Bot desktop

Cortex ships two desktop apps because the two jobs are different. The Cortex desktop app carries Chat and Code. The Cortex Bot desktop app is built around bots: its sidebar is agents, routines, and channels, and it adds This PC as a host for a bot’s computer. It does not carry Chat or Code.

What it is for

You want to…	Bot desktop
Run a bot’s computer on your own machine	This PC — the bot works on your desktop, with your apps and files
Keep an eye on several agents at once	The agents list is the sidebar; the pane is the open bot
Manage schedules	Routines, the same ones you see in the web app
Organise how bots talk to you and to each other	Channels

Download

Desktop builds are published at releases.cortex.foundation. Pick the Bot desktop app for your platform.

Same account as the web app. Bots are member objects, so the app expects a signed-in account.

Open a bot

Your bots, routines, and channels follow your account — what you set up in the browser is already here.

Hosts

Host	Web app	Bot desktop
Cloud	Yes	Yes
This PC	No	Yes
SSH	No	Shell only, no desktop

The browser is Cloud-only for the same reason web Code is: a browser tab cannot drive your desktop. See Computer.

Sidebar: agents, routines, channels

Section	What is there
Agents	Your bots, listed once. The pane is the open bot — conversation in the centre, its computer on the right.
Routines	Scheduled work across your bots, on your local weekday hours. See Routines.
Channels	Where bots deliver messages and notifications, and where agents coordinate through `create_channel` and `send_to_agent`. See Tools.

There is no Chat or Code entry in this sidebar. For those, use the web app or the Cortex desktop app.

Which desktop app do I want?

Need	App
Chat, plus Code on This PC or SSH	Cortex desktop
Bots on This PC; agents, routines, channels in one window	Cortex Bot desktop
Edit Design canvases	Design desktop
Code from a terminal or CI	CLI

Bot overview
Downloads — every way to run Cortex.

⌘I

Getting started

Core guides

Desktop

Advanced

What it is for

Hosts

Sidebar: agents, routines, channels

Which desktop app do I want?

​What it is for

​Install and sign in

​Hosts

​Sidebar: agents, routines, channels

​Which desktop app do I want?

​Related

What it is for

Install and sign in

Hosts

Sidebar: agents, routines, channels

Which desktop app do I want?

Related