The Live view
Watch a bot work on its computer as a desktop with windows, a dock and its mascot. Open it, read each app, replay steps, upload by dropping files, and message the bot.
The Live view shows the bot's computer as a desktop, so you can watch what it's doing instead of reading a list of steps. Every window shows something the bot really did in its latest turn.
The Live view is on Machine Desktop and iPad. On a phone, use the bot's computer instead.
Open it
Any of these:
- Open the bot's computer panel (the monitor icon in the chat header) and click the Live tab. A pulsing dot on the tab means the bot is working right now.
- While the bot is working, click Watch on the work card under your message. The panel opens straight into Live.
- Under a finished reply, click Replay ("Replay: watch the steps it took in Live").
Machine Desktop remembers which tab you last used for each bot.
Make it bigger
Click Full screen at the top of the panel to give the Live view the whole window. Press Esc or click Exit full screen to go back. Full screen also lets you message the bot from inside Live.
What you see
| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| Menu bar (top) | The Machine menu, the app in front, menus, a "Dev is working" or Replay pill, and the time. |
| Windows | One for each app the bot used: File Manager, Browser, Code, Terminal, Apps, and Screen for This PC. |
| Desktop folders (right) | What the bot made this turn, sorted into Documents, Spreadsheets, Images, Media, Web Pages, Code and Other. A badge counts the files; a green dot marks the newest. |
| The mascot | The bot itself. It runs to the window it's using and shows its reply in a bubble when it finishes. |
| Dock (bottom) | Open any app yourself. A dot means the app is open. The icon bounces while the bot uses it. |
| Step rail (under the screen) | Every step of the turn, with Replay. |
If the bot hasn't done anything yet, you'll see "Dev's computer. Open an app from the Dock, or watch them open as Dev works."
The apps
File Manager
Browse the bot's workspace like folders on your own computer.
- Recents lists the files the bot touched this turn, with what it did: Written, Edited, Created, Read, and so on.
- Workspace is the bot's whole workspace. Use as Icons or as List, and Search to find a file.
- Double-click a file to open it. Web pages open in the Browser, code and documents in Code, pictures, PDFs, video and audio in a viewer.
- A zip file opens as a list of what's inside, with each file's size and the total unzipped size. Click a text file in the list to read it, and Back to return to the list. Nothing is unzipped on the bot's computer: ask the bot to unzip it if you want to work with the files.
Browser
Shows the web pages the bot visited and the websites it runs.
- When the bot uses its browser, you see its latest screenshot, with each click and typed word acted out, and a strip listing its browser steps (Open, Click, Type, Screenshot…).
- When the bot searches, you see the results page.
- Type a local address such as
localhost:3000into the address bar to look at a website running on the bot's computer. Copy address copies it. - When the page is an HTML file the bot wrote, a small File / Server switch appears next to the address bar. File (the default) shows the file itself, so it works even after the server has stopped. Server shows the running server, for pages that need it.
Code
An editor showing the file the bot is writing, typing itself in as the bot works. For HTML, Markdown, CSV, spreadsheets, slides and Word files, switch between Preview and Code. Open ↗ opens the real file in the computer panel, where you can download it.
In Preview, Office files look like they do in their own apps:
| File | What you can do |
|---|---|
| Spreadsheets (Excel and CSV) | A grid with lettered columns and numbered rows, zoomed to fit. Click a cell to see its full value in the bar above the grid. Drag, or Shift-click, to select a range; click a row number or column letter for the whole line, or the top-left corner for everything. Use the arrow keys to move (Shift extends the selection), Ctrl+A to select all, and Ctrl+C to copy (⌘ on a Mac). A copied range pastes into Excel or Google Sheets in the same cells. Workbooks with several sheets have sheet tabs at the bottom. |
| Slide decks (PowerPoint) | The current slide, as big as the window allows, with a filmstrip of all slides underneath. Click a slide in the filmstrip to jump to it, or use the arrows on the slide. Click the slide first, then use →, ↓, Page Down or Space for the next slide, ←, ↑ or Page Up for the previous one, and Home or End for the first or last. |
| Word documents | The text as a page, with its headings and bullet points. |
Terminal
The commands the bot ran and their output, like a real terminal. Failed commands show in red.
Apps
Which connected app the bot used, such as Pixio or Gmail, what it asked it to do, and how it went.
Screen
Only when the bot works on This PC. Shows a screenshot of your own screen with a pink pointer where the bot clicked.
Windows
Windows work like on your own computer:
- Drag a window by its title bar, resize it from any edge, and double-click the title bar to make it fill the screen.
- The three buttons at the top left close, minimize and zoom.
- A minimized window waits in the dock. Click it to bring it back.
- A window you close stays closed until the bot uses that app again.
Machine Desktop remembers where you put each window, for each bot.
Replay a turn
The step rail under the screen lists every step of the turn.
- Click Replay to play every step from the start, and Stop to stop.
- Click any step to jump to it, or use the ← and → keys.
- Failed steps are red. Repeated steps fold into one with a count.
Take over and hand back
When you click around the desktop yourself, the Live view stops following the bot so it doesn't pull windows out from under you. A Live pill appears at the bottom right. Click it, or choose Hand back to Dev in the Machine menu, to let the view follow the bot again.
This only changes what you see. The bot keeps working either way.
Poke the mascot
Click the mascot for a little fun. Drag it somewhere and it stays put until its next step. While it's thinking it shows Thinking…, and when it finishes it shows its reply for a few seconds.
Message the bot from Live
In full screen, click the mascot to open Message Dev. Type (or click the microphone to dictate) and press Enter.
The message goes to the thread like any other. If the bot is busy, the box says "sends when this turn ends" and the bot replies Got it — right after this!
Upload files by dropping them
Drag files from your computer onto the Live desktop. You'll see Drop to
upload to Uploads. They go to the workspace's uploads folder, and an
Uploads folder appears on the desktop. Drop onto an open File Manager
folder to upload there instead.
- Each file can be up to 100 MB.
- A strip shows Uploading…, then Uploaded logo.png or what went wrong.
The menus
The menu bar at the top works like a real one. Click a menu to open it. Items that don't apply right now are grayed out.
| Menu | Items |
|---|---|
| Machine (the logo) | About Dev's computer (the mascot explains what you're looking at), Hand back to Dev, and Close All Windows. |
| File | New File Manager Window, Open in Workspace (opens the real file from the Code or Browser window in the computer panel's Computer tab, where you can download it), and Close Window. |
| Edit | Copy File Path (of the file in the Code or Browser window) and Copy Last Command (the last command the bot ran in the Terminal). |
| View | Enter Full Screen / Exit Full Screen for the window in front, and Code or Preview for the file in the Code window. |
| Go | Recents, Workspace, Browser, and Terminal open those windows. Real Screen and Real Browser leave the Live view for the Computer and Browser tabs of the computer panel. |
| Window | Minimize and Bring All to Front, then a list of the open windows, with a check mark on the one in front. Click one to bring it up. |
| Help | What is Dev doing? makes the mascot tell you what it's working on, or what it did last. Hand the computer back does the same as Hand back to Dev. |
The menus show Mac-style shortcuts next to some items (like ⌘N and ⌘W), on Windows too. They're only part of the look: choose the items with the mouse.
Good to know
- The Live view only shows; it never runs anything itself. The real files are on the bot's computer. Use the Computer tab to download them.
- If the computer is asleep, the File Manager says "The computer is asleep. It wakes when Dev works."
- The look is the same for every bot. The names (Browser, File Manager, Code) describe what each window shows on the bot's computer.