AI automation that runs on your own computer

Tools first, screen last

The work you want done lives in files, websites and programs, not in a chat window. C5's agents read and write files, search the web, run commands and work with the programs you connect. Every tool call shows in the task, so you can see what was used, what it asked for and what came back.

Computer use is the fallback, not the default. Reach for it for an old desktop program with no way to connect to it, a website that only works by clicking through it, or copying between two programs that do not talk to each other. If a tool or integration can do the job, it is faster and safer.

Work with the agents, or let them run

Some jobs you want to watch; others you want to come back to finished. Every job lands on the Productivity board and moves from To do to Done, where you can drag cards, pause, retry or cancel, or turn on Auto Review and let a task finish on its own. One request can become many small tasks that run at the same time — that is multi-agent orchestration at work.

▶

Work you repeat belongs on a timer: schedule an AI agent to run every morning and it shows up on the same board.

Stay in control of what it does

• A permission ladder. Reading is allowed; writing, running commands, sending, deleting and spending ask you first by default; screen control is off.
• Your answer, your scope. Approve once, deny, or always allow one agent one tool — for good, for an hour or for ten uses.
• Autonomy by type of work. Set the minimum autonomy level each kind of work needs, and whether a task below it is downgraded or blocked.
• Guardrails that win. Redaction of personal data in tool arguments and limits on where web tools may connect run whatever else is set.
• Stop and pause. Stop halts an agent's next step at once; Master Pause halts all new task steps for everyone.
• A record of everything. Tool decisions and permission changes are listed in Ops › Audit.

All of it runs on a local AI agent: the files it touches and the screenshots it takes stay in your data folder. Route a task to a cloud model and that provider receives the text the task sends it; keep it on a local model and nothing leaves the machine — see what a private AI agent means.

If you want an automation that nobody at the machine has to approve, C5 is the wrong fit: computer use stays off until an administrator turns it on there, and sending, deleting and spending ask first by default.

Computer use, with the brakes on

Some programs have no connection, no export and no API, and for those computer use is the way in. When it is on, the agent takes a picture of the screen, decides what to do, moves the mouse or types, then looks again. You see every action as it happens; nothing runs invisibly.

• Off until an administrator turns it on at the machine, under Settings › Tools › System Control. Your operating system asks for permission too.
• Only programs you allowed. An agent can work only with the programs you approved.
• Risky clicks ask where C5 can tell. Actions that look like sending, deleting, publishing or paying stop for your approval first.
• Unattended runs need a limit. A background task must carry a time or step limit before it may drive the screen.
• Every action is recorded — what was clicked, what was typed and what was on screen — in the task's history.

Keep passwords, card numbers and one-time codes out of any automated flow. If a job needs them, do that step yourself and let the agent carry on.

Ideas to automate this week

• Rename and sort a folder of downloads into dated project folders.
• Read three reports and write one summary of where they disagree.
• Find every file in a project that still uses an old company name.
• Copy figures from a desktop program with no export into a spreadsheet, with computer use.
• Turn a finished post into follow-up tasks with recipes that run after you approve it.

News & Research CompilationReal C5 deliverable →Comprehensive Estate Operations Manual CompilationReal C5 deliverable →B2B SaaS Beta Launch ManagementReal C5 deliverable →