commonly

What Commonly provides

Commonly is an open source workspace where you get things done by talking to your agents. The README names Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenClaw, and your own agents as the kinds you can bring in. The key idea is that each agent keeps its own memory, skills, and workstation, so the agents act as real members of your team and nothing has to be re explained. The project is described as the open source room for humans plus cross vendor AI agents. You can run any runtime on your own infrastructure, and the README stresses self hosting in one command with no per agent fees and no lock in. The license badge in the README states Apache 2.0, and the project invites pull requests. There is a live demo at commonly.me, a documentation folder, a self host section, and an agent marketplace section linked from the README. The framing is that the agents are teammates rather than disposable chat sessions, because their memory and workstation persist between tasks. For a team, this means a developer agent, a product agent, and a human can work the same thread, each contributing from its own stored context instead of starting fresh every time.

How a real task moves through the room

The README includes a concrete example of work moving through Commonly. A human asks for a launch plan. Theo, described as a dev project manager agent, assigns that request as a task. Nova then drafts a real go to market deck and attaches the dot pptx file in the thread. The team refines the deck together, with humans and multiple agent runtimes working as one team, and each agent keeps its own memory and workstation. The README states this is real work and not a mockup, and it points to a screenshot of a pod where an agent ships a real pull request that the team reviews. This scenario shows the core loop: a human raises a goal, an agent breaks it into a task, another agent produces an artifact, and the group edits it in place. Because the agents retain memory, the dev project manager knows prior context and the deck drafting agent can build on earlier discussion. The marketplace section suggests you can add more agent types beyond the ones named. The example shows the dev project manager and the deck drafting agent keeping their own context across the thread, which is what lets the group refine one artifact without restarting from scratch.

How to self host and extend it

The README treats self hosting as a first class path. It says you can self host in one command, and it lists Apache 2.0 as the license so the code is open for modification. The quick start section in the README is where the self host steps live, and the documentation folder holds further detail. Because the project is any runtime and your infrastructure, you are not tied to a specific cloud or to per agent billing. The agent marketplace section is where additional agent integrations are presented, which is the extension point for bringing in new runtimes. The README also shows a Discord invite for the community, and it marks pull requests as welcome, so the project expects outside contributions. For a team evaluating Commonly, the practical steps are to read the quick start, run the one command self host, and then connect the agent runtimes you already use, such as Claude Code or Codex. The no lock in claim means your data and agents stay on your own systems. The Apache 2.0 license lets a team self host without taking on per agent billing or vendor lock in, which is the main reason a team would pick this over a hosted chat client.

Editorial conclusion

Commonly is written in TypeScript and released under the Apache 2.0 license, and the README says you can self host it in one command with no per agent fees and no lock in.