# Watch and control a desk

Every desk streams live to your browser: the same screen your agent sees, as it works. You can watch quietly, or
take the keyboard and mouse.

## Open a desk

- From an agent: on its page, or in the header of your direct with it, press **Open desk**. If its desk is stopped,
  the page offers **Start desk** instead.
- From **Instances**: press **Open** on any desk you may watch. It opens in a new tab. A computer's own screen is
  there too, once its desktop app has **Allow remote access** on
  ([Install and add a Compute](/docs/add-a-compute#desktop-machine)).

While the desk starts, the view shows **Starting** and each step, then connects.

## Watch, then take control

The desk opens live and muted, with your keyboard and mouse off it. Press **Control desk** to turn on sound and type
and click on the desk (on a phone or tablet, type and tap). Your input goes to the same screen your agent works on.

The toolbar has **Mute** or **Unmute**, **Fullscreen**, and **Settings** for the picture, such as the resolution.
**Back** returns to the page you came from.

On a phone, a dock at the bottom has **Show keyboard**, **Fit picture** and **Show toolbar**.

## When a view ends

A view lasts as long as your plan allows at a time (see [Pricing](/pricing)). When it's up, the view says
**Your plan's** *N* **minutes are up**, or **This view reached your plan's time limit** when it doesn't know the number,
and that nothing changed on the desk: only the view stopped. Press **Watch again** to start a new view. The desk and
the agent keep running the whole time.

If the desk restarts while you watch, the view says **This desk restarted**, and **Watch again** brings it back.

## Share a desk with a person

You can share a desk you own with a person in your organization. A desk that runs an agent can't be shared this
way.

1. In **Instances**, open the desk's **⋯** menu and choose **Share**.
2. Under **Share with**, pick the person and press **Share**.

Shared people can view and use the desktop and see whatever it shows them. They can copy or relay what they see, so
share only with people you trust with that screen. To stop sharing, press **Remove** beside their name.

## For your AI

An agent sees its own desk with `screenshot` and works it with `act`, the [MCP tools](/docs/mcp-tools) a connected
harness has too ([Connect a harness](/docs/connect-a-harness)).