// Guide

Use the desktop app

ArtifactBridge Desktop stays in the menu bar on macOS or the system tray on Windows and Linux. It connects local AI tools, shows work that needs you, manages installed Skills, and starts local agents under your settings.

Install and connect

1. In the browser, open Settings → Install.
2. Download the installer for your platform and follow the installation steps. The page also offers a Homebrew path on macOS.
3. Open ArtifactBridge and complete browser sign-in.
4. Choose the detected coding tools you want to connect.
5. Return to the tool and verify a live ArtifactBridge request in a new conversation.

The desktop app includes the ArtifactBridge connection tooling. You still install and sign in to your chosen AI tool separately. Follow the installation guide for platform-specific download and verification instructions.

Choose the workspace

The desktop sidebar names the active workspace. If you belong to several workspaces, use that name as the workspace picker. Check it before sending work from the browser. An agent conversation may need to restart after a workspace or connection change.

Desktop Inbox

Open the tray icon and choose Inbox. It combines work waiting on you with local agent and maintenance status.

• Approve to send: a pending request to start a local agent. Read it before authorizing the start.
• Waiting on you: questions and decisions. Open the item to act in the browser.
• Rooms: relevant discussion activity and links to the full Room.
• Maintenance: installation, connection, or update work.
• Completed and failed: agent outcomes you may need to inspect.

A local start approval does not accept document edits. Review document proposals in the browser after the agent prepares them. If a feed is stale, the app can retain its last known items; read the status before assuming they are current.

Desktop Skills

Installed shows Skills on this device. Browse hub shows workspace Skills you can install. Choose the destination tool, install or update, and check the result. Removing a local installation does not remove the workspace Skill. See Share Skills.

Settings: General

• Launch at login: starts ArtifactBridge when you sign in to the computer.
• Theme: selects Light or Dark for the desktop app.
• Coding tools: connects or disconnects each detected tool and shows its setup and credential state.
• Sign out: signs this computer out and revokes its tool credentials.
• Quit ArtifactBridge: stops background checks until you open the app again.

Connect or disconnect a coding tool

Turn on a detected tool in Settings → General → Coding tools and wait for its result. Install an undetected tool first. Turning a tool off asks for confirmation and removes the setup ArtifactBridge owns inside that tool. The tool’s own settings remain.

Read the command-line warning beside a detected desktop AI app. A desktop app and a command-line agent are separate installations. Automatic local starts need a supported, available command-line agent and its own valid sign-in.

Settings: Notifications

The main Notifications switch controls desktop alerts. Individual switches cover decisions that need you, failed agents, watched agents that finish, Room summaries and activity, authorization or system blocks, application updates, and Skill updates.

1. Turn on the main switch and the categories you need.
2. Allow ArtifactBridge notifications in the operating system. Use Open System Settings when the app reports a block.
3. Set quiet hours, their schedule, and time zone if needed.
4. Use Send a test notification to check delivery.

Quiet hours hold alerts while items remain in the Inbox. Turning notifications off does not stop the Inbox from refreshing. The operating system can block alerts independently of the app’s preference. Notification history and delivery status help explain whether an alert was sent, held, or blocked.

Settings: Advanced, agent automation

A wake is a request to start or resume a local agent because a conversation needs it. Automatic starts can consume the AI tool’s tokens and use that tool’s local permissions.

• Wake agents automatically: lets eligible requests start without asking you first.
• Hourly limit: limits automatic starts per conversation in an hour.
• Loop guard: pauses after repeated automatic runs without a reply from you.

Keep limits enabled until you understand the workload. With automatic starts off, inspect pending starts in the desktop Inbox. The app shows missing command-line tools and runtime problems near these controls. Agent recruiting in browser Account settings separately controls whether teammates may request your agents.

Settings: Advanced, updates

The ArtifactBridge Desktop row shows the running version, available update, update owner, and last check. Its action can be Check now, Update, Update in Terminal, Repair installation, or Restart now.

Follow the action for your installation. Homebrew, APT, or DNF installations use their package manager. App-managed installations use the supported updater. When offered, Install application updates automatically allows a verified update when no agent work is active.

Keep skills up to date controls scheduled Skill updates separately from application updates. Inspect its last scheduled run if a Skill remains out of date.

Diagnose and remove an installation

Use Run a diagnosis in Advanced settings to inspect the installation and tool connections. If problems are found, the app can offer an AI repair session or an email with a diagnostic report. Read the proposed repair before applying it.

Use Uninstall… in Advanced settings when you want to remove the installation. Review what the removal flow says it will remove and keep. Windows opens the registered native uninstaller. Quit, sign-out, disabling a tool, and uninstalling are separate actions with different effects.