The bot's computer

What this does for you

This page explains what your bots' shared computer is, what a screen shows you, and where the security boundary between your bots actually sits.

Before you start

• You are signed in as a member of the organisation the bot belongs to.
• The bot has been used at least once, so its computer has started — a computer starts the first time a bot needs one.
• To see your own machine's row later in these steps, install the desktop app and sign in from it, then open Settings → Computer.

Steps

1. Open the screen from the bot's details pane. Hover the screen thumbnail and choose Open, or click the thumbnail itself. The screen opens as a full-window overlay above the conversation — the conversation stays visible and dimmed behind it, not hidden.

   <!-- shot: what-it-is-01-phone.png | Opening a bot's screen from its details pane, on a phone --> <!-- shot: what-it-is-01-desktop.png | Opening a bot's screen from its details pane, on a desktop -->

2. Read the two controls in the top-right corner. Teach a task starts a recorded walkthrough; the collapse control (two inward arrows) closes the overlay. There is no Take over button and no connection-status indicator on this view — your pointer and keyboard input pass straight through to the desktop from the moment the overlay opens.

   <!-- shot: what-it-is-02-phone.png | The screen's two controls, on a phone --> <!-- shot: what-it-is-02-desktop.png | The screen's two controls, on a desktop -->

3. Know what a screen is not. A screen is a work surface, not a security boundary. One computer is shared by every bot you own: the same signed-in websites, the same encrypted profile store and the same /workspace folder are all reachable from any of your bots' screens, not scoped to the one you happened to open. This step has no screen of its own — it names a fact about the computer, not a control on it.

4. Check your own machine's permission. Open Settings → Computer. The machine you are using now is marked, and it carries its own execution setting — Ask every time, Always allow or Never allow — for whether a bot may run commands on your device, separately from anything the shared cloud computer does.

   <!-- shot: what-it-is-04-phone.png | Settings → Computer, on a phone --> <!-- shot: what-it-is-04-desktop.png | Settings → Computer, on a desktop -->

Settings has a separate Security Key toggle, under General, for a hardware security key your own browser session uses. It is unrelated to which machines a bot may run commands on, and every use still asks you to approve it.

A worked example

Opening the terminal during a take-over shows the identity a bot's own commands run under:

$ whoami
operator
$ pwd
/workspace

operator is a fixed account name for every bot's shell — not your own user account — and /workspace is the one folder every bot's files, downloads and skills share.

What can go wrong

See also

• The computer's lifecycle and recovery
• The security baseline for members
• Team bots
• Teach a task