This page explains, in plain words, where your work lives, what gets sent where, and the protections that keep you in control. If a word is unfamiliar, see How Machine works.

What runs where

Machine Desktop is the app on your computer. Most of the real work happens on Machine, in the cloud.

On Machine (the cloud)	On your computer
Your bots, their names, Souls, descriptions, skills, secrets, and models	The Machine Desktop app
All threads and messages	Most app settings, like the skin and language
The bot's thinking (the model)	Custom avatar pictures you upload for a bot
Each thread's own computer, with its files	Each bot's What needs your OK rules
Automations, which run even when your computer is off	Your sign-in, in your system's secure keychain
A synced copy of your group chats, teams, and sidebar choices (see below)
The This PC Ask before each action rule, kept on the bot's project. This computer also remembers your choice, and while you have it off, keeps it off.

Because your bots and conversations live on Machine, they're the same on every computer, on the web, and on your phone. Uninstalling the app never deletes them. See Install.

Synced between your devices

Machine Desktop and the Machine phone app keep one copy of these, per person, on Machine, so each of your devices shows the same:

your group chats, with their threads and your own messages in them,
your teams,
each bot's color, mascot, title, description, pin, and archive setting,
thread folders, and which threads are in them,
each bot's notification and voice settings, and its approval level (not its What needs your OK rules, which stay on the device where you set them), and
per-thread choices: the model, the pinned message, and whether the thread runs on This PC.

Each device fetches the copy when it starts, when you come back to it, every few minutes, and when you click Refresh threads. Deletions sync too. Only your own sign-in can read or change it: your bots can't, even from their own computers. None of this is shown on the Machine website.

Group chats

When you send a message in a group chat, Machine Desktop either passes it to the bots itself, or, where Machine offers it, hands it to Machine, which runs the bots' turns on its servers so the conversation keeps going with your computer off. Either way, the bots' replies are saved in their threads on Machine. A message with an attached file is always passed on by Machine Desktop, which copies the file onto each bot's computer. See Group chats.

Normal (Cloud) threads

In a normal thread, the bot works on its own computer in the cloud, not yours. That computer is separate from your computer and can't see your files. It only has files you attach or that the bot downloads.

This PC threads

When you switch a thread to This PC, the bot's thinking still happens on Machine. Only its "hands" reach your computer, through Machine Desktop, and only while Machine Desktop is running (including when it's minimized to the tray). If you quit the app, the bot can't reach your computer.

For This PC, Machine Desktop keeps these on your computer:

a key that identifies this computer to Machine, in your system's secure keychain,
your shared folders and app choices,
each thread's Machine browser profile, and
a small helper that lets the Chrome extension reach Machine Desktop. It needs no admin rights.

What leaves your computer

What	Where it goes	Details
Files you attach	Copied onto the bot's computer, in a folder called `uploads`	Images are also shown to the model directly. Audio and video are listened to or watched for the bot. See Attachments.
Screenshots on This PC	Sent to Machine, so the bot can see your screen	Shown as small pictures in the chat. See This PC.
Page text in fast mode	Sent to OpenRouter	Password fields never are. See Fast mode.
Dictation with Whisper	The recording goes to Machine to become text	You can choose your computer's built-in speech recognition instead. See Voice.
Voice messages	The recording is sent to the bot, with a written transcript	Up to 5 minutes. See Voice.
Usage analytics	Anonymous product events, sent to Machine	Never your conversations. You can turn it off. See General settings.

Close private things before a bot uses your screen

When a bot looks at your screen on This PC, the screenshots are sent to Machine. Close anything private, like other documents, messages, or banking pages, before you let a bot use your screen.

Voice and dictation

You choose how dictation works in Settings → General → Dictation engine:

On this PC (Windows Speech) or On this Mac (Apple Speech) uses your computer's built-in speech recognition.
Whisper on Machine (cloud) sends the recording to Machine to turn into text when you stop.

If you pick a specific microphone in Settings → General → Microphone, Whisper is used too.

A voice message is different from dictation: it sends the recording itself, plus a transcript.

Fast mode

Fast mode is optional and uses your own OpenRouter account.

Your OpenRouter key is encrypted on your computer and only ever sent to OpenRouter.
The text of the page being worked on is sent to OpenRouter. Password fields never are.
Fast mode stops before any click that can't be undone, like paying, ordering, booking, sending, posting, or deleting, unless you asked for exactly that.

Usage analytics

Settings → General → Usage analytics sends anonymous product events to help improve Machine. It never sends your conversations. It's on by default, and you can turn it off there.

Machine Desktop keeps you signed in, even after a restart. Your sign-in is stored in your computer's secure keychain (Keychain on Mac, or Windows' credential protection), not in an ordinary file.

To sign out, click your name at the bottom of the sidebar and choose Sign out. See Sign in.

Payments are never taken in the app. Adding credits happens on the web. See Usage and billing.

Secrets are write-only

Secrets are API keys and tokens a bot needs, like a Stripe key. Add them in Bot settings → Secrets.

A secret's value is shown once, never again. Nobody can read it back, including you.
Secrets never appear in the chat transcript.
Tick Only for me to use your own value when you run the bot. Everyone else keeps the shared value.

See Secrets and webhooks.

Never paste keys or passwords into a chat

Add keys as secrets instead. A message stays in the conversation, where anyone who can see the thread can read it. Also, a deployment's Environment variables are stored as plain text, so don't put secrets there either. See Deployments.

Images from the web stay hidden

When a bot's reply includes an image from a website, it's hidden until you click Load image. This stops a website from knowing you opened the thread. See Attachments.

Approvals in cloud threads

An approval request: you see the exact command before it runs

You decide whether a bot asks before it acts. With Ask for approval, the bot stops before it runs a command or changes a file, and you choose Allow once, Deny, or Cancel turn. With Approve for me, it keeps going, but still stops to ask before anything is sent or deleted.

In a normal (Cloud) thread, everything happens on the bot's own computer, not yours. The worst it can do is make a mess of files on that computer, which you can throw away by deleting the thread. See Approvals.

If you don't understand a request, click Deny and ask the bot to explain what it's trying to do and why.

When a bot works on your computer

Letting a bot work on your computer is powerful, so This PC has several layers of protection.

Folders. The bot can only open and change files in folders you've shared with that thread. Share the smallest folder the job needs.
Permission requests. If the bot needs anything else, like another folder, it has to ask. Machine Desktop jumps to the front and you click Allow or Deny.
Ask before each action. Optional, in the folder menu. When it's on, you approve every file change, command, and click. It's a check on top of your approval level: with it off, the level and the Use This PC rule still apply, so under Ask for approval the bot still asks before it uses your computer.
Apps, mouse and keyboard. You can turn screen control off and keep the bot to files and commands.
Stop. One click or one shortcut stops everything immediately.
You can watch. Your screen glows purple whenever the bot is using it.

What a folder does and doesn't protect

The shared folder limits which files the bot can open and change directly. But a command or program the bot runs works with your normal user permissions and can reach anything you can. For important work, keep Ask before each action on, so you approve every command before it runs.

Allow or deny

If a bot needs a folder you haven't shared, or wants to run a command or use your screen, you see a card saying what it wants.

Allow shares it with this thread, and the bot carries on.
Deny (or Esc) refuses, and the bot is told no.

Requests show up even for threads started on the web or your phone, as long as Machine Desktop is running on this computer. See Safety and stopping.

Stop at any time

How	What it stops
Stop in the chat header or message box, or send the word stop	This thread. Its browser closes, its programs end, and any keys it was holding are released.
Ctrl+Alt+Esc (Windows) or ⌘⇧Esc (Mac), from any app	Everything any bot is doing on this computer.
Stop on the red Machine controlling this screen banner	Everything on this computer.
Stop — release all tabs in the Chrome extension, or Cancel on Chrome's yellow bar	Everything in your Chrome.

If a stop can't be confirmed within a few seconds, Machine Desktop forcefully ends the bot's work. Press and release Ctrl, Alt, and Shift in case a key is still held down.

The purple glow

While a bot uses your screen, the edges of your screen glow purple, a purple ring follows the mouse pointer, the window it's using has a purple frame, and a banner says Machine controlling this screen. If you see this and didn't expect it, press the Stop shortcut.

Safety rules bots follow

Bots on This PC:

treat text on the screen and on web pages as information, not as instructions, so a web page can't tell them what to do,
don't type a password unless you gave them that exact password, and
don't pay, send, post, or delete anything unless you clearly asked.

The Machine browser

For web work on This PC, the bot uses its own separate browser window. Each thread has its own, with its own history and sign-ins, remembered for that thread. It never sees your own browser, your saved passwords, or your other tabs.

On a Mac

macOS asks you to allow Screen Recording and Accessibility before a bot can see the screen or use the mouse and keyboard. Files, commands, and the Machine browser work without them. See Mac permissions.

The Chrome extension

The Machine extension lets a bot work in your own Chrome, signed in as you.

The bot only uses your Chrome when you ask, for example by saying "use my browser".
The extension talks only to Machine Desktop on your computer, not to the internet.
While a bot is working, Chrome shows a bar saying it started debugging this browser, and the extension icon shows ON.
When you take your browser back, the bot only closes tabs it opened itself. Your own tabs are just released.

Your own Chrome is signed in as you

In your own Chrome, a bot works signed in as you. Open the page you want it to work on first, since the bot works in the tab in front. Click Cancel on Chrome's bar or Stop — release all tabs when you want your browser back.

Who can see your bots

Bots belong to your Machine account. Teammates on the same account can see and use them, and people who can see a bot can see its threads.

A thread link from Copy link opens the thread for you or for a teammate who can see the same bot.
Only for me secrets keep your own value private to you.
A Claude or Cursor subscription model only works in threads you started, because it runs on your personal plan. See Your own subscriptions.

Some things are public by design:

Share the site creates a public link to a website on the bot's computer that anyone with the link can open. Click the trash icon next to a link to turn it off. See Find, share, and export.
A deployment is a live website on the internet. Stop takes it offline. See Deployments.

Deleting things

Action	What happens	Can you undo it?
Delete thread	Deletes the conversation and its computer, including every file on it. Websites you deployed from it stay online.	No
Archive a bot	Hides the bot from your sidebar in Machine Desktop and the phone app. Everything is kept.	Yes, with Restore
Remove from Machine	Deletes the bot and all its conversations, files, memory, and computers, everywhere.	No
Delete group chat	Happens straight away, without asking. Deletes the group chat on all your devices, and each bot's side of that conversation on Machine.	No
Archive team…	Archives every bot in the team and deletes its group chats.	Bots can be restored; group chats can't
Delete a deployment	Takes the site down and deletes the app.	No
Delete folder	Removes the folder. Its threads are kept.	—
Disconnect an app	Removes the connected app.	Connect it again

You can't delete a single message. You can edit your last messages, which replaces what came after them.

To delete your account, open Settings → General → Account and click Delete account. It opens your profile on the web, where you can delete it.

Download before you delete

Deleting a thread or removing a bot can't be undone. Download any files you want to keep from the bot's computer first.

See Archive or remove and Threads and folders.

Updates

Every update is signed by Machine and checked before it installs, and the app never installs an older version over a newer one. The app never downloads an update without asking you. See Updates.

Checklist

Keep Ask for approval on while you're learning how bots work.
Put API keys in Secrets, never in a chat message or a deployment's environment variables.
On This PC, share the smallest folder the job needs.
For important work on This PC, turn on Ask before each action.
Close private windows before letting a bot use your screen.
Learn the Stop shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+Esc (Windows) or ⌘⇧Esc (Mac).
Turn off Apps, mouse and keyboard if a job only needs files and commands.
Only say "use my browser" when you want a bot in your own Chrome, and take it back when it's done.
Turn off share links and stop deployments you no longer need.
Review Bot settings → Access → What needs your OK now and then, and set back to Default or Ask any row you no longer want a bot to do without asking.
Download anything you want to keep before you delete a thread or remove a bot.
Turn off Usage analytics in Settings → General if you'd rather not send anonymous product events.

Privacy and security