---
title: Browser and Desktop
description: Use a web browser and a full desktop on the agent's Machine, and work in them alongside the agent.
---

**Browser** is a web browser on the agent's Machine that you and the agent can
both use, and it stays signed in to the sites you sign in to there. **Desktop**
is the Machine's whole screen, where any program with a window appears, so you
can watch the agent use an app or use one yourself. Reach for them when a
[Preview](/docs/previews) isn't enough: a site that needs your sign-in, an address
only the Machine can reach, or an app that isn't a website.

## Open Browser or Desktop

Select **Browser** or **Desktop** in the Session's right sidebar; on a
computer they're under **+** in the tab row. The first time, it shows
**Starting Browser…** or **Starting Desktop…** for a few seconds, then opens.
Click inside Browser and use it as you would on your own computer. To give it
the whole window, select **Full screen Browser** or **Full screen Desktop**;
press <kbd>Esc</kbd> to come back.

Websites in Browser are laid out for the panel, as in a browser window that
size, and text stays sharp. Resize the sidebar or go full screen and the page
reflows to fit. A panel narrower than 500 pixels shows a page 500 pixels wide,
shrunk to fit.

## Use Desktop

Desktop opens view-only, so you can watch without getting in the agent's way.
Its toolbar says whether it's **Live** or **Reconnecting…**.

- **Interact:** hover over Desktop and select **Interact** to use it with your
  mouse and keyboard. On a touch screen, tap it first. **Interact with
  Desktop** in [Search](/docs/search) does the same. Select **Done**, or click
  anywhere else in Polaris, to go back to watching. In full screen, Desktop
  takes your clicks and typing without **Interact**.
- **Desktop size:** **Fit to panel**, the default, shows the whole screen.
  **Actual size** makes text readable; drag or scroll to move around.
  **Device pixels** is sharpest on high-resolution screens.
- **Sound:** Desktop plays the Machine's sound, but starts muted each time you
  open it. Select **Unmute audio**, then use **Desktop volume**. If there's no
  **Unmute audio**, that Machine has no Desktop sound; a new Machine has it.

While Browser or Desktop has your keyboard, your keys go to the Machine and
Polaris shortcuts pause. Click outside it, such as in the composer, to use them
again.

## Float Browser or Desktop

Float keeps Browser or Desktop in a small window above your other apps and
tabs, so you can watch the agent while you work somewhere else. It needs a
Chromium-based browser, such as Chrome or Edge; other browsers don't show
**Float**.

Select **Float Browser** or **Float Desktop** in its toolbar or in the Session
palette. The window shows the same view, and the sidebar says it's in a
floating window.

- **Use it:** click inside Browser as usual. Desktop stays view-only until you
  select **Interact** in the window's header; select **Done** to go back to
  watching.
- **Bring it back:** select **Back to the panel** in the window, or **Bring
  back Browser** or **Bring back Desktop** in the sidebar or the Session
  palette. **Close** closes the window, and the view goes back to its tab in
  the sidebar.
- **One at a time:** floating the other view moves it into the same window.

Moving the view between the sidebar and the window reconnects it for a moment.
The window closes when you leave the Session.

## Choose the right view

- **Preview:** click through the app the agent is running, quickly, beside the
  Session or in a tab of your own browser.
- **Browser:** open any website as the Machine sees it, including your dev
  server and sites you sign in to. In a Preview tab's menu, **Open in
  Browser** moves the page there. You can also [open a Session link in the
  side panel](/previews#open-links-from-the-agent).
- **Desktop:** use or watch a program with a window, such as a browser the
  agent opens to test your app.

Browser and the browsers on Desktop are separate, each with its own sign-ins.

## Sign in once for the agent

Browser keeps cookies and sign-ins on the Machine, so they're still there after
the Machine sleeps and wakes, though a site can still ask you to sign in again.
Sign in to a site in Browser yourself, and the agent can work there in the same
browser without your password. When Browser starts again, it opens the last
website it showed.

To keep agents out of Browser on all your Machines, turn off **Agents can use
Browser** in **Settings → General**. Turn it back on to let them use it again.

Browser plays websites' sound in your browser tab. Use **Mute audio** or the
**Browser volume** slider in its toolbar; they change only what you hear.

## Watch the agent and take over

When the agent uses a website, it works in Browser, so you see the pages it
opens. While it acts, Browser shows **Agent is browsing** under its toolbar and
a labeled pointer where it clicks. A tab the agent opens shows in Browser right
away. Your own clicks always go through at once.

To use Browser without the agent acting at the same time, for example to sign
in or fill in a form, select **Take control** next to **Agent is browsing**.
Browser then says **You have control**. The agent can still see the pages, but
it can't click, type or open pages until you select **Hand back**. If it tries,
Browser says **The agent is waiting to use Browser**. Closing Browser doesn't
hand control back. **Take control of Browser** and **Hand back Browser** in the
Session palette do the same. If there's no **Take control**, that Machine can't
hand you control; a new Machine can.

When the agent runs a program with a window, it appears on the Desktop, and
the agent can use it there: it reads the app's windows, clicks and types. Open
**Desktop** to watch it work. The agent's own pointer shows where it acts, and
yours stays where you left it. Some Machines can't let the agent use Desktop
apps; a new Machine can. You and the agent share the same screen, and nothing
locks either of you out, so if you both type at once, the app gets both. Take over when the agent asks
you to, for example to sign in or solve a CAPTCHA. To take over sooner,
[stop the agent](/docs/talk-to-the-agent#stop-the-agent) first. Apps on the Desktop
can close when the Machine sleeps, so save your work in them before you leave.

To paste text from your computer, click inside Browser, or in Desktop after
**Interact**, where the text should go, and press
<kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>V</kbd>, on a Mac too. Allow clipboard access if your
browser asks. Only text pastes. Browser copies text only into the Machine; to
bring text from Desktop to your computer, see below.

## Copy from Desktop to your computer

1. Select **Interact** on Desktop, or open it full screen.
2. Copy text in a Desktop app, for example with <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>C</kbd>.
3. **Copied on the Desktop** appears over Desktop with the text you copied.
   Select **Copy to your computer**.

Only the text shown there is copied, and only when you select it. Characters
you couldn't otherwise see or tell apart, such as a line break at the end,
invisible Unicode characters, or a Cyrillic letter in a Latin word, are marked
in the text so you can check them first. The agent's copies never reach your
clipboard on their own, and text you copy while only watching isn't offered.
Text longer than about 256 KB is too long to copy this way. Some Machines can't
copy to your computer: if **Copied on the Desktop** never appears, save the text
to a file on the Machine and open it from **Files** instead.

## If it doesn't work

- **Browser is still starting** or **Desktop is still starting:** select
  **Check again**.
- **Browser didn't start** or **Desktop didn't start:** select **Try again**.
- **Reconnect Browser**, or **Desktop disconnected** with **Reconnect**: the
  connection dropped. Select it to connect again.
- **Machine is asleep:** select **Wake machine**.