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cat README.md

OpenHands

Open-source AI software development agent for coding tasks, repositories, and developer workflows.

# 71K Stars · 9.0K Forks · MIT License // verified 2026-04-19
openhands/main
$git clone https://github.com/OpenHands/OpenHands.git
Installing OpenHands...
OpenHands ready
$openhands --help
Reading openhands configuration & environment...
# core strengths

What makes OpenHands different

Repository-level coding agent

OpenHands is designed around software development tasks, not only answering programming questions.

Real coding assistance requires file edits, terminal work, testing, and iteration.

Open implementation for agent workflows

The public repository lets builders inspect how the system approaches planning, execution, and developer controls.

Coding agents touch valuable codebases, so inspectability matters.

Strong fit for coding-agent comparison

OpenHands is a useful reference point when comparing open coding agents against proprietary tools.

Teams can evaluate tradeoffs around local control, hosted convenience, and engineering safety.
# quick start

Your first command

terminal
$git clone https://github.com/OpenHands/OpenHands.git
# use cases

How developers use OpenHands

01

Issue triage and code changes

Use OpenHands as a candidate when an agent needs to inspect a repository and propose implementation changes.

02

Coding-agent research

Study how an open coding agent handles tasks, tools, sandboxing, and developer feedback.

03

Self-hosted developer automation

Evaluate whether parts of your coding workflow can run in an inspectable open-source environment.

# comparison

How OpenHands compares

Choose OpenHands for software development workflows vs browser automation agents

browser-use and OpenClaw are stronger for web workflows. OpenHands is more directly focused on repositories, code tasks, and software engineering.

# faq

Questions

Q: What should I check before using OpenHands?

Start with one safe workflow for OpenHands. Inspect official setup instructions, required credentials, execution logs, approval points, and failure recovery before expanding from a sandbox task into production automation.

Q: Is OpenHands open source?

OpenHands is listed with MIT based on the official source links in this profile. Re-check the repository, model card, or docs before production use.

Q: Who should evaluate OpenHands?

OpenHands is most worth evaluating for developers evaluating open-source coding agents.