Remote control
Send messages from the web or your phone and have them run on your own computer, with its folders and tools. Nothing is moved to the cloud. In beta for Pro.
Beta
Remote control lets you reach the computer on your desk from anywhere. You send a message from Perch Terminal on the web, from another computer or your phone, and it runs on your computer with its files, folders, and everything Perch Desktop can reach, exactly as if you were sitting at it.
How it works
Perch Desktop keeps an outgoing connection to Perch while remote control is on. Messages you send from the web, and your answers to any approvals, are relayed to your computer over that connection. Progress and results come back the same way.
Because your computer opens the connection, it never accepts inbound connections or opens a port. Files are read and commands run on the machine itself. Only the conversation travels.
Turn it on
Open Perch Desktop
Sign in to Perch Desktop on the computer you want to reach.
Switch on Remote control
Open the first pill in the composer, the menu where you choose where a message runs, and turn on Remote control. Its hint reads "Messages you send from the web can run on this computer."
Keep it awake
Your computer takes messages while it is awake and Perch is open on it. A sleeping laptop cannot take a message.
Send a message to your computer
Open Perch Terminal on the web at chat.perchai.app/agents/desktop and open the same menu in the composer. You will see:
- Auto. Your computer when it is online, otherwise the cloud. This is the default.
- Your computers. Each computer with remote control on, with a dot that shows whether it is online right now.
- Cloud. A private cloud workspace, if cloud agents are on for your account.
The pill always names where the next message will go, so you can see before you send whether it is heading to your computer or the cloud.
If your computer is offline
If a message is set to go to a computer that is offline, Perch says so above the message box and offers to run it in the cloud instead. It never moves a message to the cloud on its own. Keep in mind that the cloud cannot see your computer's files, so a task that depends on them is better left until the computer is back.
On your computer
While a message sent from the web is running, Perch Desktop shows a "Running a message sent from the web." notice with a Stop button, so anyone at the computer can see what is happening and end it.
Approvals and questions go to the screen you sent the message from. Answer there and the run carries on at home.
Turn it off
There are two ways:
- In Perch Desktop, switch Remote control off in the same menu.
- On the web, select the × next to a computer in the menu to remove it. That computer stops taking messages from the web until you switch remote control on again.
Usage
Messages that run on your computer count toward your plan's normal model usage, like any other chat. They never count toward cloud workspace time.
Troubleshooting
I do not see the Remote control switch in Perch Desktop. Remote control is not on for your account yet. It rolls out separately from cloud agents, so you may have one without the other.
My computer shows as offline. Check that it is awake, connected to the internet, and that Perch Desktop is open and signed in to the same account.
The web menu only offers Cloud. Remote control is not on for your account, or no computer has it switched on yet.
Cloud agents
Run a Perch task in a private cloud workspace that keeps going after you close the tab. Start one from the web, your phone, or Slack, point it at a GitHub repository, and review the branch it pushes. In beta for Pro.
Slash commands
How to actually use each slash command in Perch Terminal and the CLI, what you get back, and when to reach for one instead of just asking.