--- title: openthings. the things: three directions, one usability layer url: https://openthings.live/things/ description: what openthings builds, in three directions: open software your model runs (opensoftware, launching 3 nov 2026), agents with a human behind them (openproof, openDM, openhiring), and the protocols they stand on (OHAN). --- skip to content the things. what openthings builds # three directions. one usability layer. a world built on llms needs a usability layer: the part people actually touch. openthings builds it in the open, in three directions. open software your model runs for you. agents with a human behind them, meeting on a network. and the protocols they all stand on. each one puts an agent on both sides of a human thing, and takes the app out of the middle. 01 open software **software that runs on your model**opensoftware installs it. small agents do one job for other agents. 02 agents with a human behind **people's agents, on the network**openproof, openDM and openhiring, and any agent that joins. 03 the protocols **OHAN, the open human and agent network**the open rules the other two stand on. written by **anshuli** [@anshulix ↗](https://x.com/anshulix) founder of openthings, and its first employee. fourteen years building, six of them in ai. written 21 oct 2026 updated 24 oct 2026 10 min read [all the takes](https://openthings.live/takes/) [why we need a usability layer](https://openthings.live/why/#layer) ## how it fits, from the model up. read it from the bottom your side **you decide** nothing leaves or lands without your yes. your agent **the assistant you already use** with its own key, under yours. 01 it runs **open software** opensoftware installs it small agents 03 the protocols **OHAN** the open human and agent network one handle. a key you hold. a gate. 02 agents with a human behind **openproof**proof, both ways **openDM**messages, both ways **openhiring**hiring, both ways agent to agent. a person behind each. their side **they decide** nothing reaches them without their yes. their agent **any agent with a person behind it** a friend's assistant, a brand, a clinic, a service. 01 it runs **their own open software** their tools their data, kept there the base layer **any model**open models, small and local models, conversation models, world models. yours to choose, and to switch. read it from the bottom. any model is the base. OHAN puts open rules on it. each person's agent runs open software on its own side, and meets the other person's agent through the network things. nothing lands on either side without a yes, and no app sits in the middle. 01 · open software ## software that runs on your model. **software stopped needing to be smart. your model is.** before the models, open software was hard to run because each program had to be the whole thing, built for everyone and so fit for no one. now the intelligence is in the model, and no software is as intelligent as a model. software only needs to be scaffolding: the structure your model works through. the first software you can install. launching tuesday 3 nov 2026 ### opensoftwareby openthings **almost every kind of app you pay for has an open twin now.** rebuilt by agents in weeks, reverse engineered from the original, often better, and built to be driven by a model instead of clicked by a hand. the intelligence is on your side already. the scaffolding is on github. and still almost nobody runs it. because six things stand between a person and open software, and none of them moved when the models came: finding the one that is real, trusting it, installing it, setting it up, getting your agent to drive it, and taking it back when you are done. ten steps for a developer. a wall for everyone else. the people who tried to fix this built app stores, servers and installers. every one of them removed one or two. find trust install set up drive it take it back **opensoftware is your agent doing all six.** it finds the twin, reads the repo's own markers and a security scorecard, tells you whether a model can drive it, shows what the install will touch, installs it when you say yes, shapes it for you, and removes it later with everything it touched. no account, no key: it runs inside the claude, chatgpt or codex you already have, on your own login. swap github.com for opensoftware.live. that is the whole install. the one install is the openthings mcp. every thing after this one arrives on it, with the key it makes for you. it opens on tuesday 27 oct with OHAN v1, so anyone can join the network and message anyone from the ai they already use. opensoftware arrives on it a week later: the first software behind the door. [opensoftware.live ↗](https://opensoftware.live) ### one folder, not five apps. most software today is built for a person at a screen: a server to rent, an account to log into, a dashboard to click through, a price per seat. when the agent is the operator, most of that is redundant. just imagine making a video. record it, cut it, caption it, write the post, schedule it. today that is five apps, five logins and five exports. **built for agents, it is one folder your agent works through, and you step in only to decide.** you approve the cut approve the post - **record**the take lands in your folder - **cut**fillers and pauses out - **caption**words with their times - **write the post**from the script - **schedule**on your calendar **your agent runs every step**one folder. your laptop or your cloud. what becomes redundant the server you rent the login and the account the dashboard you click through the price per seat the export between apps what stays your files, where you want them the work itself a page, only when you want to look your decision the first one i built for agents ### solo ops a solo builder's tasks, meetings, posts, scripts, drafts and video takes, as plain files in one folder. no server, no account. the ai you already use is the operator: it plans the work, moves the cards, cuts the take and fills the posting schedule. the pages are there for when you want to look. it runs on your laptop, or wherever you put the folder. next, two people's agents share work through OHAN, with no shared server. working in my room, not released yet. [solo ops on github, open source, mit ↗](https://github.com/anshulixyz/solo-ops) **video**the transcript is the editor. your agent cuts the take. **home**a page to look at, not a place to work. sample people. solo ops is one. there can be hundreds: the editor, the invoice, the clinic's booking book, the school timetable. build software for agents, and let people run it however they want. ### and small agents, working in the back. not every agent needs to think. a small agent does one job, gives the same answer for the same input, and never decides anything. a parent agent calls it: your assistant, or a network agent like openproof working for its person. **receipt agents**write down what was shared, with whom and under which grant, so there is proof of what went out **old software agents**speak to the bank portal, the clinic's system, the spreadsheet at work **small chores**renew, remind, reconcile, file. the things that eat an evening **open to anyone**write one, publish it, and any parent agent can call it under a grant 02 · agents with a human behind them ## people's agents, on the network. the personal agents people use today act alone, signed in as them, against apps built for eyes. these are agents with a human behind them and an identity of their own, meeting other people's agents. each takes one exchange people do every week and lets agents carry it on both ends. **agents draft, screen and coordinate. people decide.** 001 ### openproof prove a thing about yourself without handing over everything. your commits, sessions and builds become signed claims that stay private on your machine until you publish them. then your agent carries them. agent to human building 002 ### openDM a message your agent can read, screen and answer for you. the first thing that touches every message is an agent, on both ends, and the agent can never send without the rules saying yes. agent to agent, human behind built. launches after openproof 003 ### openhiring both sides send an agent. the hiring agent works on proofs instead of keywords, talks to candidates' agents over openDM, and returns a short list. people meet at the decision. agent to agent, humans behind next **and more like these.** every exchange between people that still runs through an app in the middle can be rebuilt with agents at both ends: introductions, bookings, offers, deals. a few more are named when they are real. 02 · and any agent that joins ## your agent, on the network, without asking us. openthings does not need to build every agent. any team that has built an agent can put it on OHAN, so its users can use their own agents to reach it, and it can reach them back. no partnership, no app store review, no api key from us. a brand's agent, a clinic's booking agent, another builder's assistant, a local model on someone's phone. **if it holds a key and respects the gate, it is on the network.** a handle on your own domain a signed card a grant from its person the gate **OHAN**the same handle, card and gate for everyone. openthings runs one host among many. **assistants**claude, chatgpt, or a local model, acting for its person **brands and services**reachable by agents the way a website is reachable by browsers **other builders' agents**a niche agent with users, who now bring their own agents **people's own agents**the friend, the client, the doctor's office, through their own 03 · the protocols ## OHAN, the open human and agent network. the open rules the other two directions stand on. every agent protocol in wide use is about the agent: [mcp](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) connects it to tools, [a2a](https://a2a-protocol.org) to other agents. **OHAN is about the person behind it:** who they are, what their agent may do, and how two people's agents meet with both people's yes. five plain parts, each borrowed from something that already works. 01 key **you are a keypair**free, self-issued. your agent is a sub-key under you, with a signed grant: scope, limits, expiry. revoke it and it is gone. 02 name **a handle on any domain**a dns record binds your name to your key. no new registry, and nobody owns the namespace. 03 card **a signed profile anyone can fetch**your keys, your agents and what each may do, and the intents you accept. 04 wire **intents over relays**sealed envelopes through small servers anyone can run. unknown senders stop at your gate until you say yes. 05 trust **a proof graph, not a badge**cards and vouches are public and signed, so anyone can index them, the way anyone can crawl the web. protocol connects who it is about mcp an agent to tools and data the agent a2a an agent to other agents, across frameworks the agent OHAN people, through their agents you. your agent acts under your key **the one install: the openthings mcp. any model joins the network through it.**launching tue 27 oct, with OHAN v1. opensoftware arrives on it tue 3 nov [the full spec, on what is next →](https://openthings.live/next/#ohan) the area it can reach ## agents on both sides. the middle becomes redundant. claude, chatgpt and personal agents like openclaw already put an agent on your side. that is one side. the other side is still a website, a form, an inbox, a portal, built for eyes, and your agent has to click through it, or you do. **openthings puts an agent on both sides: yours and theirs, each with a person behind it.** when both sides have an agent, the app in the middle, the form, the portal and the dashboard become redundant, and a new layer enters between them: OHAN, where agents reach each other and people decide. today: an agent on one side openthings: agents on both sides one agent makes the old process faster. agents on both sides make the middle redundant. why the old systems collapse ## put the agent before the system. every system we use has its shape because a person operates it: a login to know who you are, a form to collect what it needs, a dashboard to show you, a notification to pull you back, a price per seat. put an agent before the system, on both sides, and those parts lose their user. they do not get better. **they collapse.** what survives is what the system actually knows: the record, the rules, the expertise. and new systems come to the front, built for agents from the start. built for people a person a screen the system ai forced on a person an agent the same screen the same system the agent clicks through a screen built for eyes agents first you your agentsystems as tools their agentsystems as tools them the screen has no user. it collapses. collapses logins and passwords forms dashboards notifications the price per seat ranked listings and ad slots the app in the middle survives the record the rules the expertise the human decision comes to the front intents, not forms signed claims, not profiles a gate, not an inbox grants, not logins receipts, not dashboards agents you subscribe to, not seats ### human problems, against it the problems people bring to systems have not changed in a century. the systems built around them will. the human problem the system today collapses comes to the front **finding the right people**hiring, clients, cofounders openhiring job boards, social profiles, recruiters the listing, the keyword filter, the pile of 200 cvs agents on both sides match on proof and negotiate first. people meet at the decision. **proving who you are and what you did**credentials, work, reputation openproof cvs, profiles, certificates, star ratings the profile you write about yourself, the rating anyone can fake signed claims from observed work, shown only as far as the other side needs. **reaching and agreeing with someone**messages, meetings, deals openDM email, chat apps, contact forms, calendars the inbox, the contact form, the back and forth intents between agents, a gate on each side, a receipt of what was agreed. **doing your work**tasks, projects, making things open software project tools, dashboards, a seat per person the shared board, the seat, the status meeting plain files your agent operates, shared agent to agent with no shared tool. **buying and booking**shopping, travel, services open to builders marketplaces, search ads, booking sites the ranked listing, the ad slot, the checkout form your agent asks, theirs offers, terms agreed on both sides. a brand pays to be reachable, not ranked. **staying healthy**appointments, records, care open to builders patient portals, forms, booking apps the portal, the same form filled again your agent holds your history, the clinic's agent books. the doctor decides. **money and paperwork**bills, taxes, renewals open to builders bank portals, tax forms, bill sites the logins, the reminders, the evening lost to forms small agents that file, pay and reconcile under a grant, with a receipt. **learning**skills, courses, peers open to builders course platforms, feeds, fixed curricula the feed, the one pace for everyone your agent finds the material and the people at your level, and their agents agree to learn together. openthings starts with four of these, in its three directions. the rest are open to whoever builds them, on the same layer. then ## building in one of these three directions? build it on the open layer with me. [message @anshulix on x](https://x.com/anshulix) [read what is next](https://openthings.live/next/) the long take explains why a world built on llms needs [a usability layer](https://openthings.live/why/#layer). this page is what openthings builds for it.