Machine Desktop is an app for Windows and Mac where you chat with bots: AI helpers that don't just answer questions, they do the work. A bot can research a topic and write a report, build a website, clean up a spreadsheet, sort your email, or fill in forms in a browser, while you watch or get on with something else.

The difference from a normal AI chat is that every bot has its own computer. When you ask for something, the bot opens files, runs programs, browses the web, and saves its results on that computer, the way a person would. You can look over its shoulder at any time, and stop it with one click.

Machine Desktop with the sidebar of bots on the left and a finished research conversation with Scout open

New here? Start with these

1. How Machine works

The ten ideas everything else is built on, in plain words. 5 minutes.

2. Install Machine Desktop

Download and install for Windows or Mac.

3. Your first 15 minutes

4. Write good requests

How to ask for what you want and get it the first time.

Guides for real jobs

Step-by-step walkthroughs, from start to finish.

What do you want to do?

You want to…	Read
Hand a bot a task and get the result	Send messages and watch a bot work
Make helpers for different jobs	Create a bot and Write a bot's Soul
Have bots work together	Group chats
Start with a ready-made team	Bot recipes
Give a bot files to work with	Attachments
See and download what a bot made	Files on the bot's computer
Let a bot work with files on your computer	This PC
Let a bot use your own Chrome	Use your own Chrome
Have a bot do something on a schedule	Automations
Put a website online	Deployments
Connect Gmail, GitHub, Notion, and more	Connected apps
Give a bot an API key safely	Secrets and webhooks
Talk instead of type	Voice
Have a real-time voice call with a bot	Live calls
Watch a bot work on its computer	The Live view
Text, email or phone a bot from your own phone	Inkbox
Have a bot phone a business for you	Phone calls
Make images, video, music or voiceovers	Pixio
Choose a smarter or cheaper AI	Choose a model
Control what a bot may do	Approvals
See what you've spent	Usage and billing
Use Machine on your phone	Mobile apps
Fix something that's not working	Troubleshooting

Everything in this section

Get started

Concepts, install, sign-in, the welcome tour, updates, and the app window.

Bots and teams

Create bots, write their Souls, skills and memory, threads, group chats, the sidebar, recipes, and the Marketplace.

Chat

Writing requests, sending, attachments, voice, message actions, find, share, and export.

Models and approvals

Choosing a model, your own subscription, reasoning effort, approvals, and questions.

The bot's computer

What it is, files, website previews, the terminal, and cost.

This PC

Bots on your own computer: setup, safety and stopping, Mac permissions, your Chrome, and fast mode.

Automations

Schedule work, create routines, and read run logs.

Deployments

Put websites online, with custom domains.

Apps, channels, and secrets

Connected apps, Slack, Inkbox and Glyph channels, secrets, and webhooks.

Live

Real-time voice calls with your bots through Glyph, and the Live view of a bot's computer.

Inkbox

Text, email, or call a bot from your phone (only people you allow can reach it), and have it call businesses for you.

Pixio

Images, video, music, voice, and 3D on your own Pixio account.

Settings

General, appearance, usage and billing, notifications, and languages.

Shortcuts

Every keyboard shortcut, the command palette, and the quick switcher.

Mobile apps

Machine on Android, iPhone, and iPad: chat, Live calls, routines, settings, and sharing.

Privacy and security

What runs where, what leaves your computer, and how you stay in control.

Troubleshooting

When something goes wrong.

FAQ

Answers to common questions.

Desktop and the web app

Machine also has a web app. Both use the same account, so a bot or conversation you create in one appears in the other. Start a task on your laptop and check on it from the web or your phone.

A few things are done on the web. When you click them in the desktop app, it opens the right web page for you:

creating an account,
buying credits and managing your plan,
connecting your own Claude or Cursor subscription,
managing who's on your team, and
deleting your account.

Machine Desktop