# Open-source cloud agents that bring back work you can review

> A cloud agent runs on a machine somewhere other than your laptop, keeps working while the tab is closed, and sends the result back to you. What comes back decides whether the work lands: a transcript you retype, or a change request your team reviews and merges.

URL: https://cloudagentsguide.com/

Cloud agents

**The open-source AI Operating System**

`agent computer`

```
A Linux machine boots from the sandbox image your project declares.
It is its own isolated machine: its own filesystem, its own process table, its own network.
The machine clones the project repo into /workspace.
The machine cuts a branch named after the session.
```

Source: https://kortix.com/agent-computer

Session work reaches `main` through a change request. Merge is default-deny for agents.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Read the docs](https://kortix.com/docs)

One isolated sandbox per session | Self-host is free | Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it.

## What a cloud agent hands back

What comes back, and what a person can open and keep.

### Code change: A change request a reviewer can merge

The agent reproduces the failing test on its own cloud computer, patches it, and opens a change request against the branch it cut, so a reviewer reads the change where the code lives.

Output: `change-request.md`

- Branch: session/9f4c2b7e
- Files changed: 3
- Tests: 148 passing
- Approval: 1 reviewer

Opened toward main, merged by a person

### Scheduled report: A Monday report committed to the repo

A cron trigger starts the session, the agent pulls the numbers and commits the report as a file, so every version of it sits in git with the date it changed.

Output: `reports/q3-revenue.md`

| Region | Plan | Actual |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Northwind | 1,240 | 1,182 |
| Globex | 980 | 1,004 |
| Initech | 460 | 448 |

Committed on the session branch, opened as a change request

### Migration: A migration rehearsed on its own machine

The agent installs the new version, runs the migration and the full test suite on the cloud computer it was given, and reports what broke before anything reaches main.

Output: `migration.log`

- Postgres: 15 to 16
- Rows checked: 412,880
- Failures: 0
- Duration: 6m 12s

The machine goes away with the run; only the commit survives

## Cloud agents compared on what they return

What each vendor documents about where its agent runs and what it returns, checked in October 2026.

| | Kortix (recommended) | Cursor Cloud | Railway Cloud Agents | Qoder Cloud Agents |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| what it is | Open-source AI Operating System where each session gets its own cloud computer. | A cloud agent handed off from the Cursor desktop editor. | A persistent development machine for coding agents in a Railway project. | A managed runtime and SDK for embedding Qoder agents in apps. |
| open source | Yes | No, closed editor vendor service | No, closed platform service | No, closed managed runtime |
| where the agent runs | On its own isolated sandbox, one per session. | Isolated VMs Cursor provisions, or machines you manage. | A personal VM in a Railway project environment. | Qoder's managed sandbox, one per session. |
| what you get back | A change request on a branch of your own repo. | A merge-ready pull request with screenshots, videos and logs. | A live machine and terminal session you connect to. | API sessions with tool calls streamed over SSE. |
| self-hostable | Yes, the whole stack on your own infrastructure. | Tool execution on hardware you manage. | No, the agent runs on Railway. | No, agents run in Qoder's sandbox. |

## Open source here means the configuration is a file you own

The agents, the skills, the memory, and the connectors live in one git repo, and the same stack runs on infrastructure you control.

- **Read it:** agents, skills, memory, and connectors are files in one repo.
- **Fork it:** run your fork, with your own models and keys.
- **Audit it:** every change an agent proposes arrives as a diff a person reads.
- **Self-host it:** on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network.

## Questions people ask about cloud agents

What a cloud agent is, what it returns, and who reviews the result.

### What is a cloud agent?

A cloud agent is an AI agent that runs on a machine in the cloud instead of your laptop. It keeps working when your machine is off, and it can install tools, run tests, and commit code without touching your local setup.

### Which cloud agent is best?

Kortix, for a team that wants the result to land in its own repo. Each session runs on its own cloud computer and returns a change request a person approves before anything merges.

### What are the 7 types of AI agents?

A common breakdown lists simple reflex, model-based reflex, goal-based, utility-based, learning, hierarchical, and multi-agent. The labels describe how an agent decides; any of them can run in the cloud or on your laptop.

### What are the key differences between a cloud agent and a local agent?

Where the work runs, and what survives the session. A local agent edits the files on your machine and stops when you close it. A cloud agent works on its own machine, on a branch, and hands back a change request.

## Give an agent its own machine and see what it hands back

Start on Kortix Cloud with your own keys, or run the same stack on your own infrastructure.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [Read the docs](https://kortix.com/docs)

One isolated sandbox per session | Self-host is free | Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it.