# Your first 15 minutes A guided walkthrough for brand-new users. Install the app, make your first bot, give it a real task, find what it made, and learn the controls you will use every day. Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop/get-started/first-steps This walkthrough takes you from nothing to a bot that has done a real job for you. Follow the steps in order. If a word is unfamiliar, [How Machine works](/docs/desktop/get-started/concepts) explains it. You need: - a Windows or Mac computer, - an email address you can check, and - a Machine account. If you don't have one, create it at the Machine web app first. It takes a minute. ### Install Machine Desktop Go to the [download page](/download) and click the download button for your computer. - **Windows:** open the downloaded `.exe` file. It installs by itself and opens Machine Desktop. If Windows shows a blue *"Windows protected your PC"* box, click **More info**, then **Run anyway**. - **Mac:** open the downloaded `.dmg` file and drag **Machine Desktop** into **Applications**. Then open it from Applications. More detail is in [Install and sign in](/docs/desktop/get-started/install). ### Sign in 1. Type your email address and click **Send code**. 2. Check your email for a message from Machine with a 6-digit code. Check your spam folder if you don't see it within a minute. 3. Type the code into **Code from the email** and click **Sign in**. You stay signed in after this, even if you close the app. ### Go through the welcome screens Machine Desktop shows a few welcome screens the first time you open it: 1. **Your name.** Type it in. It is shown in the sidebar. 2. **A short tour** of what bots can do. Click **Continue**. 3. **Microphone.** Click **Enable** if you'd like to talk to your bots later, or **Skip for now**. 4. **Your phone.** Links to the phone app. Skip it for now. 5. **Meet your first bot.** Give it a name, like *Assistant*, pick a color, and write one standing instruction, like *"Explain what you are doing in simple terms."* Click **Start chatting**. After that, a short tour points out the main buttons. Click **Next** to follow it, or **Skip tour**. You can replay it later from **Settings → General**. ### Look around You are now looking at the main screen. It has three parts: - **The sidebar, on the left.** Your bots are listed under **Bots**. Your name and balance are at the bottom, with **Tools** just above. - **The chat, in the middle.** Your conversation with the selected bot. - **The message box, at the bottom.** Where you type. Above the chat is the **chat header**. On the right of it is the **model chip**, which shows which AI model the bot uses, and a **monitor** icon, which opens the bot's computer. You'll use that in a moment. ### Give your bot a real task ![Typing a request into the message box and sending it; the bot starts working](/images/docs/desktop/anim-send.webp) Click in the message box and type a task. Be specific about what you want back. For example: > Research the 5 most popular project management tools for small teams. > Compare their price, best features, and biggest downsides in a table. > Save the table as a file called comparison.md, and give me a one-paragraph > recommendation in the chat. Press **Enter** to send. ### Watch it work ![A bot mid-turn: the Stop button in the header, a running tool chip, and the working label with a timer](/images/docs/desktop/chat-working.webp) The bot gets to work. You'll see: - **A status under its avatar**, like *Searching the web* or *Writing…*, and a timer. The first message in a thread may show *Setting up this bot's computer…* or *Waking its computer…* for a few seconds. - **Small chips** for each action it takes, like *web search* or *write*. Click a chip to see exactly what went in and what came out. - **A blue, pulsing dot** on the bot's avatar in the sidebar while it works. If the bot needs permission to do something, a card appears saying **"… wants to …"** and the message box changes to **Pending approval**. Read what it wants to do and click **Allow once**. (To let it go ahead without asking, see [Approvals](/docs/desktop/models/approvals).) When it finishes, its working notes fold into a **Worked for …** line, the reply appears, and you hear a soft pop. ### Find the file it made The bot saved `comparison.md` on its computer. To see it: 1. Click the **monitor** icon in the chat header. A panel opens on the right. 2. On the **Computer** tab you'll see the files in the bot's workspace. 3. Click **comparison.md** to read it right there. 4. Click **Download** to save a copy to your computer. Files a bot mentions in a reply also appear as chips in the chat, with a **Save a copy** button. ### Ask for changes You don't need to start over to change something. Just reply in the same thread, the way you would with a colleague: > Good. Make the table shorter: only price and best feature. Then add a row > for Notion. The bot remembers everything in this thread, including the file it already made. ### Try stopping it It's worth knowing how to stop a bot before you need to. Send a bigger task, like *"Write a 2,000 word guide to remote work"*, and while it is working click the red **Stop** button in the chat header (or the square in the message box). The bot stops right away. You can also just send the word **stop**. If a bot ever seems frozen, use **Kick** instead. See [A bot is stuck](/docs/desktop/troubleshooting). ### Start a new thread for a new task When you move on to something unrelated, start a fresh thread so the bot doesn't drag the old conversation along. In the sidebar, click the arrow next to your bot's name and then **New thread**. Your earlier thread is still there in the list whenever you want to go back. ## You're set up. What next? Pick whatever is most useful to you: - **Shape your bot.** Click the bot's avatar in the chat header and open **Soul**. Write down how you want it to work: its role, your preferences, what to avoid. See [Bot settings](/docs/desktop/bots/bot-settings). - **Add another bot** for a different job. Press **Ctrl+N** (**⌘N** on Mac) and start from a role like **Researcher** or **Coding partner**. See [Create a bot](/docs/desktop/bots/create-a-bot). - **Add a ready-made team.** Browse [recipes](/recipes) and add a whole team in one click. See [Bot recipes](/docs/desktop/bots/recipes). - **Connect your apps**, like Gmail or Google Calendar, so a bot can work with them. See [Connected apps](/docs/desktop/integrations/connected-apps). - **Schedule a daily job**, like a morning news summary. See [Automations](/docs/desktop/automations/overview). - **Let a bot work on your own files.** See [This PC](/docs/desktop/this-pc/overview). - **Learn to write better requests.** See [Writing good requests](/docs/desktop/chat/writing-requests).