# The welcome tour

What each welcome screen asks, what your first bot learns about you, what the guided tour shows you, the first-week tips, and how to replay the tours.

Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop/get-started/welcome-tour

The first time you open Machine Desktop on a computer, it walks you through a
short setup, then points out the main buttons. It takes about two minutes.

At any point you can:

- click **Back** to change an earlier answer,
- click **Skip tour**, or press **Esc**, to skip the rest.

Everything you set here can be changed later.

## The welcome screens

![The first welcome screen, Welcome to Machine, asking for your name](/images/docs/desktop/welcome-flow.webp)

### Welcome to Machine

Type **Your name** and your email. They're shown at the bottom of the
sidebar, so you can see which account you're using. Click **Continue**, or
**Maybe later** to skip.

You can change these later in **Settings → General → Profile**.
### What your bots can do

A short animation shows what bots can do:

- every chat is a real agent that does work, not just answers,
- bots have hands: they use a computer,
- they can use your connected apps,
- you can put several bots in a group chat,
- and you can schedule them to work on their own.

Click **Continue** when you're ready.
### Permissions

Windows and Mac only. This screen lets you talk to bots by voice, with
[dictation and voice messages](/docs/desktop/chat/voice).

Click **Enable** next to **Microphone & speech**:

- **Mac:** macOS asks whether Machine Desktop can use the microphone and speech
recognition. Click **OK** for both.
- **Windows:** this opens the microphone page in Windows Settings. Make sure
**Microphone access** and **Let desktop apps access your microphone** are
on, then come back.

If you said no before, the button reads **Open Settings** instead, so you can
change your answer.

Not interested in voice? Click **Skip for now**.
### Your phone

Links to the Android and iPhone apps (**Android · Google Play** and
**iPhone and iPad · TestFlight beta**), so you can check on your bots and
answer them from your phone. The links open in your browser. Click
**Continue** or **Skip for now**. See [Mobile apps](/docs/desktop/mobile).
### Meet your teammate

Set up your first bot:

- **Bot name**: something easy to recognize, like *Scout*.
- **Color**: pick one, so you can spot it in the sidebar.
- **One standing instruction**: a rule it should always follow. For
example:
- *"Keep answers short and show your work."*
- *"Explain things simply. I'm not technical."*
- *"Always ask before doing anything that costs money."*

Every field is optional. Click **Continue**. If something goes wrong saving
the bot, click **Finish anyway**. You can set the bot up later.

The standing instruction becomes the start of the bot's
[Soul](/docs/desktop/bots/soul), which you can expand later.
### Getting to know you

![The Getting to know you screen, with questions about you and chips for what to help with first](/images/docs/desktop/welcome-getting-to-know-you.webp)

Your new bot asks a few short questions, so the first thing it does for you
is right. Answer what you like:

| Question | How to answer |
|---|---|
| **What should Scout call you?** | Your name, or a nickname. |
| **What do you do?** | A few words, like *"I run a small bakery"*. |
| **What should it help with first?** | Tap any chips: **Email and inbox**, **Research**, **Calendar and meetings**, **Writing**, **Coding**, **Spreadsheets and data**, **Social media**, **Errands and shopping**. Something else? Type it into **Something else…** and click **+** to add it. |
| **How do you like updates?** | **Short and to the point**, or **The full detail**. |

Click **Continue**, or **Skip for now** to move on without answering.
### What I learned

![The What I learned screen, listing what the bot heard, each with a Forget this button](/images/docs/desktop/welcome-what-i-learned.webp)

The bot says back what it heard, one line at a time, for example *"I'll
call you Alex"* and *"First up: Research"*. Got something wrong? Click the
**×** at the end of the line (**Forget this**) to remove it.

Click **Looks right — let's go**. The lines you kept are saved to the bot's
standing instructions (*"Saved to Scout's instructions. Change it any time
in its profile."*), so it knows them from your very first message. If you
didn't answer anything, the button says **Let's go**, and the bot learns
about you as you chat.

If you picked something to help with first, the chat opens with a message
started for you, like *"Let's start with research. Here's what I need:"*.
Finish the sentence and send it.

If saving fails, click **Finish anyway** and tell the bot in the chat
instead.

## The guided tour

Right after the welcome screens (even if you skipped them), a guided tour
highlights the controls you'll use most, one at a time. It opens each panel
for you as it goes, so you see the real thing:

1. **The message box**, where you talk to the bot.
2. **The model chip**, which picks the AI model.
3. **The Computer button**. When you click **Next**, the tour opens the bot's
   computer panel.
4. **The bot's workspace** inside that panel, where you watch it work.
5. **Tools**, at the bottom of the sidebar. The tour opens the menu next.
6. **Connected apps**, to link the tools you use. The tour opens it.
7. **The connected apps marketplace**, where you sign in to an app once so
   every bot can use it. The tour closes it again.
8. **Automations**. The tour opens it.
9. **The Automations calendar**, where you drop a bot on a time to run it.
10. **Back in the chat**, where the tour ends.

The card shows where you are, like **Step 3 of 9**. The closing card, back in
the chat, has no step number. If something isn't on your screen, that step is
skipped. Click **Next** to move on, **Finish** on the closing card, or **Skip
tour**.

## First-time tips

The first time certain things happen in a chat, like your first [approval
request](/docs/desktop/models/approvals), a small tip explains what it is.
Click **Got it** to dismiss it. Each tip only shows once.

### Tips and milestones in the corner

For your first week, a small card in the bottom-left corner of the window
shows one **Tip** a day, for example how to use `/plan`, quiet hours, or
**Branch** on a message. When you reach something worth celebrating, the
card says **Nice** instead:

- your first standing goal in [Responsibilities](/docs/desktop/bots/responsibilities),
- your first routine,
- your tenth conversation,
- your third bot (the card says *"A team of three"* and suggests a group
  chat).

Click **×** to dismiss a card. Each one shows once and never comes back. You
never see more than one card at a time. These cards are on Machine Desktop
only, not on phones.

## Replay the tours

Open **Settings → General → Welcome tour**:

- **Replay welcome tour** runs the welcome screens again.
- **Replay app tour** runs the guided tour again.

The tours are remembered per computer, so if you install Machine Desktop on a
new computer, they'll show there too.