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How-to guide

Your own cloud computer Pilot

A private computer in the cloud that Manas agents use for you: a web browser that stays signed in, a folder of files, a command line and your Google Drive. You watch it work in the chat and can take over at any moment.

What it is

Pilot. The cloud computer is switched on for a small pilot group only. If the agent says "The cloud computer is not enabled for this account yet", ask the Manas team.

The cloud computer is a real computer that lives in the cloud. A Manas agent uses it for you: it opens websites, downloads and converts files, and keeps everything in a folder. You see its screen live inside the chat.

It is yours alone. Nobody else, and no other person's agent, can see its screen, its files or the sites you are signed in to. It is kept between chats: files you save and sites you sign in to are still there tomorrow.

When to use it

  • A job needs a real web browser: read a page, collect prices, fill in a form, press an Export button.
  • You want a file made or changed: cut a clip from a video, turn a PDF into a Word file, make a CSV from a list of search results.
  • You want to bring a file in from Google Drive, work on it, and save the result back.
  • A site needs you to sign in once, and you want the agent to carry on after that.

How to use it

  1. Open Manas and start a new chat. In the model menu at the top of the chat, open Agents and pick Cloud Computer. It has been shared with you, so there is nothing to set up.
  2. Ask for what you need in plain words. For example:
    • "Open kapiva.in and list the products on the homepage with prices."
    • "Make a CSV of the top 20 results for 'ayurvedic hair oil' on Amazon.in."
    • "Download this YouTube video and cut the first 30 seconds into a clip: (link)"
    • "Find the Diwali brief in my Drive and turn it into a PDF."
  3. The first time in a day, your computer can take about 2 minutes to start. The live view shows Connecting… while it does. Later requests are quick.
  4. Watch it work in My Cloud Computer, the live view in the chat. If you do not see it, ask "Show me the computer."
  5. If the agent needs you (for example to sign in), the live view turns amber and says Needs you. Click Take control, do the step on the screen, then click Hand back to agent.
  6. Pick up your results from Files under the live view. To download a file to your laptop, click ⋯ → Copy link on the file and paste the link into a new browser tab.

The live view

  • Screen: what the agent sees, live. Watching does not interrupt it.
  • Status, next to the title: Agent working (a green light runs round the edge), Ready (nothing happening for this chat), Needs you (the agent asks you to take over) or You're in control (a solid blue frame; the agent waits).
  • Tabs, under the title: this chat's open tabs. ● marks the one the agent is using. Click another tab to look at it while the agent keeps working; Follow agent takes you back.
  • Take control pauses the agent and gives you the mouse and keyboard. Hand back to agent gives control back, and the agent carries on from where you left the page.
  • Files shows the files on your computer. Activity lists everything agents did on it.
  • ⤢ Open full page copies a link to watch in a whole browser window. Paste it into a new tab. The link works once, within 2 minutes, and only for you.

Signing in to websites

The agent never types passwords, one-time codes or card numbers. When a site needs one, the live view turns amber with the reason, for example "The agent needs you to sign in to instagram.com".

  1. Click Take control.
  2. Sign in on the screen as you normally would. You can type or paste; your own browser's password manager cannot fill it in.
  3. Click Hand back to agent. The agent carries on. If it does not, send "please continue".

You stay signed in next time, in every chat, because it is the same computer. You can also take control at any time without being asked; the agent stops at its next step and waits for you to hand back.

Files and Google Drive

  • Each chat has its own folder, shown as This chat. All files shows every folder, so you can say "use the logo from yesterday's chat" in a new chat.
  • Click ⋯ on a file for Copy link, Save to Drive, Rename, Move to… and Delete. A download link works for 5 minutes.
  • There is no upload button. To give the computer your own file, put it in Google Drive and click Import in the Drive tab, or ask the agent to copy it from your Drive.
  • The first time, open Files → Drive and click Connect Google Drive. Paste the copied link into a new tab, sign in with your @kapiva.in account and allow access. You do this once.
  • Google Docs, Sheets and Slides arrive as Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Save to Drive puts a copy in a Manas folder in your My Drive.
  • To remove Manas's access to your Drive, click Disconnect in the Drive tab, or ask the agent to "disconnect my Google Drive".

Good to know

  • It pauses when idle. After 15 minutes with no agent work and nothing typed or clicked by you, the computer pauses. Files, sign-ins and tabs are kept. Your next request wakes it, usually in 15 to 30 seconds, sometimes up to about 2 minutes.
  • What is on it: Chrome, Python, ffmpeg, yt-dlp, ImageMagick, pandoc, git and more. The agent can install extra tools for you, and they stay installed.
  • Public internet only. The computer cannot reach Kapiva's internal systems.
  • Several chats at once are fine: each chat has its own tabs (up to 4 per chat, 10 on the computer). Files and sign-ins are shared by all your chats. When you take control, every chat's agent pauses until you hand back.
  • Busy times: at most 10 cloud computers run at once. If all are in use you wait in line and the live view shows your place, for example In queue · #2. When the live view turns live, ask the agent to continue.
  • Waiting for cloud capacity… means your computer is starting but needs a few more minutes. If it has not started after 6 minutes it stops; just ask again.
  • Files that a website downloads are saved in the chat's folder under downloads/. Files over 1 GB are not saved.

If something goes wrong

Connecting… for more than 3 minutes
Ask "Show me the computer" again.
Live view ended
Click Show my computer. On the full page, ask in the chat instead.
This link has expired or was already opened
Click ⤢ Open full page in the chat's live view again. Each link works once, within 2 minutes.
A page does not load
Ask the agent to retry or open the site again. Tell the Manas team if a site never loads.
The agent seems stuck after you handed back
Send "please continue".
Hand back to the agent first when you click Import
You are in control. Click Hand back to agent, then Import again.
The Drive tab asks you to show your computer again
The live view is older than the Drive tab. Ask "Show me the computer".
The cloud computer is not enabled for this account yet
The pilot is limited to a few people. Ask the Manas team for access.

Try it in Manas.

Sign in with your Kapiva Google account and give it a go.

Sign in to Manas manas.kapiva.tech