> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.unify.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How it works

> What the app runs, and how it relates to screen sharing

The companion app and Unify Meet's screen sharing both involve "the
assistant and your screen", so it's worth being precise about what each
one actually is — they're completely different mechanisms that complement
each other.

## What the app runs on your machine

Once installed, the app is a tray icon plus a set of quiet background
services:

* **A control channel** — the surface your assistant drives when you ask
  it to act on your machine: a live view of your desktop for its own
  perception, mouse and keyboard input, browser automation, and command
  execution.
* **A file channel** — the separate, key-guarded service behind
  [filesystem access](/your-computer/files-and-terminal); it only accepts
  connections while the toggle is on.
* **The tray app** — your local switchboard: status colors, Start/Stop
  Services, settings, logs, uninstall.

None of this listens for connections from the internet. On startup the app
dials **outbound** to Unify's secure relay and holds that connection open;
everything the assistant does on your machine travels back down the tunnel
your machine initiated. Stop the services and the tunnel closes — your
machine simply goes dark to the platform.

One consequence worth knowing: the live view of your desktop exists **for
the assistant's eyes only**. It is never displayed anywhere in the Console
— not to you, not to anyone.

## Screen sharing is a different thing entirely

On a [Unify Meet](/communication/unify-meet) call, **Share your screen**
is ordinary browser screen sharing — the same picker you'd get in any
video call, showing whatever screen or window you choose on the computer
you're calling from. That's usually your own machine, so yes: Meet screen
share *does* show your computer to your assistant.

But it's a fundamentally different capability from the local app:

|                          | **Share your screen** (Meet)           | **Linked desktop** (local app)       |
| ------------------------ | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ |
| What it is               | A live video feed of your screen       | A control connection to your machine |
| Needs the app installed? | No — works for everyone                | Yes                                  |
| Assistant can see        | What you're showing, while you show it | Your screen, on request              |
| Assistant can act        | **Never** — watch and guide only       | Yes — click, type, run, fetch files  |
| Who's shown what         | Both of you see the shared screen      | Nothing is displayed in the Console  |

And to complete the picture: the desktop viewer *inside* a Meet call —
**Show assistant screen** — always shows the
[assistant's own machine](/their-computer/watching-and-control), never
yours. There is no Console window onto your linked desktop, by design.

## How the assistant combines them

When you ask about or point at *your* screen, the assistant resolves it in
a strict order:

1. **An active screen share wins.** If you're sharing on a live call,
   that's how it sees your screen — and if you're collaborating live
   without a share, it offers one: *"Want to share your screen? I'll see
   it right away."*
2. **No share running? The linked desktop.** With the app installed, it
   can look at and act on your machine directly through the tunnel —
   taking a screenshot to answer "what's on my screen?", or doing the
   thing you asked.
3. **Neither available?** It says so plainly and offers a screen share —
   it never claims to see or control your machine when it can't.

## Watching it work on your machine

So how do you supervise the assistant when it's driving your linked
desktop? Two ways, both natural:

* **Just watch your monitor.** It's your machine — when the assistant
  works on it, the cursor moves and windows open right in front of you,
  TeamViewer-style. You're never watching through a viewer; you're
  watching the real thing.
* **Share your screen on a call.** If you want to narrate together, hop
  on a Meet call and share the screen while the assistant works on the
  linked machine — you both see the same thing and can talk through it
  live.