Collaborator is a native desktop app for building with agents on a local, Electron-based canvas. It supports terminals, notes, code, and images on an infinite canvas with local data storage.
Collecting history — the radar snapshots this repo daily. The trend line appears after 3 days of data (1 so far).
What it is
Collaborator is an end-to-end environment for agentic development. Terminals, context files, and running code — all arranged on an infinite canvas in one place. The app is native desktop and targets macOS, Windows, and Linux. All data is stored locally on disk.
How it works
The application provides:
- A navigator with a file tree and multi-workspace support
- An infinite canvas where tiles (terminal, note, code, image) can be created and arranged
- A viewer to display and edit file content inline (Markdown, code, images)
- Terminal tiles managed by persistent PTY sessions; each tile has its own session
- Debounced canvas state persistence to canvas-state.json and config/state changes to config.json
- Local persistence under ~/.collaborator/
Tile creation methods include double-clicking empty canvas space or dragging files from the navigator onto the canvas. Tile types include Terminal, Note, Code, and Image. The canvas supports pan, zoom, and grid snapping; zoom ranges from 33% to 100% with a per-zoom indicator.
Getting started
Install options:
- Download the latest release for macOS, Windows, or Linux.
- macOS and Linux also support command-line install:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/collaborator-ai/collab-public/main/install.sh | bash
- Windows: use the .exe installer from the releases page.
Quickstart steps:
- Open Collaborator
- Add a workspace — click the workspace dropdown in the navigator and choose "Add workspace", or press Cmd+Shift+O, then select a local folder
- Double-click the canvas to create a terminal, and start an agent
- Drag files from the navigator onto the canvas to open them as tiles alongside your running agents
Development prerequisites and setup:
- Node.js 22+ and Bun
- Clone the repo and install dependencies:
git clone https://github.com/collaborator-ai/collab-public.git
cd collab-public/collab-electron
bun install
- Run in dev mode:
bun run dev
- Run tests:
bun test
- Build:
bun run build
Recent releases
- v0.8.4 Collaborator 0.8.4 (2026-06-16):
- Opt+[arrow key] now jumps the caret between words
- Cmd/Ctrl+[arrow key] now jumps caret to start or end
- Opt+Cmd/Ctrl+[arrow key] now selects tiles on the canvas
- v0.8.2 Collaborator 0.8.2 (2026-06-11):
- fix(viewer): scroll to top when opening a different file
- v0.8.1 Collaborator 0.8.1 (2026-06-03):
- A patch release with three bug fixes
- Fixes include viewer scroll behavior on file changes
- v0.8.0 Collaborator 0.8.0 (2026-04-16):
- Agent Chat UI: the agent terminal is replaced with a full chat interface connected to live ACP sessions
- Chat includes rendered tool-call cards, markdown formatting, and session persistence
Traction
2846 stars, 274 forks, 79 open issues as of the data provided.
Behind the repo
The repository is a native desktop app built with Electron and TypeScript, using Electron 40, React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, electron-vite, xterm.js, Monaco Editor, BlockNote/TipTap, D3, sharp, and KaTeX. All data is stored locally on disk under ~/.collaborator/.
Caveats
License is not listed in the provided data. The application stores state locally on disk and requires local workspaces. Latest push date: 2026-06-25.