Block’s new Apache 2.0 agent workspace Berd works across models and harnesses, stores conversation history locally

Block, founded by Jack Dorsey, is open-sourcing Berd, a desktop application designed to let employees work with AI agents across various models and tools in one environment. Berd is available as a free, open-source application on GitHub under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing anyone to use, modify, and distribute it commercially. The application is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Berd positions itself as a "daily AI work surface," providing a unified interface for starting chats, attaching files, selecting agents and models, working in persistent projects, configuring AI providers, managing skills and extensions, reviewing session history, and building automations. The design aims to give users complete visibility into their conversation context, including projects, files, agents, models, providers, and session states, distinguishing Berd from generic chatbot wrappers.

The application emerged from the need to streamline work with multiple AI agents at Block. Employees were using capable agents like Goose, Claude Code, and Codex, but the experience was fragmented across different interfaces and workflows. Berd consolidates these agents into a single desktop application, providing a consistent experience across models and harnesses.

Berd is not a mobile product; Block's mobile collaboration platform, Buzz, serves that purpose. Berd introduces a unique approach to agent identification by assigning roles, instructions, skills, tools, and visual identities to each agent. Instead of treating each agent as a separate chat window, Berd allows agents to have recognizable visual identities, such as animated characters called "Gloopies," to help users distinguish between different agents in real-time.