Working beside you: its own cursor in its own window

TL;DR:

• DuckyHelper works in the window you give it with its own cursor, while you keep using yours.

• The ring on the edge of your screen turns green when it is done.

• This is early access, on Mac.

There are two ways an assistant can do work on your computer. It can take the computer over, or it can share it. We chose to share. This post explains what that looks like. It is part of our early access work, on Mac.

Sharing a computer

Imagine hiring someone to help with a task at your desk. If they had to use your keyboard and mouse, you would have to stop and watch. That is the arrangement some assistants have, and it means the time you save is time you spend waiting.

The better arrangement is that they work at their own spot while you work at yours. That is what we aimed for. DuckyHelper works in a window with its own cursor, and your cursor stays yours, so you can carry on with a different task. (This is early access.)

One window, one job

You choose where it works. In early access, you drag the orb onto a window and say what you want done, such as "fill in the totals in column D." It works in that window, with its own cursor, and that window is where the job happens.

Giving it one window (early access, on Mac) has a practical benefit: you always know where to look if you want to check on it. It also puts a boundary around the job. What you handed over is what it is working in.

Its cursor is visible

While it works, you can see its cursor moving in the window, marked with a small DuckyHelper tag. We wanted this to be visible, so you can see where it is working. You do not have to watch, but you can, and it is clear which pointer is yours and which is its.

The ring turns green when it is done

You should not have to keep an eye on it to know when it finishes. A ring on the edge of your screen shows its state, and when the job is done, the ring turns green. You can look up whenever suits you, see the green, and go back to the window to read the result.

We chose a ring at the edge because it is easy to notice and easy to ignore. It does not interrupt what you are doing, and it does not use a blinking dot or a spinner.

Where it stops and asks

Working beside you does not mean working without you. DuckyHelper is built to ask first before it sends a message or pays for anything, so when a job reaches one of those points it stops and waits for your decision. It's also built not to type your passwords or card numbers. If a page needs you to sign in, you do that yourself.

These stops are how sharing a computer stays safe. You keep working, and the few things that cannot be undone are built to come to you first. We explain the reasoning in why DuckyHelper is built to ask before it sends a message or pays.

An example

Say you have a spreadsheet of monthly expenses and you need the totals filled in. You drag the orb onto the spreadsheet window and say "fill in the totals in column D." You then switch to your email and carry on writing. DuckyHelper moves its own cursor down the column, filling in each row. (This is early access.)

A little later you notice the ring has turned green. You switch back, and a short note at the side says what it did: it filled in each row's total in column D. You check the numbers and carry on.

Why not just take over

Taking over is the other way to build it. We chose to share because the whole value of an assistant is the time it frees. If you have to sit and watch, it frees nothing. Sharing the computer is the version that gives you your time back.

There is also a safety angle. Because it works in one window with its own cursor, what it can touch is easy to see. Your own cursor never ends up doing something you did not intend.

What this means for you

Give it a job in one window, go back to your own work, and come back when you see green. If you would like to know how it does what it does in apps with no web side, read when there is no website. To see a job as it unfolds, see showing the work as plain steps.