Extending and Contributing to Open Claude Cowork
1. Start with one product layer​
This repo gives you several clear extension surfaces:
| Goal | First place to look |
|---|---|
| Desktop UX | renderer/ and Electron shell code |
| Backend behavior | server/ |
| Provider support | server/providers/ |
| Messaging assistant | clawd/ |
| Skills | .claude/skills/ |
2. Why this matters​
Because the repo mixes desktop and bot concerns, large patches can become confusing quickly. Narrow surface-specific changes are much easier to maintain.
3. Best first contributions​
- docs and setup fixes,
- UI clarity improvements,
- provider integration polish,
- better tool visualization,
- safer configuration examples.
4. Think in operator trust​
A good contribution should improve:
- transparency,
- control,
- productivity,
- or safer tool use.
5. Before opening a PR​
Validate the exact layer you changed and avoid mixing desktop-chat improvements with bot-runtime work unless the change truly spans both.