Tasks and approvals · Manwe docs

Manwe doesn't only answer. It can research for a while, work in your files, browse websites, build documents and use your apps. This page covers how that work runs, how you stay in charge of it, and where to find it.

Approvals

Every conversation has an Action approvals control in the composer. It decides how much Manwe may do without asking:

Ask for approvalManwe asks before acting, and you can approve similar steps when that's useful.

Approve for meRequested work, including ordinary changes in connected apps, goes ahead within granted access. Purchases, deletion and unknown actions still ask.

Full accessManwe acts within granted access. Destructive actions still require explicit approval.

New conversations start with the Default approval mode in Settings › Access & approvals. An approval card shows the exact action; Approve, Always allow similar and Deny answer it. Saved permissions for similar actions remain in this conversation until revoked. They apply to the approved operation and resource, not every action in every app; review or revoke them in the same control.

Ordinary saves and exports follow your selected approval mode. Deletion asks for an explicit approval; known bulk or recursive deletion and whole-project or database resets also ask for a short confirmation word. You never need to copy a path or tool arguments into a confirmation field. Saved permissions cannot bypass destructive approval. Disk-wipe commands are blocked. Arbitrary scripts can hide destructive behavior, so command inspection is a best-effort check, not a guarantee.

Following the work

The Activity button in the header shows everything in progress across all your worlds:

Needs youQuestions and approvals waiting for your answer. The button changes color when something's here.

WorkingAnswers being written, deep reviews, browsing, watches checking.

QueuedWork waiting its turn, often for a model on your Mac.

Recent workWhat finished lately.

Open a task to see its progress and what it did. If it was interrupted or stopped, Continue starts a new turn with saved progress and the current model. For a team task, it restores the exact saved team and coordinator instead. Manwe checks current results before doing more; previous approvals and private question replies are not restored, and completed or uncertain actions are not automatically replayed. Changed project, World or team settings can require a new request.

Changing a running conversation’s model, Worlds or granted folder interrupts its affected work. Other conversations continue with their own captured settings. Previous approvals and pending question replies do not transfer to the changed task.

Your files

To let Manwe work on files, choose Working folder… from the composer's + menu, or type /folder, and pick a folder. The folder panel shows Allow file changes. With it on, authorized edits write directly to that folder under the chat's approval mode. With it off, the folder is read-only. You can also ask to work in a specific folder by path; Manwe can request access to that location without replacing the chat's working folder. Moving files between folders needs access to both, and never implies permission to overwrite or delete unrelated files.

Terminal, in the same menu, opens a shell beside the conversation, so you can watch or run commands. Manwe’s agent commands and file tools use the folders you grant, follow the selected approval mode and require explicit approval for destructive actions. Network access uses the task’s approved destinations. Your own terminal is separate from agent access.

Attachments and previews

Drag a file into the composer or paste an image, then describe the operation: “Convert this image to WebP” or “Convert this MP4 to WebM.” The attachment limit defaults to 100 MiB per file. Manwe gives its tools access to a retained copy; attaching a file does not grant access to its whole original folder. You don't need a vision model for a format conversion. Understanding the image's contents is a separate model capability.

The folder drawer previews supported images, PDFs and other documents, and plays supported audio and video. Binary media isn't required to be UTF-8 text. Preview and playback depend on the file format and codecs supported on your Mac.

Websites

When a task needs a website, Manwe opens it in its own browser beside the conversation. You see each page it visits. Each conversation has its own browser profile, so sign-ins stay with that conversation; Clear website data… signs out. When a form needs personal details, Manwe asks first: use test data, give the details, fill it in yourself, or skip.

Documents and tools

Answers can include Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint decks that you preview in place and download. Retained outputs are available in Settings › Vault › Saved work. Files produced in a working folder or another app can remain at that destination. Completed file results can appear as cards with Open file, Show in Finder and Download. Download lets you choose where to save a copy; it does not merely open the original. Supported images, PDFs and media can be previewed in the answer.

Manwe comes with what it needs for calculations, documents, charts and interactive pages. Some tasks need more, like typesetting, converting documents, editing audio or video, or planning schedules. Those are optional downloads in Settings › Tools & downloads, kept separate from anything you installed yourself. Manwe can also offer the right download in the middle of a task, with your approval, and carry on afterwards.

Jobs that take time

When completing your request requires an export, conversion, build or similar asynchronous job, Manwe follows the returned job ID through the app's status tool. “Queued” or “running” means it has started, not finished. On completion it returns the result and available file access. A job needing input asks in the same task; a blocked check explains what is missing. A preview server is different: a verified ready address completes the requested startup while the server keeps running. It does not prove the page or business result is correct.

If you ask only to start a job, Manwe can leave it running and tell you it is no longer following it. Unrelated jobs aren't followed automatically. A recurring monitoring request belongs in a watch. Stop cancels Manwe’s owned commands and preview servers as well as its tracking. A job in an external app is only confirmed stopped when that app reports cancellation. If you explicitly ask Manwe to stop a tracked job, it checks that exact job’s terminal result before reporting the stop complete.

After you quit

Turn on Keep working after quit in Settings › General › Background work, and a small helper keeps going when Manwe is closed: scheduled workflows, watches, and shared links. Your Mac must be awake. The helper uses cloud models only, so work on a model on your Mac waits until Manwe opens. Conversations, deep reviews, check-ins, Apple apps and Telegram need Manwe itself.