> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cortex.foundation/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Bot desktop app

> Sign in to the Cortex Bot desktop app, work its Inbox, Routines and Plugins rail, grant Background computer, and update it.

The **Cortex Bot** desktop app is a window built around agents and nothing else. Its rail is
**Inbox**, **Routines** and **Plugins**, with your **Agents** and **Rooms** listed underneath. It
carries no Chat and no Code sidebar, so for those use the web app or the
[Cortex desktop app](/getting-started/desktop).

This page covers signing in, the rail, working the Inbox, where an agent runs, the **Background
computer** permission, the settings panes, updates and the keyboard shortcuts the app handles.

<Note>
  Cortex does not publish a public download page yet, so there is no installer link here. See
  [Ways to run Cortex](/getting-started/downloads).
</Note>

## Sign in first

Cortex Bot has no guest mode that does anything useful. The sign-in dialog says **Sign in to run
your agents**, with `Agents, routines and rooms follow you across devices. Cortex Bot needs an
account — nothing runs as a guest.`

**Continue with Google** and **Continue with Apple** open your browser, and the window waits.
**Continue with email** sends you a link and becomes **Check your inbox…**. **Single sign-on (SSO)**
is on the same dialog. While it waits the app says **Finish signing in in your browser — this window
updates on its own.** and offers **Cancel**.

Opened without an account, the app shows a banner: `You're viewing Cortex Bot as a guest. Agents,
rooms, routines and plugins need an account — sign in to keep agents running in the cloud.`

## The rail

| Zone         | What is there                                                            |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Wordmark     | **Cortex Bot**, with **New agent** beside it                             |
| Search       | **Search agents and rooms**, with a **⌘K** badge                         |
| **Inbox**    | Approvals, questions and mentions, with a count                          |
| **Routines** | Scheduled and event-driven work, with a count                            |
| **Plugins**  | The tools your agents can use, with a count                              |
| **Agents**   | Your agents. When you have none: **Create your first agent**             |
| **Rooms**    | Rooms you have joined, with **Browse rooms** beside the heading          |
| Footer       | Your name, your plan and how many agents you are using, and **Settings** |

When no rooms exist at all, the section reads **Rooms appear once two agents can talk to each
other.** When some exist but you have joined none, it reads **No rooms joined yet · Browse rooms**.
The title bar carries **Collapse sidebar**.

## Work the Inbox

The Inbox is where an agent comes back to you. Its header shows **Nothing waiting** or a count of
items that need you, and it has three tabs: **Needs you**, **Mentions** and **Done**.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Inbox">
    Select **Inbox** in the rail, or use the command palette action **Open Inbox**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Decide on the Needs you tab">
    Each row offers **Approve**, **Edit first** and **Deny**. Pressing **↵** approves the row you
    are on, and `⌘.` approves the focused approval. Secret values are masked in the row.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Stop being asked, if you want">
    Tick the always-allow box on the row to skip the question next time. You get the toast
    **Approved** with `Future posts here won't ask.` The other toasts are **Denied**, **Answer
    sent** and **Saved to vault**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Decided items move to **Done**, grouped under **Today** and **Done · earlier**, and are kept for 90
days. An empty **Needs you** tab reads **Nothing needs you right now**; an empty **Mentions** tab
reads **No new mentions**. Mention read status is a known gap: the app says so in a tooltip rather
than guessing.

## Where an agent runs

When you create an agent, **Runs on** offers exactly two choices:

| Choice       | What it means                        |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------ |
| **Cloud**    | `Keeps running when this Mac sleeps` |
| **This Mac** | `Uses local files and apps`          |

Afterwards, an agent's details rail shows **Runs on** as a read-only row with the value and a
location, beside **Machine**, **Memory**, **Routines** and **In rooms**. There is no host picker
there.

<Warning>
  No shipped Cortex client offers a **This PC** or **SSH** picker for an agent's computer. If you have
  read otherwise, that guidance is out of date. **This PC** is a Cortex Code runtime in the
  [Cortex desktop app](/getting-started/desktop), not an agent placement.
</Warning>

An agent's computer has one state at a time and the states never stack. **Open desktop inside
Cortex Bot** starts one, **Sleep this session** ends one, and **No desktop session** means nothing
is running. While it starts you see the app's only spinner, **Starting · Loading desktop…**, and
chat stays usable throughout. If the computer is running but the picture is not arriving, the status
reads **Running · Cloud** with **Retry stream**. The rail preview is view-only, a chip says
**Computer running · your desktop is free** while an agent works somewhere that is not your screen,
and an idle computer hibernates after 30 minutes.

## Background computer

**Background computer** is the real "use my own machine" feature: it lets an agent click and type in
windows that are not frontmost on your machine. It is off by default, with
`Off by default — agents do not use this Mac until turned on.`

<Steps>
  <Step title="Turn it on">
    Open **Settings → Privacy & terms → Background computer**. The prompt asks **Let agents work in
    other windows?**; confirm with **Turn on background computer**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Allow each app the first time">
    The first time an agent wants a particular app you are asked
    `Allow {agent} to use {app} in the background?`; confirm with the button naming that app.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Answer the irreversible ones every time">
    Spending money, sending and deleting can never be remembered: you are asked
    `{agent} wants to {action} in {app}` and can only **Allow once**. Granting full control of the
    machine lasts for that session only.
  </Step>
</Steps>

A refused action shows **Not allowed** and a one-off grant shows **Allowed for this action**, each
with a plain reason, such as `Another host prompt is already open`, `You declined` or
`Money, send and delete cannot be remembered`. The audit log keeps the most recent 200 entries.

## Routines, plugins and rooms

**Routines** run an agent on a schedule or an event and post the result to you or to a room. A
routine is made of a **Trigger** and **Instructions**, with **Recent runs** underneath and **Run
log** to open the logs in the transcript.

**Plugins** are the tools your agents work in, grouped into **Installed**, **Verified** and
**Popular with teams like yours**. **Add custom connector** and **Custom MCP server** cover anything
the catalogue does not. Agents only get the plugins you hand them on their profile.

**Rooms** sit in the same rail, with **Browse rooms**, **Create a room**, and, once you pick two
agents, **Add to room**. The window describes them as letting two or more agents work on one thing
while you watch and step in, and a room composer reminds you:
`Mention an agent with @ · ↵ to send · ⇧↵ for a new line`. The controls are drawn, but nothing
behind them is served on this deployment: starting a room reports `This deployment does not host
bot rooms yet. Nothing was started.` **Channels** are the multi-bot surface that works today. See
[Channels](/bot/rooms).

## Settings

| Group      | Panes                                          |
| ---------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| **You**    | **Account**, **Appearance**, **Notifications** |
| **Agents** | **Connectors & vault**                         |
| **Cortex** | **Privacy & terms**, **About**                 |

**Appearance** holds **Theme** (**Light**, **Dark** or **System**), **Window controls**, **Accent**,
**Density**, **Text size**, **Animated icons** and **Show last message in sidebar**. On macOS the
native window buttons are hidden by default and can be turned back on here.

**Privacy & terms** holds Background computer, where agent memory lives, how long conversations are
kept (**30 days**, **90 days**, **1 year** or **Forever**), whether you share anonymous usage (off
by default), and **Your rights · GDPR** with **Export my data** and a type-to-confirm account
deletion.

<Warning>
  The **Notifications** pane is complete, but Cortex Bot does not deliver operating-system
  notifications yet, and it has no tray icon and no dock badge. Treat **Notify me on this Mac**,
  **Sound**, **Quiet hours**, **Daily digest** and **Dock badge** as preferences waiting for
  delivery, and use the **Inbox** as your notification centre.
</Warning>

## Updates

Cortex Bot checks for updates at launch and then every four hours, but it installs nothing behind
your back and nothing on quit.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Check">
    Open **Settings → About** and select **Check for updates**. The status moves through
    **Checking signed release…** to either **You're up to date** or an available version.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Download">
    Select **Download update**. The status reads **Downloading verified update…**, then **Verified
    update ready to install**. Cortex verifies that the release really came from Cortex first; if
    that fails you see **Update check or verification failed**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Install">
    Select **Restart and install** and confirm **Restart to update?** The confirmation warns you:
    `Save your work first. Unsaved drafts will be lost when Cortex Bot restarts.`
  </Step>
</Steps>

Tick **Download updates automatically** to skip the download step in future. **Update channel**
offers **Production** and **Staging**: `Staging is for testing. Production receives only promoted
releases. Channel changes never downgrade the app.` On Linux, updates apply only to the portable
application-image build, and some builds have no update feed at all and say **Signed updates
unavailable in this build**. The same pane carries **Release notes**, **Keyboard shortcuts** and
**Diagnostics**, with **Copy diagnostics** and **Open logs folder**.

## Keyboard shortcuts

| Shortcut               | Action                                  |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `⌘K` / `Ctrl+K`        | Open or close the command palette       |
| `⌘N` / `Ctrl+N`        | New agent                               |
| `⌘⇧R` / `Ctrl+Shift+R` | New routine                             |
| `⌘,` / `Ctrl+,`        | Open Settings                           |
| `⌘\` / `Ctrl+\`        | Toggle the sidebar                      |
| `⌘[` / `Ctrl+[`        | Back                                    |
| `⌘.`                   | Approve the focused approval            |
| `⌘↵`                   | Advance the create-agent flow           |
| `Esc`                  | Close whatever is open, innermost first |

The palette searches agents, rooms, routines and the last 90 days of messages, and carries the
actions **New agent**, **New routine**, **Open Settings**, **Open Inbox** and **Background computer**.

## Related

* [Cortex Bot](/bot) for what a bot is and how to make your first one.
* [Inbox](/bot/inbox) and [Approvals and tool policy](/bot/approvals) for deciding what an agent may do.
* [Computer](/bot/computer) for where an agent's computer runs.
* [Routines](/bot/routines) and [Connected apps and secrets](/bot/plugins).
* [Ways to run Cortex](/getting-started/downloads) for every application and how each updates.