# Appearance

Change how Machine Desktop looks with skins and mascot styles, and choose whether to show thread lists, tool calls, and how dense the sidebar is.

Canonical page: https://themachine.myapps.ai/docs/desktop/settings/appearance

Open **Settings → Appearance**.

## Skins

![The skin picker with eight skins](/images/docs/desktop/skins.webp)

A skin is a color theme for the whole app. Each one shows a small live
preview. Click one to apply it straight away. It's remembered on this
computer.

| Skin | Light or dark | Look |
|---|---|---|
| **Midnight** | Dark | The original. Cool and dark. The default. |
| **Atelier** | Light | Daylight on paper, warm and quiet. |
| **Foundry** | Dark | Night shift. Dark, warm, lit in brass. |
| **Lagoon** | Light | Cool daylight. Porcelain and deep teal. |
| **Graphite** | Dark | Quiet charcoal and softened steel blue. |
| **Linen** | Light | Clean daylight with a restrained navy accent. |
| **Dusk** | Dark | Muted plum after dark, calm and low-key. |
| **Daylight** | Light | Midnight in reverse. Near-white, with ink-black bubbles. |

Skins don't follow your computer's light or dark mode: pick the one you like.

## Mascots

![The Mascots card: Classic and Plush, drawn with your own bots, and the Eyes choice](/images/docs/desktop/appearance-mascots.webp)

**Mascots** sets how every bot is drawn. Each option is shown with your own
bots, so you can see what your team will look like.

| Style | Look |
|---|---|
| **Classic** | Flat, simple mascots. The default. |
| **Plush** | Soft, toy-like mascots. Each one can hold a prop. |

The style is one choice for all your bots, so a list of bots never mixes the
two. Each bot keeps its own color, body, expression, and prop. Change those in
the bot's settings under **Identity**. See [Bot
settings](/docs/desktop/bots/bot-settings#avatar).

**Eyes** appears when **Plush** is chosen:

| Eyes | Look |
|---|---|
| **Glossy** | Shiny bead eyes. The default. |
| **Simple** | Plain drawn eyes. |

Mascot style and eyes are remembered on this computer.

## Threads

![Switching skins re-themes the whole app](/images/docs/desktop/anim-skins.webp)

**Show threads** shows or hides thread lists on this computer.

- **On** (the default): each bot can have many threads, listed in the
  sidebar.
- **Off**: thread lists disappear. Each bot looks like one ongoing
  conversation. Other active threads still show under the bot and in an
  **Other activity** menu in the chat header.

Hiding threads never deletes anything. See [Threads and
folders](/docs/desktop/bots/threads-and-folders).

## Tool calls

**Show tool calls in chat** shows each action a bot takes, like searching or
running a command, as a small chip in the conversation. Click a chip to see
what went in and what came out.

- **On** (the default): see exactly what the bot did.
- **Off**: see only the bot's replies. Cleaner, but you see less of what's
  going on.

Errors and messages between bots still show when this is off.

Screenshots from [This PC](/docs/desktop/this-pc/overview) appear inside
these chips, so keep this on if you use This PC.

[Simple mode](/docs/desktop/settings/general#simple-mode) hides tool calls
whatever this switch says.

## Sidebar density

Set in the sidebar itself, not in Settings. Click the density button at the
top of the sidebar:

| Option | Looks like |
|---|---|
| **Comfortable** | Roomy rows with more detail. |
| **Compact** | Tighter rows to fit more bots. |
| **Avatars only** | Just bot pictures. Hover one for its name and status. |

**Collapse to avatars** and **Expand sidebar** switch quickly between the
full sidebar and avatars. See [The sidebar](/docs/desktop/bots/sidebar).

## Text size

Use zoom to make everything bigger or smaller: **Ctrl** + **+** or **−**
(**⌘** on Mac), and **Ctrl+0** to reset. See [The app
window](/docs/desktop/get-started/app-window).

## Bot avatars

Each bot's picture, shape, colors, and prop are set in its settings under
**Identity**. Whether they're all **Classic** or **Plush** is set above, in
[Mascots](#mascots). See [Bot settings](/docs/desktop/bots/bot-settings).