# The sidebar

Everything in the sidebar, what the status dots mean, the Needs you inbox, the bot menu, teams, and how to keep it tidy.

Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop/bots/sidebar

The sidebar, on the left, is how you get around Machine Desktop. It lists your
bots, group chats, and teams, and holds the tools you'll use most.

## From top to bottom

![The sidebar: search, pinned bots, group chats, bots, a team, running computers, Tools, and your balance](/images/docs/desktop/sidebar.webp)

### Top buttons

![Switching the sidebar between Comfortable, Compact, and Avatars only](/images/docs/desktop/anim-sidebar-density.webp)

| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Collapse to avatars** / **Expand sidebar** | Shrinks the sidebar to just bot pictures, or back. |
| **Sidebar density** | **Comfortable**, **Compact**, or **Avatars only**. |
| **Active Threads** | What needs you, then every thread that's working. See [below](#needs-you-and-active-threads). |
| **Refresh threads** | Reloads all bots and threads from Machine, for example to show something you just started on the web. It also fetches group chats and teams from your other devices. |
| **+** | **New Project** (a new bot), **New group chat**, **Recipes**, and **Archived bots** (when you have any). |

The sidebar collapses to avatars by itself while [the bot's
computer](/docs/desktop/cloud-computer/overview) panel is open, to make room.
In avatar mode, hover a bot to see its name, status, and last message. The
bottom of the narrow sidebar has a phone button, **Mobile App**, with links
to get the phone app, and a wrench button that opens **Tools**.

### Search

Type in **Search** to filter the sidebar by bot, thread, folder, or group chat
name. Press **Esc** to clear it.

From two letters on, a **Messages** list also appears under the bots. It
finds thread titles across all your bots, and messages in the conversations
the app has loaded (each bot's current thread, and any thread you've opened).
Click a result to jump straight to that message.

You can also press **Ctrl+K** (**⌘K**) to jump to a bot, group chat, or
message. See [Command palette](/docs/desktop/shortcuts/command-palette).

### Busy bots

When any bot is working, a strip of small mascots appears under the search
box, one for each busy bot, with how many are working. Click a mascot to open
that bot. When nobody is busy, the strip disappears.

### Sections

| Section | What's in it |
|---|---|
| **Pinned** | Bots you've pinned. |
| **Group chats** | Your [group chats](/docs/desktop/bots/group-chats). |
| **Bots** | Bots that aren't in a team. |
| One per **team** | Bots and group chats in that team. |

- Click a section's heading to collapse or expand it. A collapsed section
  still shows small avatars and counts for anything working.
- **Reorder sections:** drag a section by its grip, or click its heading and
  press **Alt+↑** or **Alt+↓** (**⌥↑** / **⌥↓** on Mac).

### Bottom

- **Tools**: hover or click it to open
  [**Today**](/docs/desktop/bots/today),
  [**Responsibilities**](/docs/desktop/bots/responsibilities),
  **Automations**, **Connected apps**, **Deployments**, and **Marketplace**.
  A red dot on Automations means a routine's last run failed. Opening the run
  doesn't clear it: it goes away once that routine runs again without
  failing, or when you delete the routine. In **Simple
  mode** (**Settings → General**), Deployments and Marketplace are hidden.
- **N computers running · billing**: shows when any bot computers are awake.
  See [Cost and sleep](/docs/desktop/cloud-computer/cost-and-sleep).
- **Your name and balance**: click for Settings, updates, help, and sign out.
  See [The app window](/docs/desktop/get-started/app-window).

## A bot's row

Each bot shows:

- its **avatar**, with a **status dot**,
- its **title** above its **name**,
- a pin icon if it's pinned,
- an arrow to show its threads.

### Status dots

![Bots in the sidebar with green, blue, and red status dots](/images/docs/desktop/status-dots.webp)

| Dot | Meaning |
|---|---|
| **Blue, pulsing** | **Working**. |
| **Gray** | **Queued**: your message is lined up and will go once the bot is free. |
| **Red** | **Last run failed**. Open the thread to see why. It clears when you send another message. |
| **Green** | **Ready** for your next message. |

When the sidebar is collapsed to avatars, hover a bot to see the same status
in words.

### The bot menu

![The menu that opens when you right-click a bot in the sidebar](/images/docs/desktop/bot-context-menu.webp)

Right-click a bot, or hover it and click **⋯**. (Keyboard: select it and press
**Shift+F10** or the Menu key.)

| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| **New thread** | Start a new conversation with this bot. |
| **New folder** | Create a [folder](/docs/desktop/bots/threads-and-folders) for its threads. |
| **Show activity** | Opens a small floating window with a live log of what the bot is doing: each command, file, and word, as it happens. Drag it anywhere. |
| **Kick** | Unsticks a bot that seems frozen. See [The bot's computer](/docs/desktop/cloud-computer/overview). |
| **Pin** / **Unpin** | Keep the bot at the top under **Pinned**. |
| **Move to team** | Put it in a team. See [Teams](#teams). |
| **Edit Profile** | Open its [settings](/docs/desktop/bots/bot-settings). |
| **Duplicate** | Make a new bot based on this one. |
| **Copy conversation ID** | Copy the current thread's ID. Support may ask for it. |
| **Archive** | Hide it from the sidebar, on all your devices. |
| **Remove from Machine** | Delete it permanently, everywhere. |

Archive and Remove are very different. See [Archive or remove a
bot](/docs/desktop/bots/archive-and-remove).

**Quick rename:** double-click a bot's name in the sidebar.

## Needs you and Active Threads

Click **Active Threads** (the pulse icon) at the top of the sidebar. The list
that opens has two parts.

![The Active Threads list, with the Needs you inbox at the top](/images/docs/desktop/needs-you-inbox.webp)

### Needs you

At the top, **Needs you** collects what's waiting on you across your bots:

| Group | What's in it | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| **Approvals** | Actions a bot is asking permission for, in the thread you currently have open with that bot. | Click the check mark (**Allow once**) or the crossed circle (**Deny**) to answer right there. Click the row to open the thread instead. |
| **Routines that didn't run** | Routines whose last run **Failed**. | Click one to open its run logs in [Automations](/docs/desktop/automations/manage). |

An approval in one of a bot's other threads isn't listed: it waits in that
thread, so open the thread to answer it. An approval older than a day drops
off the list. A failed routine stays until that routine runs again without
failing, or for up to a week. Opening the run doesn't clear it.

When there's nothing to do, it says *"Nothing needs you. Your bots are on
it."*

### Active Threads

Below that is every thread, across all your bots, that's **working** right
now.

Click a thread to go straight to it. Click **Pin** to keep this list open
under the search box, so you always see what's going on. Click **Unpin** to
put it back.

### The badge

The badge on the button shows a count. When something needs you, the badge
turns orange and counts those items. Otherwise it's your accent color and
counts the active threads.

## Teams

A **team** is a section in the sidebar that groups bots and group chats, like
*Marketing*, *Personal*, or *Client A*. Teams are only for organizing: they
don't change what bots can do. Your teams follow you to Machine Desktop on
your other computers and to the Machine phone app.

### Create a team and add bots

1. Right-click a bot and choose **Move to team**.
2. Type a name under **New team…** and click **Add**.

To add more bots, right-click each and choose **Move to team**, then pick the
team. You can also type a team name when you [create a group
chat](/docs/desktop/bots/group-chats).

To take a bot out of a team, choose **Move to team → Move to General**.

### Change a team

Right-click a team's heading, or click its **⋯**:

| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Rename** | Change the team's name. |
| **Share as a recipe** | Saves the team as a recipe file someone else can add. See [Share your own team](/docs/desktop/bots/recipes#share-your-own-team). |
| **Delete section** | Removes the team section. Its bots and chats move back to the main list. |
| **Archive team…** | Archives every bot in the team and deletes its group chats. Bots can be restored from **Archived bots**. |

**Share as a recipe** and **Archive team…** only appear when the team has
bots or group chats in it. A team with nothing in it shows **Add bots**:
click it to choose bots to move in.

## Keep the sidebar tidy

- **Pin** the bots you use most.
- **Group** the rest into teams.
- **Collapse** sections you don't need right now.
- **Archive** bots you've finished with. See [Archive or
  remove](/docs/desktop/bots/archive-and-remove).
- **Switch density** to **Compact** to fit more.
- **Hide thread lists** in **Settings → Appearance → Threads** for a simple,
  one-conversation-per-bot view.