The native desktop experience for the Compass Platform — AI-powered development, right on your machine.
Download the latest installer for your platform from the releases page and log in with your Compass Platform account.
Need the CLI? Install Nova first — Compass Desktop uses it as its AI engine.
Compass Desktop is the native GUI companion to the Compass Platform ecosystem:
| Platform Component | Description |
|---|---|
| 🖥️ Desktop App | Full GUI experience — chat, scheduler, marketplace, knowledge base |
| 🌐 Web Platform | Access your projects from anywhere |
| 💻 CLI (Nova) | Terminal-first power user experience |
| 📊 Excel Add-In | Transform how your organisation works with spreadsheets |
One subscription. Four ways to work. Complete flexibility.
Compass Desktop brings the full power of the Compass AI Platform to a native application — no browser tabs, no copy-pasting, no context switching. Everything you need to build, automate, and manage your AI-assisted workflows lives in one place.
| Feature | Compass Desktop | Typical AI Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Native Performance | Electron app | Browser-dependent |
| Persistent AI Sessions | ACP mode — zero cold-start latency | Stateless per-request |
| WhatsApp Control | Chat with your AI agent from your phone | Desktop-only |
| Cron Scheduler | Runs Schedule.md tasks automatically |
Manual execution only |
| Marketplace | Install agents & skills from GitHub/Azure DevOps | No ecosystem |
| Knowledge Base | RAG-powered document search | None |
| Audit Logging | SQLite-backed searchable history | None |
| Secure Credentials | OS-level keychain (never plain text) | Config files |
| Cross-Platform | Windows, macOS, Linux | Varies |
Talk to your AI agent in a familiar chat UI backed by a full embedded terminal. Real-time output streams directly into the conversation — no waiting for the whole response before you see results.
You: Refactor the authentication module to use JWT tokens
→ Analyses current implementation
→ Creates secure JWT-based auth
→ Updates all dependent files
→ Preserves backward compatibility
→ Output streams line by line as it happens
The Agent Client Protocol (ACP) replaces per-message process spawning with a single persistent nova --acp connection. The result: near-zero latency between messages, shared session context, and consistent tool availability.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SDK Mode (default) │
│ → Spawns a new Nova process per message (~0.5–1.5s) │
│ │
│ ACP Mode (experimental) │
│ → Persistent connection, ~0ms overhead per message │
│ → Shared session state across the whole conversation │
│ → Tool call visualisation with approval dialogs │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Enable ACP per-chat from the chat settings — you can mix modes across different conversations.
Control your AI agent from your phone. Send a message from WhatsApp and get the full CLI response back — including file attachments, streamed output, and context continuity with your desktop session.
- Secure: Only your authorised phone number can send commands
- Persistent auth: Scan the QR code once; stays connected across restarts
- Full feature parity: Everything available in the desktop chat works over WhatsApp
- Media support: Send images, documents, or code files as attachments
Compass Desktop automatically runs scheduled tasks defined in Schedule.md files — the same files that Nova creates when you ask it to set up recurring tasks.
| Enabled | Cron Expression | Task | Description |
|---------|----------------|-------------------|---------------------------|
| [x] | `0 9 * * 1-5` | `npm test` | Run tests weekday mornings |
| [x] | `*/30 * * * *` | `npm run lint` | Lint every 30 minutes |
| [ ] | `0 0 * * 0` | `git gc` | Weekly garbage collection |The scheduler watches your project directories for Schedule.md changes and reconciles jobs automatically — no restart needed.
Discover and install agents, skills, and plugins from curated sources — public GitHub repositories or private Azure DevOps repositories with PAT authentication.
- Browse by category, search by keyword
- Preview agent and skill definitions before installing
- Install individual agents or entire plugin packages
- Manage exclusions to hide plugins you don't need
- Real-time installation progress with per-file feedback
Upload documents to your Compass knowledge buckets and query them with AI-powered RAG search — all from the desktop app.
- Create and manage personal or organisational buckets
- Upload PDFs, documents, and text files
- Share buckets with team members
- Auto-generated questions for each document
Browse and edit your .compass project resources — agents, skills, commands, MCP server configs, memory files, and rules — in a dedicated panel with a built-in editor.
.compass/
├── agents/ → Define specialised AI agents
├── skills/ → Reusable AI capabilities
├── commands/ → Custom slash commands
├── .mcp.json → MCP server configurations
├── MEMORY.md → Persistent agent memory
└── RULES.md → Project-level instructions
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Command Whitelist │
│ → Only whitelisted commands can be executed │
│ │
│ Directory Whitelist │
│ → Restrict execution to specific directories │
│ │
│ Approval Dialogs │
│ → Confirm tool calls before they run (ACP mode) │
│ │
│ OS-Level Credential Storage │
│ → Windows Credential Manager / macOS Keychain / │
│ Linux Secret Service — never stored in plain text │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Additional safeguards:
- Context isolation enabled for all renderer processes
- Node integration disabled in renderer (contextBridge only)
- Content Security Policy enforced for all web content
- Argument sanitisation via
shell-quote - Up to 10 concurrent commands with configurable timeouts
Every command execution is recorded in a local SQLite database. Search, filter, and export your full command history.
- Filter by source (local, remote, CLI), exit code, date range
- Full output capture with configurable retention (default: 90 days)
- Export to CSV or JSON for compliance or analysis
- Storage capped at a configurable maximum size
Works out of the box in corporate environments:
- Automatic system proxy detection
- Manual HTTP/HTTPS and SOCKS5 configuration
- Per-host bypass rules
Chat: "Find all files that handle user authentication"
→ auth.service.ts (primary)
→ jwt-utils.ts (utility)
→ middleware/auth.ts (middleware)
→ tests/auth.spec.ts (tests)
Schedule: Run tests every morning at 9am on weekdays
→ Add a row to Schedule.md
→ Compass Desktop picks it up automatically
→ Results logged to execution history
WhatsApp: "What's the status of the CI pipeline?"
→ AI agent checks your project, responds to your phone
→ Context shared with your desktop session
Upload your architecture docs to a knowledge bucket
→ Ask questions in chat
→ AI answers with citations from your own documents
Browse marketplace → Install "code-review" plugin
→ Agents and skills appear in your .compass folder
→ Use immediately in any chat
| Minimum | |
|---|---|
| Windows | Windows 10/11 (x64) |
| macOS | macOS 12+ (x64, Apple Silicon) |
| Linux | Ubuntu 20.04+ LTS (x64) |
| Node.js | v18.0.0+ (for Nova CLI) |
"The ACP persistent connection is a game-changer — no more waiting half a second between every message. It feels instant." — Full-Stack Developer
"WhatsApp integration means I can trigger my AI agent from my phone while I'm away from my desk. It's surprisingly useful." — Senior Engineer
"The marketplace makes it trivial to share agents and skills across the whole team. One install, everyone benefits." — Tech Lead
"Having the scheduler built into the desktop app means my automated tasks actually run — not just exist as documentation." — Platform Engineer
Found a bug or have a feature idea? Use the structured issue templates to help us triage and respond faster:
- Report a Bug -- include your OS, app version, and steps to reproduce
- Request a Feature -- describe the problem and your proposed solution
Ready to bring the Compass Platform to your desktop?
Compass Desktop — Native power for the Compass Platform ecosystem.
Date: 2026-03-03
Co-authored by Nova