Settings: Apps

Apps are the services Row-Bot can work in, such as Notion, GitHub or a tool that runs on this computer. Your GitHub, Google and X accounts, the Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack and SMS channels, and the tools that use your own key are apps too. Settings › Apps is where you find them, connect them, choose what each one may do, change their settings, and turn them off or remove them.

Where To Find It

Open Settings, then choose Apps in the Connections group, or search for it with Find a setting. The command palette's Connect an app opens it too, and requests such as "connect google" or "connect telegram" open that app's page. In a chat, + › Apps › Find more apps opens it; see Apps in a chat.

Find An App

Search by an app's name or by what you want done, such as "send email" or "take meeting notes". Search is instant and local: Row-Bot searches catalog copies kept on this computer, and nothing you type leaves it. Once you have typed a search, Search online catalogs also asks the live catalogs, such as Hermes, and sends them your search words.

The page lists:

• Your apps: the apps you have added, with anything that needs attention first. Each app is one card, even when you connected it more than one way; its chips name the ways. Each shows its status: Ready, Off, Sign in needed, Key needed, Finish setup, Working…, Needs attention, or Removed for a package whose saved data was kept. Troubleshooting says what to do about each.
• Category chips (Productivity, Developer, Data, Design, Communication, Finance and Local tools), then Featured, then All apps. Communication lists the messaging channels. While you search, the chips and Featured make way for the results.

While the app catalog is first being built, the page says Preparing the app catalog… and more apps appear in a moment.

Each app appears once in results; its other ways to connect are on its page. Apps from their own vendors and from Row-Bot come first, then More from the community. Listings that look like placeholders, staging copies or duplicates are left out; Show all results shows them too.

Each card shows the app's logo, its name and what it does, and who publishes it:

• by Vendor with a check: the service's own vendor publishes it, which Row-Bot confirms by rule, never from a listing's name.
• Built in: it comes with Row-Bot.
• Community · publisher: anyone else. Check who publishes it and its source on its page before you connect it.
• Made by you: a connection you added yourself.

A card also says how the app connects: Hosted · Sign-in, API key, Hosted or Runs on this computer. Package entries from the Hermes catalog say Checked when you add; one made for the Hermes app itself can't be added, and its page says why. Logos come only from Row-Bot or its saved copies; browsing never downloads them, and a letter stands in until a logo is ready.

The App Page

Open an app to see its page (for example /settings/apps/notion). The header shows its logo, name, publisher and status, one main action, and a ⋯ menu.

The main action is whatever comes next: Connect, Add, Set up, Sign in, Sign in again, Add key, Continue setup, Turn on, Fix, Retry, Try it or Delete saved data. Try it opens a new chat with a draft that uses the app; nothing is sent until you send it. The ⋯ menu holds what applies of Turn off, Check for updates (for a package from GitHub), Advanced settings and Remove…; for a built-in way to connect it holds Open its settings.

• Overview: what it does, things to ask, and where your data goes.
• Access: what it may do, grouped as Looks things up, Makes changes and Always asks first, with a count and the choice, such as "8 of 12 actions on · Ask before changes" (or Custom once you set actions one by one), and Choose to change it in Change what app can do, which saves with Save. See Choose what an app can do.
• Settings: for a connected app, the account, whether a key is saved (in your system keychain), each setting, and anything it needs on this computer, with Change settings. An app that can show its results as an interactive view also has Show views in chat here; see App views. See Change settings after setup. For a built-in way, Set up or Open opens its own settings.
• Ways to connect: when an app can be connected more than one way, every way, the recommended one first. See Ways to connect.
• Skills for the app: skills made for it, yours first. An app lets Row-Bot use a service for you; a skill teaches Row-Bot how to do a task, and some work with an app.
• Included: for a package, the apps and skills it brought. Each of those says Installed as part of package.
• Details: source, version, licence, other catalogs it is listed in, and its identifier.

Ways To Connect

Some apps can be connected in more than one way: through a server the service hosts, through a server that runs on this computer, or through a way built into Row-Bot. The app's page lists them under Ways to connect, the recommended one first and marked Recommended. Each way says how it connects (Built in, Hosted · Sign-in, Hosted · API key, Hosted or Runs on this computer) and who publishes it; the one you are looking at says This one. Choose another way to open its page.

For example:

• GitHub: GitHub's hosted server (with a token, or with your own OAuth app), then the GitHub account built into Row-Bot, then GitHub's server on this computer.
• Google: the Google account built into Row-Bot first.
• Slack: Slack's hosted server, then the Slack channel built into Row-Bot.
• Tavily: Row-Bot's built-in Tavily web search with your Tavily key, then Tavily's hosted server, then its server on this computer.

Each way keeps its own credentials. A GitHub account token and a GitHub server connection, for example, never share a token: connecting one doesn't sign in the other.

Built-In Ways To Connect

Some ways to connect are part of Row-Bot itself, so their cards and pages say Built in:

• the GitHub, Google and X accounts;
• the Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack and Text messages (SMS) channels;
• tools that use your own key: Tavily web search (a Tavily key) and Wolfram Alpha.

A built-in way is set up and changed in its own settings, not with a setup sheet. Its Set up (or Open once it is set up), and ⋯ › Open its settings, open those settings for that one account, channel or tool only, with Back to the app page:

• an account opens its step-by-step guide, Check, Reconnect and Disconnect, and what Row-Bot may do with it. See Accounts And Authorisation.
• a channel opens its connect steps, Start and Stop, pairing and paired accounts. See Channels.
• a key tool opens its switch and its key, which stays in your system keychain.

Old links to the Accounts and Channels settings pages open the matching app, for example Apps › Google or Apps › Telegram.

Connect An App

1. Choose the main action. A sheet named after it, such as Connect Notion, lists what will happen: where requests go, whether you sign in in your browser or paste a key, anything Row-Bot needs to download, and that apps get turned on. How Row-Bot keeps this safe explains the protections.
2. Agree, and Row-Bot does the setup itself, showing each step as it goes.
3. It pauses only when it needs you: to sign in (your browser opens), to add a key or a setting, to check what it will install, to open a program, or to choose what the app can do.
4. Choose what the app can do, then Allow on Here's what app can do, and the app is ready. For an app you sign in to, the Connect app sheet asks first, What can app do?: Look things up (the default; where the service offers it, Row-Bot asks it for read access only) or Look things up and make changes (changes always ask you first). For other apps the choice is on Here's what app can do.

What A Setup Can Ask For

• Add your key or Add your settings: a key or token is kept in your system keychain; a setting such as a workspace, region or folder is saved with the app. Where do I get this? opens the service's own page for it. Optional settings can be left empty.
• Sign in to app: when Row-Bot first connects, it checks whether the service asks you to sign in, so an app whose listing doesn't say can still sign in. Row-Bot signs in through your browser with its own published details, or registers itself with the service. A few services, such as GitHub, accept only your own OAuth app: Row-Bot asks for its Client ID and, if it has one, Client secret (optional), both kept in the keychain, and shows the callback address to register, http://127.0.0.1/api/v1/settings/mcp/auth/callback. If a sign-in expires and can't be renewed, the app says Sign in needed.
• Get ready to run app and Install what app needs: an app that runs on this computer may need Node.js or uv, which Row-Bot sets up for its own use, and an npm package, Python package, container image or bundle, which is installed into its own folder, never system-wide. Before anything installs, Row-Bot shows Exactly what will be installed: each package's exact version and checksum, checked again when it installs. Install scripts never run. Python apps use Row-Bot's own uv and Python. Container images need Docker Desktop, already installed, and never get access to your folders, ports or network. If what an app would install changes after you agreed, Row-Bot shows it again and waits.
• Open program: apps that work with a program on this computer, such as Blender, check that it is running. Open it, then choose Check again.

Searching and reading an app's page never install or run anything; nothing installs until you agree and choose Install.

Stop cancels a setup and keeps what was already done. A setup left waiting for more than 30 minutes stops by itself, also keeping what was done. If Row-Bot can't confirm that a change finished, the page shows Finishing your last change… with Retry; it checks the result and never repeats the change blindly.

Choose What An App Can Do

Choice	What it means
Read only	Looks things up. Cannot change anything.
Ask before changes	Looks things up and asks you before every change. The default for apps that don't sign in.
Full access	Makes routine changes without asking. Risky actions still ask.

Customise sets each action on its own: Use without asking, Ask first, Off, or As chosen above. To change it later, use Choose in the app's Access section.

An app you signed in to for reading only says Read access only in its Settings. Choosing Ask before changes or Full access later adds a step, Allow app to make changes, with one more sign-in so the service grants the wider access.

Some apps overlap with what Row-Bot already does, for example Notion with documents or Slack with channels. Their access step notes it, such as "Row-Bot also has its own Documents tools.", and the choices work as usual. Changes to files and repositories, such as creating a file or a pull request, always ask first.

Some actions always ask

Deleting, sending, paying, publishing, running code and anything Row-Bot can't identify always ask first, whatever you choose. Full access only covers routine changes such as creating or editing. Apps connected before this version keep asking before routine changes until you choose otherwise.

In Chats And Workflows

An app's access applies wherever Row-Bot uses it, together with the chat's or workflow's Approvals. Auto never overrides an app's access: its changes still ask unless you gave it Full access, actions that always ask still ask, and a workflow waits for you on them; Block leaves out anything that would ask. Approval cards name the app and the action, such as "Allow Notion to delete page?"; see Approvals.

Change Settings After Setup

A connected app's settings stay editable. Its Settings section shows what it is set to now: the account, whether a key is saved, each setting (a switch reads Yes or No), and where it runs. Change settings opens Settings for app with every setting the app has, optional ones too:

• A saved key is never shown. Its field stays empty and says Saved in your system keychain. Leave it blank to keep it. Type a new key only to replace it.
• Save keeps your changes, and Row-Bot checks the connection again. If the app now offers actions it didn't have before, Row-Bot asks what they may do first; the rest keep the access you chose.
• An app that was on reconnects with the new settings; one that was off stays off until you turn it on. The page then says Settings saved.

A built-in way's settings are changed in its own settings: choose Open, or ⋯ › Open its settings.

Turn Off Or Remove

Both are in the app's ⋯ menu.

• Turn off stops Row-Bot using the app and ends its connection. Its settings and saved keys are kept, and Turn on brings it back.
• Remove… opens Remove app and removes the app with its settings and access choices. Its saved sign-in and keys stay in your system keychain unless you switch on Also delete saved keys and data, which is offered when it has any.
• Removing a package removes it and everything it brought, but keeps its saved data and keys: its card then says Removed, and Delete saved data deletes them. Switch on Also delete saved keys and data to delete them straight away. An app that came with a package can be turned off, but is removed with its package.

Removing never revokes access at the service; do that in the service's own settings. Shared runtimes such as Node.js and uv, and what Row-Bot downloaded to run an app on this computer, stay installed. A built-in way has neither action; use its own settings instead, such as an account's access switches or Disconnect, a channel's Stop, or a key tool's switch.

Add From Link Or File

Add from link or file adds something that isn't in a catalog. Paste an https link (an app's address, a GitHub repository or a skill page; Row-Bot detects which, and This is lets you change it), or choose a .zip or .skill file (up to 20 MB) for skills and packages, or a .mcpb bundle (up to 128 MB).

A bundle is checked as soon as you choose it: Row-Bot reads its manifest, checks that it runs on this computer and, if it is signed, that the signature matches its contents. A bundle with a broken signature, or made for another system, is refused. The settings a bundle asks for become its Add your settings step. A key pasted as part of a link is never saved with the address: Row-Bot asks for it as a key instead.

Nothing is downloaded or run until you agree on the item's page.

Advanced

Advanced on the Apps page (/settings/apps?view=advanced) holds:

• Apps in chats: Use apps lets chats and workflows use your connected apps, with changes asking first; turn it off to stop every app at once, and each keeps its settings. Show app views in chat shows interactive views from apps that have them; it is on by default.
• Catalogs: see Update catalogs.
• On this computer: Runtimes, the Node.js and uv that Row-Bot sets up for apps that run on this computer, with Check again and Install Row-Bot's own Node.js or uv in its ⋯ menu.
• Your own connection: Add a custom connection opens the connection editor for a service that isn't in a catalog.

An app's ⋯ › Advanced settings opens the raw settings for that one app only.

Update Catalogs

Row-Bot ships a copy of each catalog, so search works offline. Apps › Advanced › Catalogs lists each catalog with its state: Included with Row-Bot, Searched when you ask, Updating…, Updated with the time and number of entries, or Couldn't update. The last copy is still used. Catalogs that are only included with Row-Bot share one line, Also included with Row-Bot.

• Update refreshes one catalog, and Update all every catalog that can be updated.
• Update catalogs automatically is off by default. Turn it on and choose Every day, Every week or Every month.
• Windows connectors appears only on Windows builds that have them. Composio, a hosted broker, stays off until you turn on Use Composio after reading what it means; see Hosted brokers.

A failed update keeps the last copy. Behind a proxy, see Troubleshooting.

Old Links

Settings no longer has Integrations, MCP, Plugins, Accounts or Channels pages. Old links to them open Apps, or Apps › Advanced for catalogs and runtimes, or the item they named: an old account or channel link opens that app, such as Apps › Google or Apps › Telegram, and an old Channels link that named no channel opens the Communication apps. Skills are on their own page: see Settings: Skills.

Privacy And Safety

Searching, browsing and opening an app page stay on this computer. A catalog is contacted only when you choose Search online catalogs, Update, or automatic updates; updating the Hermes catalog also reads each new package's manifest, never its code. Once you agree to connect, add or update something, Row-Bot reads it from its source, for example to check its listing again or to download what it installs. Requests to an app go where its page says once you use it. Keys, tokens and OAuth client secrets are kept in your system keychain, never in settings files, logs or what the page shows. Row-Bot's sign-in details are published at https://row-bot.ai/oauth/client-metadata.json; they contain no secret and name only this computer as where a sign-in returns. Checking that a program is open looks only at this computer. Apps that run on this computer are not sandboxed, so add only apps you trust.

Control-Level Reference

The generated Settings Controls reference lists every searchable setting on this page with its deep link and search keywords.

Troubleshooting

Each status has one fix: the main action on the app's page. An app that is on but needs a sign-in, a key or attention is also listed in Overview's Needs you, with the same fix. Troubleshooting lists every status, and catalog, proxy, Windows connector and app view problems.

• If an app's tools are missing in chat, check that it is Ready, that it is checked in that chat's + › Apps, that Use apps is on in Apps › Advanced, and that the chat's agent profile allows it.
• A built-in account or channel that won't work: choose Open on its app page and use its own Check, Reconnect or Start.