Appearance
Change how Machine Desktop looks with skins and mascot styles, and choose whether to show thread lists, tool calls, and how dense the sidebar is.
Open Settings → Appearance.
Skins
A skin is a color theme for the whole app. Each one shows a small live preview. Click one to apply it straight away. It's remembered on this computer.
| Skin | Light or dark | Look |
|---|---|---|
| Midnight | Dark | The original. Cool and dark. The default. |
| Atelier | Light | Daylight on paper, warm and quiet. |
| Foundry | Dark | Night shift. Dark, warm, lit in brass. |
| Lagoon | Light | Cool daylight. Porcelain and deep teal. |
| Graphite | Dark | Quiet charcoal and softened steel blue. |
| Linen | Light | Clean daylight with a restrained navy accent. |
| Dusk | Dark | Muted plum after dark, calm and low-key. |
| Daylight | Light | Midnight in reverse. Near-white, with ink-black bubbles. |
Skins don't follow your computer's light or dark mode: pick the one you like.
Mascots
Mascots sets how every bot is drawn. Each option is shown with your own bots, so you can see what your team will look like.
| Style | Look |
|---|---|
| Classic | Flat, simple mascots. The default. |
| Plush | Soft, toy-like mascots. Each one can hold a prop. |
The style is one choice for all your bots, so a list of bots never mixes the two. Each bot keeps its own color, body, expression, and prop. Change those in the bot's settings under Identity. See Bot settings.
Eyes appears when Plush is chosen:
| Eyes | Look |
|---|---|
| Glossy | Shiny bead eyes. The default. |
| Simple | Plain drawn eyes. |
Mascot style and eyes are remembered on this computer.
Threads
Show threads shows or hides thread lists on this computer.
- On (the default): each bot can have many threads, listed in the sidebar.
- Off: thread lists disappear. Each bot looks like one ongoing conversation. Other active threads still show under the bot and in an Other activity menu in the chat header.
Hiding threads never deletes anything. See Threads and folders.
Tool calls
Show tool calls in chat shows each action a bot takes, like searching or running a command, as a small chip in the conversation. Click a chip to see what went in and what came out.
- On (the default): see exactly what the bot did.
- Off: see only the bot's replies. Cleaner, but you see less of what's going on.
Errors and messages between bots still show when this is off.
Screenshots from This PC appear inside these chips, so keep this on if you use This PC.
Simple mode hides tool calls whatever this switch says.
Sidebar density
Set in the sidebar itself, not in Settings. Click the density button at the top of the sidebar:
| Option | Looks like |
|---|---|
| Comfortable | Roomy rows with more detail. |
| Compact | Tighter rows to fit more bots. |
| Avatars only | Just bot pictures. Hover one for its name and status. |
Collapse to avatars and Expand sidebar switch quickly between the full sidebar and avatars. See The sidebar.
Text size
Use zoom to make everything bigger or smaller: Ctrl + + or − (⌘ on Mac), and Ctrl+0 to reset. See The app window.
Bot avatars
Each bot's picture, shape, colors, and prop are set in its settings under Identity. Whether they're all Classic or Plush is set above, in Mascots. See Bot settings.