
| Named Bots you message like coworkers | Each Bot keeps its own Claude Code session per conversation (claude -p --resume) |
| A computer for the Bots | Each Bot gets its own computer: its own Chrome profile (so its own sign-ins) and its own folder under data/computers/<bot>/, plus a data/shared folder every Bot can use to hand files to each other. Browsers start when a Bot starts work, stay minimized, and close after 15 idle minutes |
| Bots use apps the way a person does | Playwright MCP drives the Bot's own Chrome over CDP. You sign in per Bot in Connect apps |
| Take over / I'm done | Computer panel: watch live, Take control (click and type from any device), or Take over in the real window, then press I'm done |
| Connect apps | 70+ apps: Google, Microsoft (Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, Office), Slack, Notion, Linear, Jira, Salesforce, HubSpot, LinkedIn, GitHub, Stripe and more, plus Mac Calendar, Contacts, Reminders and Messages, plus any MCP server as a custom app |
| Vault and 1Password fill | Vault stores values in your macOS Keychain. vault_fill_login fills sign-in forms and the Bot never sees the values |
| Approvals and Auto Review | Claude Code's permission prompt tool runs every non-read-only action through built-in safety checks and your Custom Rules. Cards offer Allow once, Always allow and Deny. Background cards expire after 30 minutes |
| Execution on this computer | Ask every time / Always allow / Never allow, for shell commands |
| Drafts | Outgoing email, Slack and Teams messages appear as draft cards with Send and Discard. Drafts can be turned off per Bot |
| Memory | Per-Bot facts and a work log. Facts about you are shared by all Bots. Memory import goes to your primary Bot |
| Skills and Teach a task | A shared skill library (data/skills/*/SKILL.md), switched on or off per Bot. Teach mode records screenshots for up to 10 minutes, then Claude drafts the skill |
| Routines | Plain-language schedules ("weekdays at 8am") or webhooks. Test, Pause, Run history (20 records), and the same limits as Grok Bot: 50 routines per Bot, at least 5 minutes apart, 300 runs/hour |
| Group chats and @mentions | Groups of 2 to 6 Bots, with @Bot, @everyone, and automatic choice of who responds |
| Bot-to-Bot handoff | message_bot: the other Bot wakes up, does the work and replies back. The handoff is visible in both chats |
Limits of running locally
- The computer is your Mac, not a cloud machine. Bots run while the Mac is awake and Tandem is running. Use
bin/tandem install so Tandem starts at login.
- Connectors use browser sign-ins. Tandem doesn't have OAuth apps registered with Google, Microsoft or others, so apps are used through the shared browser, the same way Grok Bot uses apps that have no API connector. For an API-level connector, add that service's MCP server as a custom app.
- No hosted Bot email address. Bots use your connected Gmail or Outlook instead.
- Webhooks only reach this Mac. For GitHub, Linear, Sentry or PagerDuty to call a routine's webhook from the internet, expose port 4747 with a tunnel such as Tailscale Funnel or Cloudflare Tunnel.
- No image generation for avatars. Use a shape and color, or upload an image.
- No team features. Shared Bots, publishing templates and admin rules aren't included.
Usage and terms
Every Bot turn, routine run and test run uses your Claude plan's limits. Tandem is for your own
use on your own subscription. Don't run Bots for other people on it; that needs an API key.
Sharing with a cofounder: Settings → Team. Add a teammate to get their own sign-in link
(revocable on its own). Their requests carry their name and the Bots' questions go to them; only you
can send from your accounts, connect apps, see saved logins or change settings. Switch "Who pays
for Bot work" to a company Anthropic API key first. Turn on "Let teammates connect" (or run tandem install --lan)
plus Tailscale; never expose it to the public internet.
Build the Mac app
macos/build.sh --open # → dist/Tandem.app and dist/Tandem-mac.zip
Layout
server/ daemon: HTTP API, events, engine (Claude Code runs), approvals, routines, connectors, vault, Mac apps
mcp/ the per-run MCP bridge that gives Bots the Tandem tools
web/ the app (no build step)
macos/ the native Mac app (Swift): window, menu bar, notifications, bundled Node
data/ everything you create (gitignored): database, memory, skills, uploads, computer
