# The Live view

Watch a bot work on its computer as a desktop with windows, a dock and its mascot. Open it, read each app, replay steps, upload by dropping files, and message the bot.

Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop/live/live-view

The **Live view** shows the bot's computer as a desktop, so you can watch
what it's doing instead of reading a list of steps. Every window shows
something the bot really did in its latest turn.

![The Live view, full screen: Dev's website in the Browser, its mascot with its reply, and the dock](/images/docs/desktop/live-view.webp)

The Live view is on **Machine Desktop** and **iPad**. On a phone, use [the
bot's computer](/docs/desktop/mobile/bots-computer) instead.

## Open it

Any of these:

- Open the bot's computer panel (the **monitor** icon in the chat header) and
  click the **Live** tab. A pulsing dot on the tab means the bot is working
  right now.
- While the bot is working, click **Watch** on the work card under your
  message. The panel opens straight into Live.
- Under a finished reply, click **Replay** (*"Replay: watch the steps it took
  in Live"*).

Machine Desktop remembers which tab you last used for each bot.

### Make it bigger

Click **Full screen** at the top of the panel to give the Live view the whole
window. Press **Esc** or click **Exit full screen** to go back. Full screen
also lets you [message the bot](#message-the-bot-from-live) from inside Live.

## What you see

| Part | What it is |
|---|---|
| **Menu bar** (top) | The Machine menu, the app in front, menus, a "Dev is working" or **Replay** pill, and the time. |
| **Windows** | One for each app the bot used: **File Manager**, **Browser**, **Code**, **Terminal**, **Apps**, and **Screen** for This PC. |
| **Desktop folders** (right) | What the bot made this turn, sorted into **Documents**, **Spreadsheets**, **Images**, **Media**, **Web Pages**, **Code** and **Other**. A badge counts the files; a green dot marks the newest. |
| **The mascot** | The bot itself. It runs to the window it's using and shows its reply in a bubble when it finishes. |
| **Dock** (bottom) | Open any app yourself. A dot means the app is open. The icon bounces while the bot uses it. |
| **Step rail** (under the screen) | Every step of the turn, with **Replay**. |

If the bot hasn't done anything yet, you'll see *"Dev's computer. Open an
app from the Dock, or watch them open as Dev works."*

## The apps

### File Manager

Browse the bot's workspace like folders on your own computer.

![The File Manager in the Live view, showing the workspace](/images/docs/desktop/live-view-files.webp)

- **Recents** lists the files the bot touched this turn, with what it did:
  **Written**, **Edited**, **Created**, **Read**, and so on.
- **Workspace** is the bot's whole workspace. Use **as Icons** or **as List**,
  and **Search** to find a file.
- **Double-click** a file to open it. Web pages open in the Browser, code and
  documents in Code, pictures, PDFs, video and audio in a viewer.
- A **zip** file opens as a list of what's inside, with each file's size and
  the total unzipped size. Click a text file in the list to read it, and
  **Back** to return to the list. Nothing is unzipped on the bot's computer:
  ask the bot to unzip it if you want to work with the files.

### Browser

Shows the web pages the bot visited and the websites it runs.

- When the bot uses its browser, you see its latest screenshot, with each
  click and typed word acted out, and a strip listing its browser steps
  (**Open**, **Click**, **Type**, **Screenshot**…).
- When the bot searches, you see the results page.
- Type a local address such as `localhost:3000` into the address bar to look
  at a website running on the bot's computer. **Copy address** copies it.
- When the page is an HTML file the bot wrote, a small **File** / **Server**
  switch appears next to the address bar. **File** (the default) shows the
  file itself, so it works even after the server has stopped. **Server**
  shows the running server, for pages that need it.

### Code

An editor showing the file the bot is writing, typing itself in as the bot
works. For HTML, Markdown, CSV, spreadsheets, slides and Word files, switch
between **Preview** and **Code**. **Open ↗** opens the real file in the
computer panel, where you can download it.

In **Preview**, Office files look like they do in their own apps:

| File | What you can do |
|---|---|
| **Spreadsheets** (Excel and CSV) | A grid with lettered columns and numbered rows, zoomed to fit. Click a cell to see its full value in the bar above the grid. Drag, or **Shift**-click, to select a range; click a row number or column letter for the whole line, or the top-left corner for everything. Use the arrow keys to move (**Shift** extends the selection), **Ctrl+A** to select all, and **Ctrl+C** to copy (**⌘** on a Mac). A copied range pastes into Excel or Google Sheets in the same cells. Workbooks with several sheets have sheet tabs at the bottom. |
| **Slide decks** (PowerPoint) | The current slide, as big as the window allows, with a filmstrip of all slides underneath. Click a slide in the filmstrip to jump to it, or use the arrows on the slide. Click the slide first, then use **→**, **↓**, **Page Down** or **Space** for the next slide, **←**, **↑** or **Page Up** for the previous one, and **Home** or **End** for the first or last. |
| **Word documents** | The text as a page, with its headings and bullet points. |

### Terminal

The commands the bot ran and their output, like a real terminal. Failed
commands show in red.

### Apps

Which [connected app](/docs/desktop/integrations/connected-apps) the bot
used, such as Pixio or Gmail, what it asked it to do, and how it went.

### Screen

Only when the bot works on [This PC](/docs/desktop/this-pc/overview). Shows
a screenshot of your own screen with a pink pointer where the bot clicked.

## Windows

Windows work like on your own computer:

- **Drag** a window by its title bar, **resize** it from any edge, and
  **double-click** the title bar to make it fill the screen.
- The three buttons at the top left **close**, **minimize** and **zoom**.
- A minimized window waits in the dock. Click it to bring it back.
- A window you close stays closed until the bot uses that app again.

Machine Desktop remembers where you put each window, for each bot.

## Replay a turn

The **step rail** under the screen lists every step of the turn.

- Click **Replay** to play every step from the start, and **Stop** to stop.
- Click any step to jump to it, or use the **←** and **→** keys.
- Failed steps are red. Repeated steps fold into one with a count.

## Take over and hand back

When you click around the desktop yourself, the Live view stops following
the bot so it doesn't pull windows out from under you. A **Live** pill
appears at the bottom right. Click it, or choose **Hand back to Dev** in the
Machine menu, to let the view follow the bot again.

This only changes what you see. The bot keeps working either way.

## Poke the mascot

Click the mascot for a little fun. Drag it somewhere and it stays put until
its next step. While it's thinking it shows **Thinking…**, and when it
finishes it shows its reply for a few seconds.

## Message the bot from Live

In **full screen**, click the mascot to open **Message Dev**. Type (or
click the microphone to dictate) and press **Enter**.

![Messaging the bot from inside the Live view](/images/docs/desktop/live-view-message.webp)

The message goes to the thread like any other. If the bot is busy, the box
says *"sends when this turn ends"* and the bot replies **Got it — right after
this!**

## Upload files by dropping them

Drag files from your computer onto the Live desktop. You'll see **Drop to
upload to Uploads**. They go to the workspace's `uploads` folder, and an
**Uploads** folder appears on the desktop. Drop onto an open File Manager
folder to upload there instead.

- Each file can be up to **100 MB**.
- A strip shows **Uploading…**, then **Uploaded logo.png** or what went wrong.

## The menus

The menu bar at the top works like a real one. Click a menu to open it.
Items that don't apply right now are grayed out.

| Menu | Items |
|---|---|
| **Machine** (the logo) | **About Dev's computer** (the mascot explains what you're looking at), **Hand back to Dev**, and **Close All Windows**. |
| **File** | **New File Manager Window**, **Open in Workspace** (opens the real file from the Code or Browser window in the computer panel's **Computer** tab, where you can download it), and **Close Window**. |
| **Edit** | **Copy File Path** (of the file in the Code or Browser window) and **Copy Last Command** (the last command the bot ran in the Terminal). |
| **View** | **Enter Full Screen** / **Exit Full Screen** for the window in front, and **Code** or **Preview** for the file in the Code window. |
| **Go** | **Recents**, **Workspace**, **Browser**, and **Terminal** open those windows. **Real Screen** and **Real Browser** leave the Live view for the **Computer** and **Browser** tabs of the computer panel. |
| **Window** | **Minimize** and **Bring All to Front**, then a list of the open windows, with a check mark on the one in front. Click one to bring it up. |
| **Help** | **What is Dev doing?** makes the mascot tell you what it's working on, or what it did last. **Hand the computer back** does the same as **Hand back to Dev**. |

The menus show Mac-style shortcuts next to some items (like **⌘N** and
**⌘W**), on Windows too. They're only part of the look: choose the items
with the mouse.

## Good to know

- The Live view only shows; it never runs anything itself. The real files are
  on the bot's computer. Use the [Computer tab](/docs/desktop/cloud-computer/files)
  to download them.
- If the computer is asleep, the File Manager says *"The computer is asleep.
  It wakes when Dev works."*
- The look is the same for every bot. The names (Browser, File Manager, Code)
  describe what each window shows on the bot's computer.