# Rowboat

> Rowboat (YC S24) is a San Francisco and Bengaluru startup building open-source AI agent software. It began as a pre-trained customer-support LLM agent, grew into a widely starred open-source IDE for building multi-agent systems on the OpenAI Agents SDK, and is now 'your AI coworker, with memory' - a local-first desktop app that turns your emails, meetings, and notes into an editable knowledge graph so agents can actually get work done. Founded by the team behind Agara (acquired by Coinbase in 2021).

- **Founded:** 2024
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, California, United States (team also in Bengaluru, India)
- **Founders:** Arjun Maheswaran (Co-Founder & CEO), Ramnique Singh (Co-Founder), Akhilesh Sudhakar (Co-Founder)
- **Team size:** ~5
- **Products:** Rowboat (AI coworker), Rowboat multi-agent IDE / Studio, Rowboat Chat API / SDK, Customer-support LLM agent (original)
- **Notable:** 16,000+ GitHub stars on the open-source repo, Multiple Hacker News front-page launches (2025-2026), Y Combinator S24 batch company

## Products & services

- **Rowboat (AI coworker)** — Local-first desktop app that indexes emails, meetings, Slack, and notes into an editable Markdown knowledge graph, with work 'surfaces' for email, meetings, browsing, notes, and coding. Bring your own model; Apache-2.0 licensed.
- **Rowboat multi-agent IDE / Studio** — Open-source IDE for building, debugging, and deploying multi-agent systems, powered by the OpenAI Agents SDK, with an AI copilot that turns natural-language specs into runnable workflows.
- **Rowboat Chat API / SDK** — Stateless HTTP API and Python SDK to embed Rowboat-built assistants into apps and websites, plus a hosted cloud version that runs with no setup.
- **Customer-support LLM agent (original)** — Pre-trained customer-support agent, refined through self-play, that plugs into existing systems to handle conversations like an experienced human agent. The company's original YC S24 product.

## Achievements

- 16,000+ GitHub stars on the open-source repo
- Multiple Hacker News front-page launches (2025-2026)
- Y Combinator S24 batch company
- Founding team's prior startup Agara acquired by Coinbase (2021)
- One of the earliest IDEs built on the OpenAI Agents SDK

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Launched open-source IDE for building multi-agent systems, powered by the OpenAI Agents SDK; Show HN reaches the front page.
- **2025** — Repository crosses 16,000 GitHub stars; adds 100s of tool integrations, RAG, triggers, HTTP API and Python SDK, and a hosted cloud version.
- **2026** — Repositioned as 'your AI coworker, with memory' - a local-first Electron desktop app with a Markdown knowledge graph, email client, meeting transcription, browser, and code mode.

## Links

- Website: https://rowboatlabs.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/rowboat-labs
- GitHub: https://github.com/rowboatlabs/rowboat

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rowboat-yc-s24
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-30