FAQ

The questions everyone asks first.

Costs, platforms, where your data goes, what the orchestrator really is. Direct answers. No hedging.

Is OpenAxis free?

The OpenAxis shell is open source under the MIT license. The app itself is free. It doesn't ship with AI credits though — you bring your own keys (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Google, or any OpenAI-compatible provider) or run local models through Ollama. Your provider bills you for inference. OpenAxis doesn't.

Does it run on Windows or Linux?

Not yet, macOS 14 and up only. OpenAxis stores secrets in an encrypted file (~/Library/Application Support/openaxis/secrets.enc, AES-256-GCM) and relies on Electron's view system for the sidebar. A port to other platforms isn't planned in the short term.

Where are my API keys stored?

In an encrypted file at ~/Library/Application Support/openaxis/secrets.enc (AES-256-GCM). They're never written to a config file, never in local storage, never visible inside the tools. The proxy loads them into memory and injects them when processes start. The wrapped tools only ever receive a fake local token, not your real keys.

Where is my data, projects, memory, chats, stored?

All of it is local, in your home directory: projects and memory under ~/.config/openaxis/, the tool config under ~/.config/opencode/, and chat history in local storage with a file backup on disk. Nothing is sent to an OpenAxis server, because there isn't one. The full breakdown is on the privacy page.

Which LLM providers are supported?

Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI (GPT), OpenRouter (multi-model), Ollama (local), and Google Gemini. You can mix cloud and local depending on the task, all through the one proxy.

What is the orchestrator, concretely?

An engine that breaks a goal into specialized agents, code, design, work, research, verification, arranged in a dependency graph, then runs them with automatic, deterministic quality checks. The result is a folder of real deliverables, not a chat log. The full story is on the tools page and in the engine reference.

Are the wrapped open-source apps modified?

Never. OpenAxis clones OpenWork, OpenCode, and Open Design and leaves them intact. Every customization, the theme, the hidden native settings, the added features, lives in a separate injection layer. That's why upstream updates don't break anything.

Why a local proxy on port 9999?

To centralize your secrets and config in one place. Instead of pasting keys into three apps, you enter them once; the proxy (127.0.0.1:9999, OpenAI-compatible, Bearer required) holds the real keys and routes each call to the right provider. It's also where web search and context injection happen.

The interface broke after an update. What do I do?

Run the selector check (npm run check:selectors). It verifies that the CSS selectors the overrides rely on still exist in the apps' new code, and flags any that an upstream change moved, so you know exactly which override to adjust.

How do I contribute, or report a bug?

Bugs and feature requests go through GitHub issues, with templates for each. To contribute code, see CONTRIBUTING.md: fork, branch, run the tests and checks, open a pull request.

Still stuck? Open an issue on GitHub or read the full usage guide. Every comment gets a reply.

Download it. Add your keys. Create.

Drag OpenAxis to your Applications folder, then add your API keys in the Config panel. Apple Silicon, macOS 14 and up.