TL;DR:
Handing off a window means pointing an assistant at one app and saying what you want done there, while you keep working elsewhere.
A sensible assistant works in that window only, tells you when it is done, and asks first before it sends a message or pays.
Drag the orb is early access on Mac. A good assistant never types your passwords or card numbers.
You have a spreadsheet of expenses and want the rows sorted and totalled. You could do it yourself in ten minutes. You could also hand the sheet to an assistant, say what you want, and carry on with something else. That is the idea of handing a window over: you stay the manager, and the assistant does the clicking.
What "handing over" means
Asking a question and getting an answer is one thing. Handing over is different: you give the assistant a window and a job, and it acts inside that window. It reads what is there, clicks, types and moves through the app much as you would. This is more powerful than explaining, and it needs more care, because actions change things.
What happens step by step
You choose the window and state the job in plain words.
The assistant looks at the window to see what it can do there.
It works step by step, and can use a separate cursor so that yours stays free.
If the job involves sending a message or paying, it stops and asks you first.
When finished, it tells you, and you check the result.
In DuckyHelper this is called drag the orb, available in early access on Mac. Drop the orb on a window and describe the job. It does the work there with a cursor of its own, so you can keep going with yours, and it checks with you before sending a message or paying for anything. When it finishes, a green ring appears at the edge of your screen.
Walk-through: dragging a task onto a sheet
Take the expenses sheet. Say it has four rows (an example): 12.50, 8.00, 30.25 and 4.25.
You drag the orb onto the sheet's window and say, "Sort this from largest to smallest and add a total at the bottom."
The assistant reads the sheet and sorts the amounts: 30.25, 12.50, 8.00, 4.25.
It adds a total row. You can check it:
30.25 + 12.50 + 8.00 + 4.25 = 55.00.It does not email the sheet to anyone, because you did not ask. If you had said "and send it to my manager", it would stop and ask before sending.
It tells you it is finished, and you glance at the sheet to confirm the order and the total.
The check in step three matters. Handing off does not mean looking away. A quick look at the result is cheap, and it is the point where you catch a misread column.
Asking first before sending or paying
Some actions cannot be taken back: a sent email, a payment, a submitted form. A well-designed assistant treats those differently from sorting a column. It pauses and asks you first, and it's built not to type your passwords or card numbers, so those stay with you.
When to hand off and when not to
Good fits: repetitive, clear jobs that you can check quickly, such as sorting, renaming or filling in similar fields.
Poor fits: anything where a mistake is costly or you cannot verify the result.
Better done yourself: sensitive items like accounts, payments and personal messages.
What it cannot do
It cannot work in a window it cannot see or open.
It can misread an unusual layout and do the wrong thing. Start with small jobs.
It cannot judge whether a job is a good idea. That is your decision.
Early access features may change and may not work everywhere yet.
Privacy and control
Handing over a window gives the assistant sight of everything in it. Close tabs or documents you do not want involved, and give it one window rather than the whole desktop. Check that it asks before sending or paying, and that you can stop it at any time.
Think of it as delegating to a new colleague on their first day. You give one clear job, say what done looks like, and look at the result. As the first few jobs go well, you can hand over bigger ones. If one goes wrong, you learn where the edges are while the stakes are still small.
Write the job so that a stranger could do it. "Sort by amount, largest first, and add a total row" is better than "tidy this up", because it says what done looks like and leaves nothing to interpret. The more specific the request, the easier it is for you to check the result.
Try it yourself
DuckyHelper is one tool that works this way: press one key in any app (fn on a Mac, Ctrl+Shift+Space on Windows and Linux), ask out loud, and it answers out loud while you keep working. Drag the orb is early access on Mac, so ask questions out loud first and see how it explains your screen before you hand anything over. You can try it for 10 minutes with no card.
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep working while it runs?
With a separate cursor, yes. Your own cursor and keyboard remain free for other windows.
What if it does something wrong?
Stop it, undo in the app, and give a more specific instruction. Start with low-stakes jobs until you trust it.
Get started
