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Runwork vs DIY Development

This is the layer you would otherwise build and maintain yourself.

Quick Verdict

You can build all of it. A Next.js app, Postgres behind it, auth, a queue, secrets, an MCP server so your agents can reach it, a deploy path. None of it is hard on its own, and once it exists it is yours. Runwork is that layer already running, plus the parts that always get postponed: permissions on what agents can touch, an audit trail of what they did, and some way to tell whether anyone besides you is using it. Your agent writes the code either way. The question is what it has to write on top of.

Overview

Teams doing this seriously end up building roughly the same stack. Somewhere for agents to connect over MCP. Somewhere for skills to live and sync to everyone's machine. Entity and file storage. A scheduler for the jobs that must survive a closed laptop. Secrets. A sandbox so an agent can run code without touching your laptop. A deploy path. Then the team layer: who is allowed to run what, what did it do last Tuesday, and is anyone besides the person who wrote it actually using it. That last part is the one that never gets scheduled, and it is why most internal AI setups end up with one user. Runwork is that stack, running. Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex work against it over MCP, the platform hands your agent the knowledge files during dev, and every app you deploy becomes an MCP server the rest of the team's agents can call.

DIY Development is a Custom Code (Next.js, Laravel, Rails).

Runwork Strengths

  • Your agents reach it over MCP. Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex work against the real workspace, not a guess at it.
  • The platform provides CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md during dev, plus a generated SKILL.md per app.
  • Every app you deploy becomes an MCP server, so everyone else's agent can call it too.
  • Entities, file storage, schedules, and workflows are already there. No queue to stand up.
  • `runwork dev` runs in a remote sandbox. Nothing installed locally, and an agent cannot wreck your machine.
  • `runwork deploy` ships it. No pipeline, no hosting decision, no DNS afternoon.
  • Roles, permissions, and audit logs across everything, including what the agents did.
  • 3,300+ integrations with credentials handled, instead of an OAuth dance per service.
  • Skills sync to every teammate's AI tool, so what you worked out reaches people who will never read your repo.

DIY Development Strengths

  • Total control. Every dependency, every version, every architectural call is yours.
  • Any language, any framework, any host.
  • Nothing sits between you and the runtime when you are debugging at midnight.
  • The ecosystem is enormous. Every problem you hit has been hit and written up already.
  • Data can stay entirely inside your own network.
  • No commercial dependency. Your stack outlives any vendor, including us.

Feature Comparison

The agent layer

Feature Runwork DIY Development
MCP endpoint your agents can reach Per workspace and per app Write and host your own
Knowledge files (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, SKILL.md) Provided by the platform Maintain by hand
Sandbox to run agent code `runwork dev`, remote Docker on your laptop
Skills that sync to every teammate's AI tool -
Works with the AI tools people already use 60+ AI tools Config per machine

What you would otherwise stand up

Feature Runwork DIY Development
Auth and sessions Built in Clerk, Auth0, or your own
Database and migrations Entities Postgres, ORM, migrations
File storage Built in S3 plus a CDN
Scheduled and background work Schedules and workflows Redis, a queue, a worker
Secrets and credentials Managed per workspace Vault or env files
Integrations 3,300+ integrations Build each one
Deploy `runwork deploy` Pipeline plus hosting

The team parts people postpone

Feature Runwork DIY Development
Role permissions on what agents can touch Built in On the roadmap
Audit trail of every action Build it
Somewhere the whole team can find it Workspace and desktop app A link in Slack
Is anyone actually using it Adoption dashboard -
Versioning and backups Built in Set it up
Monitoring `runwork log --events` or dashboard Stand up a logging stack

Ownership

Feature Runwork DIY Development
Real code you can read and edit TypeScript and React
Export to Git It is already yours
Self-host -
Runs inside your own network -
Pick your language and framework -

Which Tool is Right for You?

Choose Runwork if you need...

  • * Teams who would otherwise spend a quarter building this layer
  • * Giving your agents a real place to run instead of somebody's laptop
  • * The permissions, audit, and adoption parts that never make it into a sprint
  • * Work that does not stop when the person who set it up logs off
  • * Letting the rest of the team use what you built without cloning your repo

Choose DIY Development if you need...

  • * Anything that has to run inside your own network
  • * Your product, not your internal work. Custom architecture, unusual runtime, heavy scale
  • * Hard compliance or data residency requirements
  • * Stacks where you need control of every dependency and version
  • * Teams who enjoy owning the infrastructure and have the people to do it

Pricing Comparison

DIY has no invoice, which is what makes it look free. The real cost is hosting, a database, an auth vendor, monitoring, a queue, the engineer weeks to wire them together, and the ones after that spent keeping it alive. Runwork is priced per seat with a monthly usage budget with a 14-day trial, no credit card. Compare it against a quarter of somebody's time, not against zero.

View Runwork pricing

How to Migrate from DIY Development

Nothing you know goes to waste. It is TypeScript and React, the code is code you can read and export, and your git habits still apply. What changes is that you stop maintaining the layer underneath it.

Typical migration: Hours for the first one

1

Pick the thing you were about to build

The internal tool sitting in the backlog, or the script that only runs on one machine. Start there instead of migrating anything.

2

Point your agent at the workspace

Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex connects over MCP. The platform hands it CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md during dev, so it writes against the real API instead of hallucinating one.

3

Let it build in the sandbox

`runwork dev` runs remotely. Nothing to install, nothing an agent can break on your machine, and a live preview before anyone else sees it.

4

Ship it

`runwork deploy`. Auth, roles, audit, and hosting are already on. The app becomes an MCP server, so your teammates' agents can call it from day one.

5

Move the shared parts up

Skills and workflows sync to the whole team's AI tools. That is the part you cannot replicate with a repo everyone has to clone and configure.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a replacement for our stack?
No. It is the layer under your team's AI work, not your product. Your customer-facing app stays where it is. What moves is the internal side your agents keep rebuilding: the tools, the automations, the skills, and the plumbing that lets other people use them.
Can I see the code?
Yes. Real TypeScript and React, editable in place, exportable to GitHub. If you leave, you leave with it.
What if we outgrow it?
Export and run it yourself. What you cannot export is the team layer: the syncing, the permissions, the audit trail, the adoption view. That is exactly the part you would have to build again, which is also the honest reason it is worth paying for.
Can I use my own AI tools?
Yes, and this is the point of the whole thing. Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex connect over MCP. The platform provides CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md during dev and writes a SKILL.md per app, so your agent knows your actual API instead of guessing. Every app you deploy is itself an MCP server, so your teammates' agents can call it too.
Can we self-host it?
No. Runwork is cloud, with a desktop app and CLI on top. If self-hosting is a hard requirement, this is the wrong tool and we would rather say so here than three calls in.

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