# Machine Desktop A desktop app where you give work to AI bots that use real computers to get it done. Start here if you are new. Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop 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](/images/docs/desktop/main-window.webp) ## New here? Start with these - [1. How Machine works](/docs/desktop/get-started/concepts): The ten ideas everything else is built on, in plain words. 5 minutes. - [2. Install Machine Desktop](/docs/desktop/get-started/install): Download and install for Windows or Mac. - [3. Your first 15 minutes](/docs/desktop/get-started/first-steps): Sign in, make a bot, give it a real task, and find what it made. - [4. Write good requests](/docs/desktop/chat/writing-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. - [Get a research report](/docs/desktop/guides/research-report): Have a bot research a topic and hand you a report file. - [Build and publish a website](/docs/desktop/guides/build-a-website): From idea to a live site with its own address. - [Get a briefing every weekday](/docs/desktop/guides/daily-briefing): An automation that runs every morning, even with your computer off. - [Organize files on your PC](/docs/desktop/guides/organize-files-on-your-pc): Let a bot sort, rename, and tidy a folder on your own computer, safely. - [Fill in forms in your browser](/docs/desktop/guides/fill-forms-in-your-browser): Have a bot work in your own Chrome, signed in as you. - [Build a team in a group chat](/docs/desktop/guides/team-in-a-group-chat): Several bots working together on one project. ## 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](/docs/desktop/chat/sending-messages) | | Make helpers for different jobs | [Create a bot](/docs/desktop/bots/create-a-bot) and [Write a bot's Soul](/docs/desktop/bots/soul) | | Have bots work together | [Group chats](/docs/desktop/bots/group-chats) | | Start with a ready-made team | [Bot recipes](/docs/desktop/bots/recipes) | | Give a bot files to work with | [Attachments](/docs/desktop/chat/attachments) | | See and download what a bot made | [Files on the bot's computer](/docs/desktop/cloud-computer/files) | | Let a bot work with files on **your** computer | [This PC](/docs/desktop/this-pc/overview) | | Let a bot use your own Chrome | [Use your own Chrome](/docs/desktop/this-pc/chrome-extension) | | Have a bot do something on a schedule | [Automations](/docs/desktop/automations/overview) | | Put a website online | [Deployments](/docs/desktop/deployments) | | Connect Gmail, GitHub, Notion, and more | [Connected apps](/docs/desktop/integrations/connected-apps) | | Give a bot an API key safely | [Secrets and webhooks](/docs/desktop/integrations/secrets-and-webhooks) | | Talk instead of type | [Voice](/docs/desktop/chat/voice) | | Have a real-time voice call with a bot | [Live calls](/docs/desktop/live) | | Watch a bot work on its computer | [The Live view](/docs/desktop/live/live-view) | | Text, email or phone a bot from your own phone | [Inkbox](/docs/desktop/inkbox) | | Have a bot phone a business for you | [Phone calls](/docs/desktop/inkbox/phone-calls) | | Make images, video, music or voiceovers | [Pixio](/docs/desktop/pixio) | | Choose a smarter or cheaper AI | [Choose a model](/docs/desktop/models/choosing-a-model) | | Control what a bot may do | [Approvals](/docs/desktop/models/approvals) | | See what you've spent | [Usage and billing](/docs/desktop/settings/usage-and-billing) | | Use Machine on your phone | [Mobile apps](/docs/desktop/mobile) | | Fix something that's not working | [Troubleshooting](/docs/desktop/troubleshooting) | ## Everything in this section - [Get started](/docs/desktop/get-started/concepts): Concepts, install, sign-in, the welcome tour, updates, and the app window. - [Bots and teams](/docs/desktop/bots/create-a-bot): Create bots, write their Souls, skills and memory, threads, group chats, the sidebar, recipes, and the Marketplace. - [Chat](/docs/desktop/chat/writing-requests): Writing requests, sending, attachments, voice, message actions, find, share, and export. - [Models and approvals](/docs/desktop/models/choosing-a-model): Choosing a model, your own subscription, reasoning effort, approvals, and questions. - [The bot's computer](/docs/desktop/cloud-computer/overview): What it is, files, website previews, the terminal, and cost. - [This PC](/docs/desktop/this-pc/overview): Bots on your own computer: setup, safety and stopping, Mac permissions, your Chrome, and fast mode. - [Automations](/docs/desktop/automations/overview): Schedule work, create routines, and read run logs. - [Deployments](/docs/desktop/deployments): Put websites online, with custom domains. - [Apps, channels, and secrets](/docs/desktop/integrations/connected-apps): Connected apps, Slack, Inkbox and Glyph channels, secrets, and webhooks. - [Live](/docs/desktop/live): Real-time voice calls with your bots through Glyph, and the Live view of a bot's computer. - [Inkbox](/docs/desktop/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](/docs/desktop/pixio): Images, video, music, voice, and 3D on your own Pixio account. - [Settings](/docs/desktop/settings/general): General, appearance, usage and billing, notifications, and languages. - [Shortcuts](/docs/desktop/shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts): Every keyboard shortcut, the command palette, and the quick switcher. - [Mobile apps](/docs/desktop/mobile): Machine on Android, iPhone, and iPad: chat, Live calls, routines, settings, and sharing. - [Privacy and security](/docs/desktop/privacy-and-security): What runs where, what leaves your computer, and how you stay in control. - [Troubleshooting](/docs/desktop/troubleshooting): When something goes wrong. - [FAQ](/docs/desktop/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.