# Oyster vs Cloudflare OS > Compare Oyster and Cloudflare OS, two open-source agent platforms on Cloudflare Workers. Who each one is for, what each does, and how to try them. **Oyster** is an open-source (MIT) platform of small Apps that you run on your own Cloudflare account. One owner signs in. People open the Apps in a browser, and agents call the same Apps through one MCP endpoint. An agent can work on a Computer, a Linux workspace in a Cloudflare Container, and every App is built from a git commit. **Cloudflare OS** is Cloudflare's open-source (Apache-2.0) AI productivity workspace for a company: an agent chat, private per-user apps it calls "Gadgets", and a security layer called Gatekeepers. Both run on Cloudflare Workers and Durable Objects. They solve different jobs. ## Who each one is for - **Choose Oyster** if you are one person or a small owner-run setup that wants your own Apps and agents on your Cloudflare account, a Linux workspace for the agent, git repositories for its work, and an MCP endpoint that other agents such as Claude Code can call. - **Choose Cloudflare OS** if you want a shared AI workspace for many people in a company, where each person asks an agent for documents, slide decks or small apps, shares them with colleagues and approves the agent's actions on connected services. ## What each one does | Job | Oyster | Cloudflare OS | | ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Who signs in | One owner. Agents use named keys the owner issues. | Many users, each with their own workspace. | | Apps | Apps built from git commits. The owner chooses which version is live. Seven starter Apps: desktop, git, chat, terminal, editor, workflows and media. | Gadgets: a private instance of an app for each user, often written by the agent, started from templates it calls Blueprints. | | Agents | Grove holds agent conversations; agent chat uses Workers AI by default. External agents call Apps over `/mcp`. | An agent chat preloaded with company knowledge; works with several model providers and self-hosted models. | | Where agents run code | A Computer: a Linux workspace in a Cloudflare Container, with a terminal (Shed) and an editor (Inkcap). | Gadget servers run in Dynamic Workers with internet access disabled; clients run in sandboxed iframes. | | Access to other systems | Each key's grants limit which Apps it can reach and what it can do. | Gatekeepers: per-service connectors that limit access, log every action, and let you approve side effects later in bulk. | | Sharing | Owner-only. For Teams with member accounts, use [Fungi Hub](/quickstart/). | Share a Gadget with specific users or by link, with live collaboration. | | Status | Published on npm as `@fungi.computer/oyster`. | Described by its README as an early-access release with rough edges. | ## Where Cloudflare OS is the better choice - **Many people.** Cloudflare OS is built for a whole company. Oyster has one owner. - **Approvals that don't block the agent.** Gatekeepers simulate an action's result so the agent can continue, and you approve or reject the queued actions later. Oyster has no equivalent. - **Office-style work.** Slide decks, documents and shared whiteboards come from Blueprints. Oyster's starter Apps are developer tools. - **Built by the Workers team.** It uses Dynamic Workers and Facets, runtime features added for it. ## Where Oyster is the better choice - **A real Linux workspace.** Agents get a Computer with files, a terminal and processes, not only a sandboxed Worker. - **Git for agent work.** Bonsai hosts repositories, and each agent pushes to its own fork with ordinary `git`. - **Your existing agent.** Claude Code or any client that speaks Streamable HTTP MCP can use your Apps. See [Give Claude Code a cloud Linux sandbox](/guides/claude-code-cloud-sandbox/). - **A local trial with no account.** One `npx` command runs Oyster on your laptop. No Cloudflare account, Docker or payment is needed for the trial. ## Try Oyster You need Node 24 or newer and Git: ```sh npx @fungi.computer/oyster try ``` This starts Oyster on `http://127.0.0.1:8787` and opens a Hello App. The local trial has no Computer, git storage or Workers AI. Deploying to Cloudflare needs Workers Paid and Docker; see [Run your own Oyster](/guides/run-your-own-oyster/) and [Is Oyster for you?](/is-oyster-for-you/). To try Cloudflare OS, follow the quick start in its [repository](https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflare-os) (`pnpm run-local`), or use its deploy-to-Cloudflare link. ## Sources Checked on 8 November 2026: - [Cloudflare OS README](https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflare-os/blob/b5627874831406205078dc38ce0108c3a2324422/README.md) and its [Apache-2.0 license](https://github.com/cloudflare/cloudflare-os/blob/b5627874831406205078dc38ce0108c3a2324422/LICENSE) - [Try Oyster on your computer](/oyster-quickstart/), [Run your own Oyster](/guides/run-your-own-oyster/) and the [Oyster package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@fungi.computer/oyster)