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Bots do more than chat. Each one can use a computer: a Linux machine with a desktop, a terminal and a web browser. It is where a bot opens websites, fills in forms, runs commands, and reads and writes files.

Team or private

Switch it in the bot’s settings, under Computer.

The browser

Each bot has its own browser with a profile that persists. Once you sign in to a site on a bot’s browser, it stays signed in for that bot. The computer image ships Chromium by default. A server built with CADENCE_PLUS_COMPUTER_BROWSER=chrome gives bots Google Chrome instead. See Configuration.

What a bot can do on it

The computer comes with common tools installed, including uv for Python, the GitHub CLI, pandoc and pdftotext.

Watch and take over

Open a bot’s computer to see its screen live. Click Take control to use it yourself, for example to sign in to a site or solve something the bot cannot. Click I’m done to hand it back. A bot can also ask you to take over, when it needs a person. The computer shows Needs you. While you have control, the dock under the screen gives you a Shell, a file browser (upload and download files) and an Activity feed of the commands the bot ran.

When it runs

  • A computer starts the first time a bot needs it.
  • It goes to sleep after about 10 minutes idle. Open it to wake it.
  • Its files and browser profile are kept between sessions.
If something goes wrong, use the maintenance actions: Recover computer, Reset computer (restore the last saved workspace) or Update computer (save the workspace and install current software).