The welcome tour
What each welcome screen asks, what your first bot learns about you, what the guided tour shows you, the first-week tips, and how to replay the tours.
The first time you open Machine Desktop on a computer, it walks you through a short setup, then points out the main buttons. It takes about two minutes.
At any point you can:
- click Back to change an earlier answer,
- click Skip tour, or press Esc, to skip the rest.
Everything you set here can be changed later.
The welcome screens
Welcome to Machine
Type Your name and your email. They're shown at the bottom of the sidebar, so you can see which account you're using. Click Continue, or Maybe later to skip.
You can change these later in Settings → General → Profile.
What your bots can do
A short animation shows what bots can do:
- every chat is a real agent that does work, not just answers,
- bots have hands: they use a computer,
- they can use your connected apps,
- you can put several bots in a group chat,
- and you can schedule them to work on their own.
Click Continue when you're ready.
Permissions
Windows and Mac only. This screen lets you talk to bots by voice, with dictation and voice messages.
Click Enable next to Microphone & speech:
- Mac: macOS asks whether Machine Desktop can use the microphone and speech recognition. Click OK for both.
- Windows: this opens the microphone page in Windows Settings. Make sure Microphone access and Let desktop apps access your microphone are on, then come back.
If you said no before, the button reads Open Settings instead, so you can change your answer.
Not interested in voice? Click Skip for now.
Your phone
Links to the Android and iPhone apps (Android · Google Play and iPhone and iPad · TestFlight beta), so you can check on your bots and answer them from your phone. The links open in your browser. Click Continue or Skip for now. See Mobile apps.
Meet your teammate
Set up your first bot:
- Bot name: something easy to recognize, like Scout.
- Color: pick one, so you can spot it in the sidebar.
- One standing instruction: a rule it should always follow. For
example:
- "Keep answers short and show your work."
- "Explain things simply. I'm not technical."
- "Always ask before doing anything that costs money."
Every field is optional. Click Continue. If something goes wrong saving the bot, click Finish anyway. You can set the bot up later.
The standing instruction becomes the start of the bot's Soul, which you can expand later.
Getting to know you
Your new bot asks a few short questions, so the first thing it does for you is right. Answer what you like:
| Question | How to answer |
|---|---|
| What should Scout call you? | Your name, or a nickname. |
| What do you do? | A few words, like "I run a small bakery". |
| What should it help with first? | Tap any chips: Email and inbox, Research, Calendar and meetings, Writing, Coding, Spreadsheets and data, Social media, Errands and shopping. Something else? Type it into Something else… and click + to add it. |
| How do you like updates? | Short and to the point, or The full detail. |
Click Continue, or Skip for now to move on without answering.
What I learned
The bot says back what it heard, one line at a time, for example "I'll call you Alex" and "First up: Research". Got something wrong? Click the × at the end of the line (Forget this) to remove it.
Click Looks right — let's go. The lines you kept are saved to the bot's standing instructions ("Saved to Scout's instructions. Change it any time in its profile."), so it knows them from your very first message. If you didn't answer anything, the button says Let's go, and the bot learns about you as you chat.
If you picked something to help with first, the chat opens with a message started for you, like "Let's start with research. Here's what I need:". Finish the sentence and send it.
If saving fails, click Finish anyway and tell the bot in the chat instead.
The guided tour
Right after the welcome screens (even if you skipped them), a guided tour highlights the controls you'll use most, one at a time. It opens each panel for you as it goes, so you see the real thing:
- The message box, where you talk to the bot.
- The model chip, which picks the AI model.
- The Computer button. When you click Next, the tour opens the bot's computer panel.
- The bot's workspace inside that panel, where you watch it work.
- Tools, at the bottom of the sidebar. The tour opens the menu next.
- Connected apps, to link the tools you use. The tour opens it.
- The connected apps marketplace, where you sign in to an app once so every bot can use it. The tour closes it again.
- Automations. The tour opens it.
- The Automations calendar, where you drop a bot on a time to run it.
- Back in the chat, where the tour ends.
The card shows where you are, like Step 3 of 9. The closing card, back in the chat, has no step number. If something isn't on your screen, that step is skipped. Click Next to move on, Finish on the closing card, or Skip tour.
First-time tips
The first time certain things happen in a chat, like your first approval request, a small tip explains what it is. Click Got it to dismiss it. Each tip only shows once.
Tips and milestones in the corner
For your first week, a small card in the bottom-left corner of the window
shows one Tip a day, for example how to use /plan, quiet hours, or
Branch on a message. When you reach something worth celebrating, the
card says Nice instead:
- your first standing goal in Responsibilities,
- your first routine,
- your tenth conversation,
- your third bot (the card says "A team of three" and suggests a group chat).
Click × to dismiss a card. Each one shows once and never comes back. You never see more than one card at a time. These cards are on Machine Desktop only, not on phones.
Replay the tours
Open Settings → General → Welcome tour:
- Replay welcome tour runs the welcome screens again.
- Replay app tour runs the guided tour again.
The tours are remembered per computer, so if you install Machine Desktop on a new computer, they'll show there too.