Tencent WorkBuddy Announces Open Platform Capabilities, Fostering Collaboration with Hardware, Software, and Developers to Create New Industry Standards for AI Agents

On September 2, Tencent WorkBuddy announced the official launch of its open platform (open.WorkBuddy.cn), with over 100 ecosystem partners initially introduced. The platform opens up its underlying Agent capabilities to smart hardware, industry applications, and developers. This is the first open platform in China's AI Agent field that connects hardware, applications, and developers across three levels of ecosystems, and it also marks the first time WorkBuddy has disclosed its full open ecosystem strategy since its launch in March this year.

At the event, nine co-branded smart hardware products were launched for the first time, including brands such as Plaud, Rokid, Insta360, iFLYTEK, Anker, Manner, and JD Jingzao. Over 30 industry applications were also integrated, covering more than 20 fields such as finance, law, healthcare, education, and public welfare.

"True productivity doesn't depend on how strong a tool is, but on how many capabilities it can connect and how many scenarios it can enter," said Liu Yi, vice president of Tencent Cloud and head of Tencent CodeBuddy & WorkBuddy. "We hope to turn WorkBuddy into an operating system for the Agent era—not making a stronger tool, but creating a platform that can carry all tools."

Liu Yi, Vice President of Tencent Cloud and Head of Tencent CodeBuddy & WorkBuddy

WorkBuddy Open Platform Launched, First Batch of Over 100 Ecosystem Enterprises Invited

Previously isolated smart devices are now sharing the same Agent foundation for the first time. Around five touchpoints—listening, watching, recording, chatting, and collaborating—WorkBuddy has integrated smart glasses, voice cards, microphones, earphones, desktop companions, keyboards and mice, PCs and tablets, smart wearable devices, and mobile phones, spanning over 30 brands. Manufacturers do not need to build their own AI or change product forms—once connected, they can integrate hardware, apps, PCs, and web across multiple ends, allowing accounts, tasks, memories, and outputs to seamlessly transfer between devices.

The nine co-branded hardware products released this time include flagship products from brands such as Plaud, Rokid, Insta360, Youlanzi, iFLYTEK, Anker, Manner, and JD Jingzao, most of which are the first in their categories to access Agent capabilities.

For example, with smart glasses, the microphone and camera on the glasses collect data, while WorkBuddy handles understanding, planning, and execution. Accounts, tasks, memories, and outputs synchronize between glasses, phones, PCs, and web. When users wear glasses into a meeting room, speech transcription, meeting minutes, to-do lists, and follow-up emails are completed through the same chain; during interviews, what is seen and heard is automatically archived as retrievable memories, and users can directly ask about specific client requests from last week and use WorkBuddy to complete the task.

At the same time, WorkBuddy introduced the "Buddy App" entry point for the first time—a brand AI workbench built by partners based on the WorkBuddy Agent foundation, tailored for specific industries and scenarios. Partners don’t need to develop AI themselves; they just need to bring in their own scenarios, business context, tools, and branding, and they can get a fully formed AI agent office product.

Currently, these applications cover more than 20 fields such as finance, SaaS, law, healthcare, education, public welfare, and design, developed by over 30 partners including Tongda Xin, Guangfa Securities, Yifangda, Tencent SSV (public welfare/education/cultural relics), Tencent Health, Peking University Law Database, Weimeng, Beisen, Fanruan, and Meitu Design Studio.

For example, the "Public Welfare Buddy" deeply integrates data from the Tencent Public Welfare platform, consolidating 11 scenario capsules and 42 scenario capabilities according to the real working methods of public welfare organizations. It is supported by 15 intelligent agents, covering aspects such as funding applications, ticket processing, due diligence analysis, and interpretation of charity laws. Organizations that have joined the Tencent Public Welfare platform or digital toolbox and completed certification can apply for 5,000 WorkBuddy credits per month in 2026, which will be issued to designated staff accounts for use by the staff members.

For developers, the platform simultaneously opens up three capabilities: Skill (skill), Expert (expert), and Connector (connector). Developers can easily access WorkBuddy through standard protocols and provide professional systems, tools, and know-how for users.

Currently, more than 100 partners are co-creating on the platform, covering over 10 industries such as finance, SaaS, and education. The Expert market includes two types: Agent type and Team type. The Connector supports two solutions: MCP and CLI, and can connect to any external service.

WorkBuddy also revealed that the payment capabilities and distribution channels of the open platform are being accelerated. The goal is to better reward developers' and enterprises' professional experience, ultimately bringing more benefits to users.

Working with Partners to Create Industry Standards, Building the Foundation for the Agent Era

"The barrier that 'Agent can do things' has already been crossed. The real challenge is to make sure it never stops in any device, any system, or any scenario. To truly give users accessible, uninterrupted Agent service capabilities, we need to connect the ecosystem context and build a service loop. For developers and enterprises in various fields, the industry's know-how, scenario data, and processes are already mature, but the challenges of high Agentization barriers and heavy costs remain."

Lin Zuolu, head of the WorkBuddy open ecosystem, said, "That’s why we choose to open up—we break down the capabilities into three paths: hardware, industry applications, and developers, so that every industry and every partner can bring Buddy into their own scenarios." This is the original intention of the WorkBuddy open platform: to help various industries overcome this gap, work together with partners to create industry standards, and build the foundational platform capabilities of the Agent era.

In terms of capability, Tencent WorkBuddy encapsulates its accumulated AI Agent Harness capabilities into callable interfaces, opening them up to developers, hardware manufacturers, and industry application companies. Partners only need to call standard APIs through the open platform without excessive R&D investment to obtain complete Agent capabilities.

In terms of scenarios, WorkBuddy is responsible for building the Agent foundation, while the scenarios are handed over to the partners who understand them best. Ecosystem partners bring their own data, tools, processes, and experiences, allowing Agents to truly enter real-world scenarios.

In terms of ecosystem, developers can build plugins, applications, and industry solutions based on WorkBuddy's Agent capabilities, quickly validate and iterate products using the platform's traffic and capabilities. Various industry applications and hardware manufacturers can integrate their device capabilities with WorkBuddy's AI Agent capabilities, co-create new Agentic capabilities and experiences, build branded AI workbenches tailored for specific industries and scenarios, or create next-generation smart terminals of "hardware + AI."

For users, the benefits are even more obvious. Context and content assets scattered across various devices, apps, and applications will be interconnected, enabling cross-end and cross-application AI office work. There's no need for repeated logins or settings, devices are no longer isolated, context can be continued, and the delivery quality of Agents will be higher.

"In the past few months, WorkBuddy has gained the trust of many users and enterprise customers. This trust has pushed us to keep evolving," said Liu Yi. Since its launch in early March this year, WorkBuddy has maintained a very high iteration pace, completing over 50 version updates, and has already been rapidly implemented in over 50 industries such as government affairs, education, retail, finance, media, and transportation.

In the government affairs sector, WorkBuddy was officially launched in August, providing AI smart office capabilities for the Guangdong government system. The Guangdong Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau and other provincial units have started dozens of scene connections and pilot explorations. In the education sector, over 6,000 primary and secondary school teachers in Laizhou City, Shandong Province, have been equipped with AI teaching assistants. WorkBuddy has jointly launched 33 educational experts and 15 teaching skills on the Penguin Teacher Assistant, covering all scenario needs such as lesson preparation and research and development. In the media sector, WorkBuddy has joined the CCTV reporting team, participating throughout the coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos and the WAIC World Artificial Intelligence Conference.