Download
Download the installer for your computer at audimate.ai/download. In the web workspace, the download button on Home starts the installer, then lists the steps to finish setting up. The last step of the setup wizard has the same button. On Windows, openAudimate.msix from your downloads and select Install, then open Audimate
from the Start menu. To remove it, use Settings → Apps → Installed apps.
On a Mac, open the disk image, drag Audimate into Applications, and launch it from there.
Setting up Audimate
The first time you sign in on a computer, Audimate walks you through a short setup. If you are also setting up a new workspace, these steps come first in that same setup. Setting up another workspace later on the same computer shows only the Permissions step, and only while something there is still not allowed. You can continue without granting permissions or installing a browser. Each setting has a page under Arro’s settings afterwards, listed in Permissions settings.
The first time, Home starts Arro’s spoken tutorial.
If a gift for your desktop sign-in reward is waiting, Home opens it first, and the tutorial follows when you close it.
Afterwards, Replay tour in your profile menu starts the optional spoken tour of the
dynamic dock.
On the Permissions step, each row says what Arro uses it for, and Allow raises your
computer’s own question. After you press it, the button becomes Open settings, so a closed
dialog is never a dead end. Pressing Continue with nothing allowed asks whether you are
sure, because Arro then asks for each one as you work.
Arro uses the Audimate folder in your home folder and the default keyboard shortcuts.
Change these later under Arro → File access and Arro → Keybinds.
When a supported browser is installed, setup skips Browser and Arro uses your browser setting, which defaults to Auto.
If none is installed, the step walks you through installing Google Chrome:
1
Download Chrome
Press Download to open Google’s download page in your browser.
2
Install it
Install Chrome from the file you downloaded. The step shows what to do with it.
3
Come back to setup
The step notices Chrome and shows it as chosen.
Permissions settings
Arro → Permissions shows the same rows after setup: which permissions are allowed, what each one is for, and a way to allow it or open the right place in your computer’s settings. Settings in your profile menu shows a count of anything still to allow, and opens this page while one is owed. While something is still not allowed, Home’s Needs you list shows one line saying so, which opens this page. It goes away once everything is allowed. Arro’s home, with Change…, Use the usual place and its own permission, is under Arro → File access; the browser Arro found is under Arro → Browser.Windows permissions
On Windows 11, Windows asks once before Audimate can see your screen or use the microphone. Windows 10 asks only about the microphone. Setup offers each with a reason, and asks only when you press Allow. Anything you skip is asked the first time a feature needs it, with a card in the dynamic dock. Windows asks only once, so after a no the card opens Windows Settings instead.
On Windows 11, Windows draws a yellow border around your screen while an app captures it. To hide
it while Arro looks at your screen, allow Hide the yellow screen border under
Arro → Permissions. Setup does not ask for it.
macOS permissions
macOS keeps screen recording, the microphone, control of your Mac, and folders like Documents and Desktop behind its own permission prompts. Setup offers screen recording, microphone and control access, with a reason. These are asked for only when you press Allow. For screen recording, pressing Allow takes one very small capture of each display, because that is how macOS registers the request; it is thrown away immediately and never shown, stored, or sent anywhere. Anything you skip is asked the first time you use the feature that needs it, never all at once, and never before you have given Arro something to do. Screen recording, the microphone and control of your Mac arrive the same way. A card appears in the dynamic dock explaining what is needed and why, with Allow and Not now. Pressing Allow is what raises macOS’s own dialog. The dock opens for a moment to show the card, so a blocked screen capture or a blocked click never fails silently. Once you allow it, Arro picks up the request that stopped, without you asking again. For control of your Mac, Allow opens System Settings at Accessibility with a small panel under the window. Drag the Audimate icon from the panel into the list, or switch Audimate on if it is already there. The panel shows a tick and closes once macOS agrees. The same panel appears when Audimate opens the screen recording list for you. Files and Folders is offered under Arro → File access only when Arro’s home sits in a folder macOS guards. The usual home does not, so there is nothing to allow for it. A folder other than Arro’s home is asked about the first time a task touches it, with no Audimate card in front of it. macOS asks about a folder once and remembers the answer, so declining stops the task that needed it. Arro says which folder was refused, and you turn it back on in System Settings under Privacy & Security. Notifications comes from macOS directly, the first time Audimate has something to tell you.After you allow screen recording, Audimate restarts
macOS only hands the screen-capture permission to an app when it starts up, so the running copy cannot use a grant you have only now given it. The card changes to Relaunch: press it and Audimate comes straight back, ready to capture. Choosing Later leaves the permission on but unusable until the next time you open the app.If you say no
For the microphone, screen recording and your folders, macOS asks only once, ever: if you decline, Audimate cannot ask again. Accessibility is the exception, because macOS may offer its own dialog again on a later attempt. Either way the route back is the same. The card stays in the dock as Open settings, which opens the right pane in System Settings when you are ready. Audimate never opens System Settings on its own. Turn Audimate on and switch back to the app; it notices on its own. There is no “I’m done” button to press. For screen recording the card then becomes Relaunch rather than disappearing, because macOS only hands that permission to an app as it starts up. One prompt does come back. On macOS 15 and later, macOS periodically re-asks you to confirm that Audimate may keep capturing your screen. That is macOS checking in, not something going wrong, and allowing it keeps screenshots and watch mode working. While macOS’s own dialog is open, the card reads Waiting for permission. If you close that dialog without answering, the card quietly turns into Open settings after a minute so there is still a way through. Not now is different from declining. It puts the ask away for five minutes, during which the feature stays unavailable and nothing re-asks. After that, Arro asks again the next time it needs the permission. Arro’s dock, its icon and the highlights it draws are left out of the screenshots Arro sends to the AI provider. The Audimate window is included by default, so Arro can see what you have open there. To leave it out, turn off Let Arro see the Audimate window under Arro → General. A viewer window showing a picture or track Arro made is always included, so you can point at it. On macOS 13, Arro’s dock, icon and highlights can appear in its screenshots. That version does not offer Let Arro see the Audimate window, so the Audimate window is always included there. On a Mac during a watch mode recording, Arro’s on-screen overlay stays visible as your recording indicator. It can appear in the recorded frames, its replies included, as can any Audimate window you bring to the front while recording. When you are recording something sensitive, close Arro’s panel and keep Audimate’s windows off the display you are capturing.Sign in
The desktop app does not host its own sign-in form. It opens your default browser instead, and the browser hands you back to the app.1
Click Continue in browser
From the Sign in to Audimate screen, click Continue in browser. Your default browser opens the sign-in page.
2
Sign in
Choose email and password, Google, or Microsoft. The browser shows a Sign in complete page.
3
Approve the protocol prompt
The browser asks permission to open Audimate via an
audimate:// link. Click the confirmation button, labelled
Open, Allow, or Launch Application depending on your browser. You land on your dashboard and can close
the browser tab.Moving around
The desktop window has no address bar, so navigation lives in the strip at the top.
The side buttons on a mouse that has them step back and forward too.
Sign out
Use the user menu in the sidebar and click Sign out. Your web session at app.audimate.ai is independent and stays signed in on its own. Signing out settles the work running on this device first, the same way switching workspace does. Background tasks are paused and wait for you in the Tasks view, and task board cards this device is holding go back to the pick-up list.Closing and quitting
Closing the window does not quit Audimate on either platform. The app keeps running so Arro and any background tasks stay active. Quitting is the only way to stop everything; closing the window keeps Arro listening. Windows: a small Audimate icon stays in your system tray.- Reopen the window: click the tray icon, or right-click it and choose Open Audimate.
- Quit fully: right-click the tray icon and choose Quit Audimate.
- Reopen the window: click the Audimate icon in the Dock.
- Quit fully: choose Audimate → Quit Audimate from the menu bar, or press ⌘Q.
Startup and sleep
Arro → App holds the settings for the app itself. It also shows the version you have installed, with a Check for updates button. Run on startup opens Audimate when you sign in to your computer: minimized to the tray on Windows, and with no window shown on a Mac. It is on after you install. Turning it off in your computer’s own startup settings works too, and the switch shows that change. On Windows those settings are Settings → Apps → Startup and Task Manager’s Startup apps. Once you turn Audimate off there, Windows lets you turn it back on only there. Turning the switch on afterwards shows a note asking you to finish in your computer’s settings. A Mac may ask you to allow Audimate under System Settings → General → Login Items before Run on startup takes effect. Keep computer awake stops your computer from sleeping while Audimate is running, so scheduled tasks start on time. It is off until you turn it on, because it uses more battery. Creating a scheduled task offers to turn it on, and so does the Scheduled page while you have an active schedule. Your screen can still turn off, and closing a laptop lid usually still puts it to sleep.Computer use
To have Arro use your open apps, see Computer use. For tasks running in the background, configure the browser, files, and approvals below.Browser control
The agent opens pages, clicks, fills forms, and reads page text. It uses your installed Chrome or Edge in a dedicated Audimate profile, separate from your everyday browsing. It runs without a window, so it never puts browser windows on your desktop while you work. You follow what a task is doing from its card and its run history rather than by watching it. When a task hits something only a person can clear, you can open its page and do that step yourself: see Taking over the browser and Signing in when a task asks. By default the profile stays signed in, so you sign into a site once and the agent reuses that login later. A link that serves a file rather than a page, such as a PDF, is not read in the browser. To turn this off, open Arro → Browser in settings and toggle Browser control. It is on by default, and the setting is saved to your account, so it follows you across devices.Files
The agent reads, writes, and edits documents, builds or transforms spreadsheets (Excel and CSV), and analyzes data files such as JSON and Parquet. It can generate images, including the artwork inside a deck it builds. It saves what it makes to Arro’s home, which is Audimate in your home folder unless you chose another place under Arro → File access, and it asks before touching folders you have not allowed. Everything it produces there is listed in Creations, so you can find a file without remembering which task made it. Changing Arro’s home applies to tasks you start from then on; a task already running keeps using the folder it started in, and nothing is moved. On a Mac, choosing a folder inside Documents, Desktop, Downloads or iCloud Drive is when macOS asks about that folder; a folder elsewhere needs no permission.Agent browser
The rest of Arro → Browser controls which browser the agent drives. These choices are saved per device, not to your account, because they depend on what is installed on each machine.
Auto picks Chrome if it is present, otherwise Edge, and only browsers found on this machine are
listed. With none installed the picker is disabled and the card shows the same install guide as
the setup step.
Incognito runs are always signed out and never reuse saved sign-ins, and the take-over window says
so instead of offering to keep a sign-in.
Taking over the browser
Some steps only a person can do: a “prove you are human” check, a cookie or consent dialog, a code sent to your phone. A task that hits one stops and its card says Needs you, with a Take over button. Choosing it opens the page the task is on, live, in a window you can click and type in. It is the same page the task was working on, so anything it had already filled in is still there. Do the step, then choose Continue: the task picks up from that page and carries on in the background. Add an optional message in the box at the bottom before choosing Continue to give the task more instructions. Choosing Resume on the task card also sends your message while the window is open. The window’s back, forward and refresh buttons work as they do in a browser. Cancel, or closing the window, leaves the task waiting so you can come back to it. You do not have to wait for a task to get stuck. A running task that has opened a browser offers Take over the browser on its card. The handover happens at the task’s next step, so it finishes what it is doing first rather than stopping half way through an action. A finished task has nothing to take over. Its browser closes when the task ends, and the Open button on its card opens the link in your own browser. To get the page back, ask Arro to continue the task and hand it over. The continued task opens the page again before it pauses for you. A task waits thirty minutes for you before it gives up, and that wait keeps restarting for as long as the window is open, so you are not cut off mid-way. The address bar shows the current page. Enter another website address and press Enter, or use Back, Forward, and Refresh. Ctrl+L or ⌘+L selects the address. If a page cannot load, check the address and try again. You can also ask Arro to tell the task what to do instead. A new instruction clears whatever the task was waiting on: a takeover, a Needs you card, a site approval. It carries on with the new message, so you do not have to answer the old question first. A site it was waiting on approval for stays unapproved: it will ask again if it still needs to go there. The window has a Keep me signed in for later tasks option, on by default. With it on, a sign-in you make in the window is kept, so later tasks start signed in on that site. Untick it to keep the sign-in for this task only. In Incognito Mode nothing is kept, and the window says so instead of showing the option.Signing in when a task asks
A login is a step like any other. When a task stops at a sign-in page, its card says Needs you and offers Take over: sign in on the page, then choose Continue. The sign-in is kept for later tasks unless you untick the option in the window, as described in Taking over the browser. You can also sign in ahead of time with Sign in in Arro → Browser, which opens the agent’s shared browser in a window of its own. Use it too for a site that refuses to sign in inside a task’s browser: sign in there, close the window, then run the task again. Tasks you start from then on begin signed in. Chrome may show an unsupported command-line flag warning in this window. You can dismiss the banner and continue signing in. You sign in once, and background tasks then start already signed in on those sites. The button then reads Sign in again, and the card shows when you last opened the window. In incognito mode it reads Open or Reopen instead, since nothing is saved. You cannot sign out or change the browser while a task is running, so a change cannot disrupt a run in progress.Background tasks use their own browser sign-ins. To work in a page you already have open, ask Arro to use
computer control in that window.
Browser unavailable
If a task reports “No compatible browser was configured.”, open Arro → Browser to check these settings:
After fixing the setting or installing a browser, return to the task and ask Arro to retry.
Without browser access, Arro can still fetch plain text from pages.
It cannot sign in, click, fill in forms, or read content that loads as you scroll.
Allowed sites
The Allowed sites list controls which sites the agent’s browser may open without checking with you first. When it tries to visit a site that is not on the list, the action is gated. In Manually approve mode the task pauses and shows a card with three choices.
Nothing an Allow or Deny covers is saved past the task. An Always allow entry covers
subdomains, so
example.com also allows app.example.com. In Automatically approve, the
default, a safety check decides instead of showing the card.
The sites you enter when you set up your workspace seed this list. Add or remove sites any time
under Arro → Browser. While you are in Automatically approve, that page reminds you a site
off the list can still be visited once the safety check clears it, so the list is not a hard
boundary.
An approval covers the site you approved, not wherever it forwards you. If an allowed site
redirects to one that is not on your list, the site it landed on is checked the same way. A
redirect to an address on your own network is refused outright and cannot be approved.
Your allowed sites are saved to your account, so they follow you to every device.
Allowed folders
Arro’s background tasks can also run shell commands and read, write, and edit files. The Allowed folders list controls which folders those commands may touch without checking with you first. Arro works inside Arro’s home (C:\Users\you\Audimate on Windows,
~/Audimate on a Mac, unless you moved it under Arro → File access), and this list adds
folders on top of that.
On a Mac there is a second gate underneath this one: macOS itself guards Documents, Desktop,
Downloads, iCloud Drive, and external or network drives. A folder you add here may still raise a
macOS prompt the first time a task touches it, and both have to say yes. An Allowed folder that
macOS has not granted still cannot be read. See macOS permissions.
A gated folder raises the same three answers as Allowed sites, naming the access
it wants: “Let this task read C:\Users\you\Projects?” (/Users/you/Projects on a Mac). Two
differences apply:
- Allow covers only the access it asked about. A task allowed to read a folder asks again before it changes anything. A task allowed to modify one can read it too.
- Always allow has no read-only version. It covers reading and changing from then on, whichever access the card asked about, and a read card says so.
Projects folder allows everything
inside it. Add or remove folders under Arro → File access, where Add folder opens your
computer’s folder picker. Your allowed folders are saved to your account.
A task that needs a folder outside these, such as saving results to your Desktop, asks for it once
before that work. An allowed folder stays open to that task until it ends. Commands also run inside
your computer’s sandbox, which limits the folders they change and the sites
they reach.
Some locations are always off-limits and cannot be allowed, whatever your settings say:
- System folders.
- Credential stores, including your SSH and cloud keys.
- Password managers and keyrings.
- Browser profiles and mail stores.
.env files, private keys and certificates, .netrc, and
.git-credentials. A task working in a project folder you allowed can read the code and the
config, and will still refuse to open that project’s .env.
Two things a task can still do with those names: read a committed template like .env.example, and
create one that does not exist yet, so setting up a new project works normally. Overwriting a
real one is refused, since that would destroy the credentials in it.
What Arro reads
Arro can look at your files in conversation, without starting a background task. It lists what is in a folder and reads a text file, image, PDF or notebook. It also reads Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OpenDocument files, and works out totals or filters over a data file, by running a short program on your computer inside its sandbox. To change or save a file, or for a job bigger than a few quick reads, Arro starts a background task.
Listing a folder needs no check, since it shows only names, sizes and dates. Protected locations,
like credential stores, cannot be listed or read either way.
The safety check reads your latest messages and Arro’s replies to them, and notes whether you named
the file or Arro listed it for you. A file you point at without naming it, like “read this file”,
can be declined when it looks personal or sensitive, such as a tax return. To have Arro read it,
attach it in Home’s chat or name it.
When Arro starts a background task on a file you attached, or one it read for you, the task reads
that file without asking again. Any other file outside your allowed folders follows your
approval mode, like the task’s other actions.
A background task works differently in Manually approve: when it needs a folder you have not
allowed, it pauses and shows a card. When Arro edits an image from a
file, the file follows the table above.
For work inside an open app, see Computer use.
Arro opens a saved file when you ask. See Opening and selecting for the HTML viewer and its controls.
Finishing a background task does not open its output automatically.
Approval modes
Approvals under Arro → General, the mode picker on the dynamic dock, and the one in Home’s ask bar set how these approvals work. All three change the same setting.
In Automatically approve, an action runs unless the safety check finds it dangerous.
Dangerous means it could delete or overwrite your files, expose passwords or private data, spend
money, or act toward other people. Actions unrelated to your task that look planted by a page or
file are declined too, as is anything the check cannot verify.
A folder a task asks for is judged once, as a whole, and only allowed when your request names it or
plainly needs it. Once the safety check allows it, the task can create, change and delete files in
that folder until the task ends, without another check.
A declined action is not retried, so the task finds another way or stops and tells you what was
blocked. Auto mode never interrupts you, and the task’s history lists what it approved or declined.
Sensitive files are held to a stricter rule. Medical records, passwords, identity documents, tax
returns and bank statements are read only when your task names them or asks for that kind of
record. Ordinary paperwork, such as an invoice or a receipt, is not sensitive.
The safety check considers your task instructions, follow-ups, and the action being judged.
For workflow runs, it also considers the saved playbook the run follows, so you do not need to repeat its steps.
Your corrections take precedence over the playbook. Pages and files read during the task cannot grant permission.
Arro can read and write ordinary files in its home and temporary working area without approval.
Working copies there do not need to be named in your task. Files outside those areas still follow your access settings.
Each check uses a small amount of your workspace’s monthly usage.
Sites and folders already on your allowed lists never need one, the always-off-limits
locations stay off-limits in both modes, and local or private network addresses are never approved
automatically. Switching modes applies to running tasks right away.
Two kinds of run always use the safety check, whichever mode you chose, because nobody is at the
screen to answer a card:
- Scheduled tasks, which run on their own clock.
- Task board cards, picked up whenever a slot frees up. This covers both pick-up list handoffs and Run agent on this task.
When a task reads a file or runs a command, anything that looks like a password, API key, or token is replaced with
[REDACTED] before Arro sees it. Seeing that in a task’s history means the value was withheld on purpose, not lost.Arro
The desktop app includes Arro, your always-ready assistant, on all plans including Free. A small Arro icon follows your pointer. Hold your push-to-talk keys (Left Ctrl + Win by default on Windows, Left Control + Command on a Mac) to talk while you keep working. See Arro for the full walkthrough. Open the user menu and choose Settings. One page holds your account, Arro and workspace settings in three groups. The desktop app opens it on Arro → General, or on Arro → Permissions while something is still to allow. Type in the search box above the list to find a setting by name, and press Enter to open the first match.
Each card drives a real browser, so a higher Cards run at once asks more of the machine. It
works whether or not Arro itself is switched on, since task board cards do not need you to talk to
Arro.
These General settings are saved per device, so each machine can have its own.
Settings update immediately and save automatically in the background.
If a save fails, the setting returns to its saved value and Audimate shows the corresponding error:
- Could not save your Arro settings. Please try again.
- Could not save your app settings. Please try again.
- Could not save your browser settings. Please try again.
- Could not save the background task limit. Please try again.
Switching between desktop and web
You can have the desktop app open at the same time as the web app. Both show you the same workspace, so changes made in one show up in the other after a refresh. Workflows, playbooks, and task boards are all shared.Related
Arro
Talk to Arro, point at things, and set its keybinds.
The dynamic dock
Follow and control background tasks, coaching, and timers.
Computer use
Ask Arro to act in your open apps and control when it stops.