Question 1

What is an agentic development environment?

Accepted Answer

It is the workspace that grew up around coding agents. An editor is built for one person editing one file; an agentic development environment is built for delegated work, so it adds a board of tasks, a plan you approve before anything runs, isolation so two agents never edit the same tree, the agent runtime itself, and a review step that ends in a commit or a pull request. Deska is all of that on an infinite canvas: switch on worktree isolation for a task and it gets its own branch, its own checkout and its own place on screen, instead of another row in a list.

Question 2

Do I need to know how to code?

Accepted Answer

No. Deska is one workspace for anything you do with AI. If you write code, every tool you need is here. If you do not, you can still keep your AI agents, notes, and browser together in one place.

Question 3

Is it free?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Free includes the complete desktop workspace on one linked computer, your own coding agent, five Dex turns a day, and 10 dictation minutes a month. The phone and browser can show and wake your computer; opening it remotely and push notifications require Pro or Cloud. Eligible accounts can try Pro or Cloud free for 3 days.

Question 4

What does it cost if I need more?

Accepted Answer

Deska Pro is $9 a month, or $79 a year: it opens your computers from your phone and your browser, and links every computer you own. Deska Cloud is $29 a month, or $278 a year, and adds a dedicated computer of ours. Both start with a 3 day free trial, card up front and $0.00 charged today.

Question 5

What is metered?

Accepted Answer

Dictation and spoken replies share a monthly allowance: 10 minutes on Free, 500 on Pro and Cloud. Free also includes five Dex turns a day; Pro and Cloud include unlimited Dex turns. Coding agents run on your own machine under your own CLI login, so nothing you do with them is billed by us. The allowance resets monthly and does not roll over.

Question 6

What is a Dex turn?

Accepted Answer

One message you send Dex, typed or spoken. Everything he does to answer it is that one turn, whether he opens a panel or starts three coding agents and checks on them. A reminder or follow-up Dex runs on his own does not count, a message that fails before he answers does not count, and what you say to a coding agent in its own task never counts. The free plan gets five a day on each computer, back at midnight; Pro and Cloud have no count.

Question 7

Can my agents keep working when my computer is off?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on Deska Cloud. It gives you a dedicated computer of ours, $29 a month, that arrives with Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, and Antigravity and the GitHub CLI already installed and signed in from your phone. It runs your tasks while your own machine is closed, it shows up beside your own computers, and it sleeps when nothing is running. Everything else in Deska keeps running on your machines, exactly as before.

Question 8

Which AI agents does it work with?

Accepted Answer

All of them, in one of two ways. Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, Antigravity, Pi, Hermes, Mistral Vibe, and Kimi Code run as supervised tasks: a rendered transcript, the Inbox, permission requests as buttons ( never asks) and a model picker ( lists no models yet). Every other agent CLI runs in a Deska terminal in the same project, including Gemini CLI, Aider, and Muse Code, which Deska recognizes by name, and others like Goose, Amp, Copilot CLI, Crush, and Qwen Code. Either way it runs on your machine under your own sign in, and Deska tells you when it is working, when it wants you and when it is done.

Question 9

How is this different from Cursor, or from running an agent in a terminal?

Accepted Answer

An editor gives one agent a sidebar next to the file you have open. A terminal gives you one agent per window, and none of them know what the others are doing. Deska keeps the editor and the terminals and adds the layer above them: tasks, isolated checkouts, approvals, diffs and the agents themselves, arranged on one canvas so five of them in flight are five things you can see rather than five tabs you cycle through.

Question 10

Where do my files and data live?

Accepted Answer

On your own computer. Your repository, terminal sessions, layouts and notes are written to your disk, there is no automatic cloud sync, and nothing is uploaded behind your back.

Question 11

What does it run on?

Accepted Answer

Desktop on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows 11 and 10 on x64, and Linux as an AppImage or a .deb on Debian and Ubuntu. From a phone, the companion runs in any browser at app.deska.dev, with iOS and Android apps coming. One account, the same workspace on all of them.

Question 12

Do you train models on my code?

Accepted Answer

No. Deska does not use your prompts, audio, workspace files or AI output to train models. Coding agents use their configured providers. Managed voice passes through our infrastructure to speech providers; remote sessions cross our TLS relay, and optional Cloud computers run on infrastructure we operate.

Question 13

Does it work offline?

Accepted Answer

The workspace does. Panels, terminals, the editor and git all run without a connection, because they run on your machine. Only the managed AI features and reaching your desk remotely need the network.

Question 14

What happens if I run out of voice minutes?

Accepted Answer

Dictation and spoken replies pause until the allowance resets at the start of the next month, or until you upgrade. Everything else keeps working exactly as before, including your coding agents, because they never drew on it.

Question 15

My agent is not on that list. What do I lose?

Accepted Answer

The task layer, not the agent. In a Deska terminal your CLI runs exactly as it does in your own shell, in your project, on any computer you linked, and Deska still reads the screen: it shows whether the agent is working, waiting on you or finished, it notifies the desk and your phone, and you can open that terminal from the phone and answer it. What stays with the agents that run as tasks is the rendered transcript, permission requests as buttons, the model and account pickers, and tasks with a git worktree each in the Inbox.

Question 16

Can I cancel?

Accepted Answer

Any time, from the billing portal on your account page. Cancel during a free trial and you pay nothing at all. Otherwise cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you already paid for, and fees are non-refundable except where the law says otherwise. Write to us from the contact page with billing questions.

Question 17

Does this replace my editor?

Accepted Answer

Only if you want it to. The editor is Monaco with a git-aware file tree, and the terminals are real shells with your own config, so plenty of work happens entirely inside Deska. Others keep their editor open and use Deska for the agents, terminals and browser around it.

Question 18

Do panels keep running when I switch workspace?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Terminals hold their session and a Pomodoro keeps counting while you are somewhere else. Each workspace restores its own layout when you come back to it.

Question 19

How do I keep a big layout navigable?

Accepted Answer

Group related panels into a labelled region with Cmd/Ctrl + G, use the minimap in the bottom-right cluster, and jump anywhere by name from the command palette.

Question 20

Can I split panels instead of floating them?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Drag a tab onto a split divider to split the node, onto the centre to merge it into a stack, or out of the frame to pop it into its own floating node or window.

Question 21

Does the terminal use my own shell setup?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Panels open a real shell through a native pty, so your prompt, aliases, environment and dotfiles load exactly the way they do in any other terminal.

Question 22

Can I have more than one project open?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Each workspace holds its own project, layout and colour, and you switch between them without closing anything. The workspace overview shows every board at once, filtered by what is active or has agents running.

Question 23

What happens to my layout when I quit?

Accepted Answer

It is written to your own disk against that project: panel positions, open files, regions, spaces and which panels were running. Reopen the project and it comes back the way you left it.

Question 24

Do I need an account to use the canvas?

Accepted Answer

No. The workspace runs on your machine without signing in. An account only matters for the managed AI features, billing, and reaching your desk from your phone.

Question 25

Can I use Deska without an account?

Accepted Answer

The workspace runs on your machine without one. An account is only needed for managed AI, billing, installing community panels, and reaching your desk from the phone.

Question 26

What exactly is sent when I use voice or Dex?

Accepted Answer

Managed dictation sends audio for transcription and spoken replies send text to speech providers. Dex uses the agent or provider configured on the computer running the turn; its context and tool results can contain project information and code. Cloud accounts also have an account-free hosted model as the last Dex fallback. Remote sessions cross our TLS relay, which is not yet end-to-end sealed.

Question 27

Does Deska keep a copy of my code?

Accepted Answer

There is no automatic workspace sync from your own computer. If you clone or upload a project to Deska Cloud, it lives on infrastructure we operate and can access. Coding providers may receive code as part of your requests; remote clients receive the files and output you open.

Question 28

Deska Cloud runs a computer for me. Is that still local-first?

Accepted Answer

Yes, because nothing about your own machines changed: your files, layouts and notes are written to your disk, and there is still no workspace sync. A Deska Cloud machine is one you asked for and can cancel, whatever you put on it is what is on it, and if you never subscribe none of it touches you.

Question 29

Can I turn telemetry off?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Crash reports and anonymous usage data each have a toggle in Settings, Privacy. Crash reports are scrubbed of home-directory paths and common secrets first, and usage data never includes file paths or project names.

Question 30

Do you train models on my code?

Accepted Answer

No. Deska does not use your prompts, audio, workspace files or AI output to train models.

Question 31

Who processes a managed AI request?

Accepted Answer

Deska provides managed dictation and spoken replies through speech providers. Coding and Dex normally use your own agent login on the computer running them, and those requests go to the agent’s provider without our inference proxy. Cloud includes a last-resort hosted Dex model. Account services, the remote relay and push delivery still run through us.

Question 32

Where is my sign-in kept?

Accepted Answer

Your Deska session and this computer’s device key stay on your machine, in the operating system secure storage when it is available. On some Linux setups without it, the desktop falls back to base64 encoding, which is not encryption, so treat that machine accordingly.

Question 33

Does the app phone home when I am not using AI?

Accepted Answer

It checks for updates, and it sends crash reports or anonymous usage events while those toggles are on. Nothing about your project, your files or your terminals is part of that.

Question 34

Can I delete my data?

Accepted Answer

The local half is yours already: it lives in your file system, so deleting the folder deletes it. For account data, the privacy policy sets out your rights and how to ask.

Question 35

Do I need an API key to start?

Accepted Answer

No. Coding agents run on the CLI you already installed, under your own login, on every plan including free. Dictation and spoken replies run on our keys, so Deska never asks you for one.

Question 36

Do I have to use the terminal?

Accepted Answer

No, and you do not have to give it up either. The supported coding CLIs run both ways: as a panel, where you get the agent’s own TUI in a real shell, or as a task, where it comes back as a thread with its tool calls, diffs and plan steps rendered and its permission prompts answerable in one click. The terminal path keeps every flag and keybinding the CLI has; the thread path is the one your phone can answer.

Question 37

Can I run several agents at once?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and they do not have to be the same one. Claude Code can be fixing a test while Codex reviews the diff and OpenCode waits in the queue, each on its own git worktree so they never edit the same file. They can also be the same one: add a second Claude Code with its own account and both run at once. Deska marks the one that has stopped to ask you something.

Question 38

Which agent should I pick?

Accepted Answer

Whichever you already pay for. Deska does not resell them: each CLI keeps its own sign-in, its own models and its own permission prompts. The workspace is what they have in common.

Question 39

What happens to a run if I quit the app?

Accepted Answer

The terminal process ends with the app, but the conversation is not lost. Reopen the project and Deska resumes the agent session where it left off.

Question 40

Where do the agents actually run?

Accepted Answer

On your machine, in a real terminal, with your project as the working directory. Deska does not copy your repository anywhere to run them.

Question 41

Do they ask before changing files?

Accepted Answer

Each CLI keeps its own permission prompts and Deska surfaces them in the panel, marking the agent that is waiting. Whether an agent opened in a terminal skips them is one switch per agent in Settings.

Question 42

Can Dex answer an agent for me?

Accepted Answer

It can clear the routine approvals and pass along your reply, so a long run does not stall on a yes or no while you are away from the desk.

Question 43

Which models do I get?

Accepted Answer

Whatever your own provider account allows. Deska drives the CLI you already pay for, so the models are the ones your own plan with that agent gives you.

Question 44

Does using an agent cost me twice?

Accepted Answer

No. A CLI you already pay for signs in on its own account and never touches your Deska allowance. Dictation has a monthly minute allowance; Free also has five Dex turns a day.

Question 45

What is the difference between a task and a terminal?

Accepted Answer

A terminal shows the agent's own CLI screen. A task runs the same CLI as a structured session, so its steps, diffs and plans render as rows and cards, approvals are buttons, the Inbox keeps track of it and your phone can answer it. You can use both, on every plan.

Question 46

Can I write to it while it is working?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Enter queues your message as the next turn, and the queue shows above the composer as Up next, where you can reorder, edit or send a message now. Steer now sends it into the running turn instead.

Question 47

How do I stop a task?

Accepted Answer

Click Stop above the composer, or hold Esc until the ring on that button fills. A quick tap does nothing on purpose, so a reflex never kills a turn. With Claude Code and Codex, Stop also reaches their background subagents. On macOS and Linux, that includes independently launched workers detected for the conversation.

Question 48

Which files can I attach?

Accepted Answer

Any type. On the computer you are using, a file you drop or pick is read where it is, at any size, and nothing is copied. Pasted files can be up to 10 MB. A task on another computer receives copies, up to 1.5 MB per file and 5 MB per message. HEIC and TIFF pictures are converted to PNG on your computer.

Question 49

What does Plan mode do?

Accepted Answer

Shift + Tab arms the next turn as planning. The agent researches the code without editing anything and comes back with a Proposed plan card: Implement, Refine, Implement in new worktree thread or Dismiss.

Question 50

Does a task survive quitting Deska?

Accepted Answer

The conversation does. Deska keeps a resume point for every session, so the next message reopens the same conversation with its context. A turn that was running when the app closed is reported as failed rather than run again behind your back.

Question 51

Can I copy an answer out of a task?

Accepted Answer

Every finished turn ends with Copy, which takes everything the agent wrote in that turn, in order and as markdown, without the tool log. It is on the desktop app for now.

Question 52

Which commands can I use?

Accepted Answer

The / button lists the agent's own commands and the skills installed in your project, before a task has ever run there. Deska runs /goal, /review, /compact and /init for Codex itself.

Question 53

Do I need to know how git worktrees work?

Accepted Answer

No. Pick New worktree under the prompt and Deska cuts the branch, prepares the folder and starts the agent in it. Underneath it is plain git, so git worktree list and git branch show exactly what Deska made.

Question 54

Will copies of my project pile up in its folder?

Accepted Answer

No. A task's checkout lives in Deska's own data folder, outside your project. A worktree you cut by hand goes under ~/deska/workspaces//, where a terminal can always reach it.

Question 55

Can a task work on the branch I am on?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Pick your checkout, named by its branch, on the same chip, and the changes land straight in your files. That suits one task at a time: two tasks in one checkout can edit the same file.

Question 56

Can I run a task on someone's pull request?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Check out a pull request… on that chip lists the repository's open pull requests through the GitHub CLI, gh. A pull request always runs in a checkout of its own.

Question 57

What if something moves the branch inside a task's worktree?

Accepted Answer

The task notices. If a git checkout or reset runs in its worktree, it records a warning naming both branches and shows a banner with a way back. It never refuses the turn, in case you meant it.

Question 58

What happens to the branch when I remove a worktree?

Accepted Answer

The folder always goes. The branch goes only when nothing on it would be lost: every commit also exists on another branch, a remote or a tag, or its pull request is merged. Otherwise the confirm says how many commits are its own and offers Keep the branch or Delete the branch too.

Question 59

Can I see conversations started in a terminal?

Accepted Answer

On the desktop, choose External in the Inbox source selector to read local Claude Code and Codex history. All sources includes it beside Deska tasks. External conversations are read only and stay on this computer; continue them in their original terminal.

Question 60

Does it show tasks from every project?

Accepted Answer

Yes. All shows every task on this computer, Project narrows it to the project you are in and Worktree to the checkout you are standing on. The popover beside Dex always lists every project.

Question 61

Will the list keep jumping around?

Accepted Answer

No. A row moves only when its state changes: the task waiting on an approval sits above the one quietly working, and inside a band the newest comes first.

Question 62

Can I approve without opening the task?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The popover beside Dex has a one-tap Approve when a request is safe to accept. On the board, approval cards take Enter, S for the rest of the session and D to decline, and a request that looks destructive needs a deliberate click.

Question 63

What does Landed mean?

Accepted Answer

A turn finished since you last looked at that task. The mark clears when you open it or its panel is the focused one, not when the work ends.

Question 64

Can I put a task away?

Accepted Answer

Settle moves a row you are done with into a fold at the bottom, Archive hides it, and Snooze demotes it until a time you pick. None of them stop or delete the task.

Everything else,answered.

The rest, grouped by what you are asking about.

About the canvas

About your data

About the agents

About tasks

About parallel tasks

About the Inbox

About approvals

About agent accounts

About usage

About Dex

About hands-free

About dictation

About the terminal

About the code editor

About source control

About the browser

About notes

About the command palette

About appearance

About computers

About mobile

About Deska Cloud

One canvas for everything you build.Free to start.

Mac

Linux

Windows

Everything else,answered.

What is an agentic development environment?

Do I need to know how to code?

Is it free?

What does it cost if I need more?

What is metered?

What is a Dex turn?

Can my agents keep working when my computer is off?

Which AI agents does it work with?

How is this different from Cursor, or from running an agent in a terminal?

Where do my files and data live?

What does it run on?

Do you train models on my code?

Does it work offline?

What happens if I run out of voice minutes?

My agent is not on that list. What do I lose?

Can I cancel?

The rest, grouped by what you are asking about.

About the canvas

Does this replace my editor?

Do panels keep running when I switch workspace?

How do I keep a big layout navigable?

Can I split panels instead of floating them?

Does the terminal use my own shell setup?

Can I have more than one project open?

What happens to my layout when I quit?

Do I need an account to use the canvas?

About your data

Can I use Deska without an account?

What exactly is sent when I use voice or Dex?

Does Deska keep a copy of my code?

Deska Cloud runs a computer for me. Is that still local-first?

Can I turn telemetry off?

Do you train models on my code?

Who processes a managed AI request?

Where is my sign-in kept?

Does the app phone home when I am not using AI?

Can I delete my data?

About the agents

Do I need an API key to start?

Do I have to use the terminal?

Can I run several agents at once?

Which agent should I pick?

What happens to a run if I quit the app?

Where do the agents actually run?

Do they ask before changing files?

Can Dex answer an agent for me?

Which models do I get?

Does using an agent cost me twice?

About tasks

What is the difference between a task and a terminal?

Can I write to it while it is working?

How do I stop a task?

Which files can I attach?

What does Plan mode do?

Does a task survive quitting Deska?

Can I copy an answer out of a task?

Which commands can I use?

About parallel tasks

Do I need to know how git worktrees work?

Will copies of my project pile up in its folder?

Can a task work on the branch I am on?

Can I run a task on someone's pull request?

What if something moves the branch inside a task's worktree?

What happens to the branch when I remove a worktree?

About the Inbox

Can I see conversations started in a terminal?

Does it show tasks from every project?

Will the list keep jumping around?

Can I approve without opening the task?

What does Landed mean?

Can I put a task away?

Does it show agents I run in a terminal?

Will it notify me?

Does it work on my phone?

About approvals

What does each mode allow?

What mode does a new task start in?

Is Approval required a sandbox?

Which agents have the AI reviewer in Auto?