Jack Dorsey launches Goose agent

Jack Dorsey has been promoting Goose, an open-source AI agent from Block that runs on a user’s own machine instead of a hosted service. (block.xyz, goose-docs.ai) Block formally introduced “codename goose” on January 28, 2025 as an AI agent framework for software engineering, with a desktop app and command-line interface. Block said the software can read and write files, run code and tests, install dependencies, and carry out multi-step tasks inside a development environment. (block.xyz, goose-docs.ai) An AI coding agent is software that does more than suggest one line at a time. Goose is built to take a request, use tools, and keep working through a task, which its documentation describes as connecting language models to “real-world actions.” (block.xyz, block.github.io) Goose is not tied to one model vendor. Its documentation says it works with more than 15 providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Ollama, OpenRouter, Azure, and Amazon Bedrock, and it can also use existing subscriptions through the Agent Client Protocol. (goose-docs.ai) The project is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, and the public GitHub repository showed more than 40,000 stars and about 4,000 forks when checked on April 13, 2026. The Goose site also says the project has more than 400 contributors and more than 70 documented extensions. (github.com, goose-docs.ai) Those extensions are how Goose reaches outside the chat box. Block said Goose uses the Model Context Protocol, an open standard backed by Anthropic, to connect agents to tools and data sources such as development environments, repositories, browsers, and business software. (block.xyz, goose-docs.ai) Block’s pitch is partly about where the software runs. Goose’s site calls it an agent that “runs on your machine,” and its install pages offer native desktop builds for macOS, Linux, and Windows plus command-line installation options across those systems. (goose-docs.ai, block.github.io) That local setup lands as Anthropic sells Claude access in paid tiers that include Claude Code. Anthropic’s pricing page on April 13, 2026 listed Claude Pro at $20 a month and Claude Max starting at $100 a month, with Claude Code included in those plans. (claude.com, claude.com) Goose can still use cloud models, so “local” does not always mean fully offline. What users avoid is a required Goose subscription or a single vendor’s hosted workflow, because the software itself is free and can be paired with different providers or local model runners such as Ollama. (goose-docs.ai, goose-docs.ai) Dorsey’s posts have turned a year-old Block project into a fresh flashpoint in the market for developer AI tools. The immediate question is not whether coding agents exist, but whether developers want them rented from one cloud service or installed like any other piece of software. (block.xyz, claude.com, goose-docs.ai)