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Deska documentation

Deska is a desktop app with an infinite, zoomable canvas where your editors, terminals, browsers and AI assistants live together: one space per project, on your own machine.

What is Deska?

Most of the day you are juggling windows: an editor here, a couple of terminals there, a browser with the docs, a chat with an AI assistant in yet another app. Deska puts all of it on a single, infinite canvas: one workspace per project, where every tool floats side by side and stays exactly where you left it.

A project in Deska: an editor, a terminal and a rendered README side by side on the canvas, with the crumb at the top, Spaces and Tools at the sides and the bar at the bottom
One project, one canvas: the code, a terminal and the README open side by side.

Think of it like a design canvas (Figma or Miro), but built for building software. Panels are the building blocks: a terminal, a code editor, a browser, a Git view, or an AI agent. Drag them around, group them, zoom out to see the whole project, zoom in to focus.

Deska is local-first: your files, terminal sessions and layouts stay on your computer. The cloud only comes into play when you choose a feature that needs it: signing in, billing, reaching your computers from the phone or the web, and voice. The assistant itself runs on your own coding agent, not on a managed one.

The big ideas

  • One canvas per project. Open a folder and arrange your tools spatially. Close Deska, come back tomorrow, and the whole layout is restored, including panels, positions and even terminal scrollback.
  • Everything is a panel. Terminals, editors, browsers, Git, file explorers, documents, notes, timers and AI agents are all panels you place on the canvas.
  • AI that sees your screen. Press Cmd/Ctrl+L to ask Dex about what is open, talk to it by voice, or run a coding agent right beside your project.
  • Keyboard-first. Nearly every action has a shortcut, and you can rebind them to taste. One press of Cmd/Ctrl+K finds any command, file or panel.
  • Take it with you. A companion app on the web and your phone lets you reach a terminal, a preview or Dex from anywhere, connected back to the machine where the work lives.

Learn by doing

Four short tutorials walk through Deska the way you will use it, with a real screenshot at every step.

Your first projectOpen a folder, read the window, add panels and find anything.Your first agent taskHand a change to a coding agent, approve it and commit the result.Run tasks in parallelOne worktree per task, and the Inbox to follow them all.Ask Dex about your deskQuestions, voice and actions with the assistant that sees your canvas.

Start here

New to Deska? These are the best places to begin.

QuickstartDownload Deska, open your first folder and get your bearings.Workspaces & the canvasPan, zoom, place panels and switch between projects.Panels overviewEvery panel type and how to open, move and group them.Agents & DexUse AI assistants that understand your workspace.Agent threadsKeep separate conversations and pick up where you left off.Notes & the notebookCapture ideas beside your project without leaving the canvas.Command Palette & searchFind any command, file or panel from one keystroke.Remote accessReach your work from the web or your phone.NotificationsGet told when a long task finishes or an agent needs you.Keyboard shortcutsThe complete, customizable shortcut reference.