What is goose?

goose is an open source AI assistant that runs on your own computer and actually does things for you. Instead of just suggesting code snippets in your editor, it can run commands, edit files, and help with tasks far beyond programming, research, writing, data analysis, automation, whatever you need. The project offers three ways to use it: a desktop app for macOS, Linux, or Windows, a command-line tool for terminal users, and an API for embedding it into other software. It works with over 15 AI providers, so you're not locked into one company's model, you can use Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Ollama, or others, and in some cases you can even connect through your existing Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini subscriptions rather than paying for separate API access. It also connects to 70+ extensions through an open standard called the Model Context Protocol, which lets it plug into external tools and data sources. The practical benefit is that goose can take a goal you describe in plain language and carry it out across multiple steps, reading files, running scripts, making edits, rather than just giving you text to copy and paste. The audience is broad: developers who want an agent that goes beyond autocomplete, but also anyone doing analytical or repetitive work who could use a capable assistant. A founder might use it to prototype features quickly, a data analyst could ask it to process and summarize a spreadsheet, and a PM might use it for research or drafting. The README doesn't go into detailed walkthroughs of specific tasks, but it links to tutorials and documentation for getting started. Built in Rust for performance and portability, the project now lives under the Linux Foundation's Agentic AI Foundation. It's free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license, and there's an option to build custom distributions with preconfigured providers and branding.