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Skydive Desktop puts your agents on your Mac, so they can use the files, apps, and context that only exist on your machine. That is the part a browser tab cannot do. Your agent reads what it needs from your Mac, pushes the work up to its own computer in the cloud, and keeps going from there. You can close the lid and it carries on. Everything else is the same as the web: same agents, same conversations, same memory.
macOS only for now. Windows and Linux are coming. Until then, the Skydive CLI gives you the same agents in a terminal on Linux, and skydive portal gives them access to the machine you are on. See Not on a Mac.

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Install

1

Download the app

Download Skydive Desktop, open the disk image, and drag Skydive into Applications.
2

Sign in once

There is no separate desktop account. Open the app, sign in to Skydive, and your agents and history are already there.
3

Turn on access to this Mac

Local access is off until you say otherwise. See Letting an agent use your Mac.
The app also offers itself when you need it. Ask an agent in web chat for something that lives on your machine and a card appears with a download button.

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What the desktop app adds

Your files and apps

Agents work with what is on your disk and the tools you have installed, not just what you upload.

Keeps running

Closing the window tucks the app into the menu bar. Your Mac stays reachable and work keeps moving.

Native saves

Files an agent produces save through the normal macOS save dialog.

Sign-ins that work

Connecting Google, Slack, and other services opens your real browser, so logins that block embedded windows still work.

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The loop

The point of the app is the handoff between two computers.
  1. Your Mac has the context. A repo you have checked out, a dev server on localhost, a design file, a tool that only runs locally.
  2. The agent reaches it, with your permission. You approve one agent at a time, and you can revoke it whenever you want.
  3. The work moves to the cloud. The agent pushes what it collected up to its own computer, where it has a browser, a shell, and no dependency on your laptop being awake.
  4. You get the result anywhere. Web, Slack, email, or a text, because it is the same conversation on every channel.

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Using the app

The window is web chat, so everything in Web chat applies. This page covers the parts that are only on the Mac.

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The menu bar

Skydive lives in the menu bar. Closing the window does not quit it, and neither does Cmd + Q. Both tuck it away so your Mac stays reachable and agents keep working. The status line tells you where you stand: Skydive starts at login, so your Mac comes online without you opening anything.

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Letting an agent use your Mac

Two switches, and both are yours.
1

Open the machine

Turn on Allow agents to use this computer in the menu bar. Nothing is reachable until you do. This is machine-level: it makes the Mac available, it does not grant anyone anything.
2

Approve one agent

An agent that wants local access asks for it, and a card appears in your chat. Approve it, and that one agent can reach this Mac. Nobody else can.
Revoke an agent whenever you want. Turning the menu bar switch off cuts access for every agent at once. What an agent can actually do once approved, and how to ask for it, is in Reaching your computer.
Screenshots need one extra permission. The first time you turn on access, macOS asks for Screen Recording. Without it, an agent’s screenshots come back blank.

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Continuing from the browser

When you are in web chat and an agent needs something local, it offers to move. A card appears with Open Skydive, the app comes forward, and the same conversation picks up where it left off. Approve the access request there and the agent starts. If the app is not installed, the card offers the download instead.

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Updates

Skydive updates itself. It checks when it launches and every six hours after that, downloads a new version quietly, and applies it the next time the app starts. To check by hand, open the Skydive menu and choose Check for Updates…. If one is ready, it offers to restart and apply it.

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Window and keyboard

Links to other sites open in your normal browser. Skydive’s own pages stay in the app. The window remembers its size and position.

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Troubleshooting

The menu bar says Off. Local access is switched off. Turn on Allow agents to use this computer. An agent says it cannot reach your machine. Check the menu bar status first. If it reads Connected, the agent has no grant yet. Ask it to request access again, or approve the card in chat. Screenshots come back blank. macOS Screen Recording is not granted. Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Screen Recording, and allow Skydive. A sign-in page will not load in the app. Use Reload from the menu bar to return the window to Skydive, then try connecting the service again.

Portal

What an agent can actually do on your machine once you approve it.

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Not on a Mac

Windows and Linux builds are on the way. In the meantime the Skydive CLI covers the same ground from a terminal on Linux or macOS:
That gives you the full chat experience in your terminal. For local access, press ctrl + t in chat to let an agent run commands on the machine you are on, or use skydive portal to open it headlessly. It is the same permission model as the desktop app: default deny, one agent at a time, revocable.