Most of Settings → Computers manages the computer you are sitting at, so it needs the Cogno
desktop app. Opened in a browser, only the Your machines roster renders. Open the page from
the desktop app to see This machine, Startup & background,
and server enrollment.
What’s on the Computers page
On the enrollment approval page, select Back to app to leave code entry, review, or the completion screen and return to Cogno. Leaving does not approve a pending machine or undo an approval you have already submitted. The public/demo uses sample machines. Exploring it does not re-register your
computer, remove its Engine credential, or reconnect your saved servers. Returning
to your workspace resumes the usual machine registration checks.
Sign in to Claude Code before creating a Task
Open Settings → Computers in the Cogno desktop app to sign in on this computer. You do not need to create a Task first.1
Choose an agent
Under Agent connections & accounts, choose Claude Code or Codex.
2
Open sign-in
In the Sign-in row, select Sign in. The button is available once
this computer’s agent executable has been read.
3
Finish in the terminal
Complete the provider’s login in the terminal that opens. Opening the
terminal alone does not mean you are signed in. If the terminal cannot
open, the error appears in the agent’s settings so you can try again.
Choose the preferred agent for background runs
Open Settings → Computers in the desktop app. The Background runs summary at the top shows your preferred agent, or says no preference is selected. Select Change agent to reach Preferred agent for background runs, then choose Claude Code or Codex. Saved confirms the change was saved. This preference applies when a computer has both agents. A computer with only one uses that agent. Tasks you start yourself use the composer. The tabs under Agent connections & accounts manage sign-in and connections independently. In a browser, open the desktop app to change this preference. Desktop sign-out notifications check your default coding agent. For Claude Code, the check and its Sign in action use the default Claude account on this computer. A failed or unavailable authentication check does not confirm a sign-out and does not trigger that notification. Use the agent’s Sign-in row to inspect or repair its connection.Choose models for background runs
In the desktop app, open Settings → Computers → Background runs. Choose a model separately for Claude Code and Codex. These saved settings apply to runs Cogno starts; Tasks you start yourself use the composer. Choose Optimized · Recommended to select a model and reasoning effort for the work from the executing computer’s available models. Automatic lets Optimized choose the effort. Selecting an effort limits the candidates to models that support it. Among the candidates judged able to finish the work at the quality it needs, Optimized picks the one expected to use the least, counting a likely retry, and learns from how earlier Optimized runs in the workspace went. The conversation shows the selected model, effort when present, and the run’s completion or failure together. Optimized supports background runs on a registered computer with a signed-in Claude Code or Codex account and a supporting Engine. Cogno-credit and managed cloud runs do not support Optimized. If the model list or selection service cannot be read, the run reports an error. Select a specific model to use a manual choice. Existing conversations keep their model.Model selection sends a bounded work description and the available model
options to Cogno’s selection service through a zero-data-retention AI route.
It does not read repository files, credential files, or conversation history.
Cogno records selection outcomes, candidate probabilities, latency and reported
usage for reliability monitoring. These records exclude the work description
and raw provider responses.
Control execution access
Each entry under Your machines has two access settings:
Choose Ask for approval, Auto in workspace, or Full access for each setting. The
user-initiated setting is a machine maximum: each Session also has a Session access choice
in the composer, and the Engine uses whichever choice is more restrictive. The autonomous
setting directly controls unattended queue turns.
An older Engine keeps the safe Auto in workspace boundary and does not offer Full access;
update the Engine before using Session access controls.
Keep the Engine running
The Engine is the always-on local runtime that runs agent work on a machine. Under This machine, its state reads Running, Stopped, or Not running, with Start, Stop, and Restart controls.Closing the window or choosing Quit Cogno leaves the Engine running. To stop agent work
on this machine, use This machine → Stop. Turn on Startup & background → Open Cogno
at login to open Cogno when you sign in.
Update while Tasks are running
Open Settings → Preferences → Desktop updates in the desktop app to choose how this device updates. These settings do not change other devices.
Available updates download in the background even when automatic installation
is off. Downloading keeps the app and your work running. Confirmation happens
before installation, when the update needs to stop work and restart the app.
Temporary connection failures are retried automatically up to twice during update
checks and downloads. If all attempts fail, the update control shows the error.
Signature verification and permission errors require action and are not retried.
When confirmation is enabled and Tasks are running, choose Update later to
keep working, or Interrupt and update to continue the update.
After restart, an update-interrupted Task can continue once in the same Session. Waiting or
new human messages take priority and replace the automatic continuation. A manually stopped
or cancelled run does not restart automatically. A closed Session or changed folder requires
manual review instead of starting a new Session automatically.
The Engine being replaced must already support recording the update interruption. Installing
that support for the first time cannot recover an interruption reported by an older Engine;
continue that Session manually if needed. Remote Engine updates keep waiting for idle work.
Read the Readiness line
This machine shows a Readiness line. When it reads Ready, the machine can pick up work. When it does not, the details list exactly what blocks it — for example:- neither Claude Code nor Codex available, or a provider signed out — with
claude auth loginorcodex loginshown as the fix - git or Node.js missing
- the GitHub CLI signed out
- the disk almost full
Environments live in the project
An environment is a folder on a machine plus the settings work runs under there (AI tool, model). Settings → Computers shows which folders this machine has registered, but you do not add a project’s folder here — each member connects their own folder from the project’s settings. See Set up a project for connecting a folder or cloning repositories.Run a machine on a server
To run work on a machine you are not sitting at — a Linux box, a cloud VM — enroll it as a server. Set up a new server walks the ssh enrollment, andcogno doctor on the server
reports each readiness check with the command that fixes it. See
Run Cogno on your own server for the full flow, and
Enterprise remote execution for fleet setups.
Reference
Routing
How a run chooses the machine and directory it lands on:
A task that has already run keeps its environment, so later runs land on the same machine and
directory. When many requests arrive at once, Cogno counts work already placed on a machine but not yet started as load, so they spread across your machines instead of queuing on one.
For the states a run itself moves through (pending → claimed → running → completed),
see Run agents on a task.
Engine states
Machine status
Troubleshooting
For anything not listed here, see Troubleshooting.