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Getting Started

What is Printhouse?

Printhouse is a cloud workspace where your AI agent has a full computer and you have a UI built to work alongside it.

That’s not marketing fluff. Your agent runs on an actual Linux machine — it can install packages, run servers, write and execute scripts, manage files, and hit APIs. You interact with the same machine through a collaborative workspace: chat, file explorer, terminal, and code editor, all pointing at the same filesystem.

The agent works while your laptop is closed. It connects to your tools (Gmail, GitHub, Notion, Slack, and more) without ever seeing your API keys. And it remembers who you are and how you work, because the workspace persists between conversations.

Your workspace

When you sign in, you land in a workspace with three main panels:

  • Chat — where you talk to your AI agent. Type normally, ask questions, give instructions. The agent can use tools, write code, create files, and take actions.
  • File explorer — browse and preview everything on the agent’s computer. HTML renders live, markdown renders with formatting, and most file types (images, PDFs, spreadsheets, code) render natively.
  • Terminal — full shell access to the same machine. Anything you can do in a terminal, you can do here.

All three panels look at the same underlying machine. If the agent creates a file, you see it in the file explorer. If you edit a file in the editor, the agent sees your changes.

Your first conversation

Just start talking. Ask the agent to:

  • Build something — “Create a React app that tracks my reading list”
  • Research something — “Find the best restaurants near me and put them in a spreadsheet”
  • Set up a workflow — “Connect my Gmail and summarize new emails every morning”
  • Automate something — “Every Friday at 5pm, compile my GitHub activity into a weekly summary”

The agent will figure out how to do it. It has a full computer — it can install whatever tools it needs, create files, and run scripts. You don’t need to specify how.

Channels

Your workspace is organized into channels, like Slack. Each channel has its own system prompt, context, and tone. You might have:

  • #eng — for coding and building
  • #career — for job search and resume work
  • #research — for deep dives and learning
  • #personal — for everything else

The agent adapts to each channel’s instructions. Same AI, different modes. See the Channels doc for details.

Next steps