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CREAO Connect is a small app that pairs your own computer with your CREAO account. Once your computer is paired, your CREAO agents can use tools on it: run a terminal command, read and write files in folders you choose, and call MCP servers and Local Workers you install there. This is Device Connect. Your computer decides what runs, and by default every tool asks you first.
CREAO Connect is in early access. If you don’t see Devices in CREAO, it isn’t enabled for your account yet.

Desktop app (macOS)

The app on this page: a window, a menu bar icon and approval pop-ups on your Mac.

Terminal and Linux servers

The same service on Linux servers, boards and VMs, managed from the command line.

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How it works

  • Tools run on your computer, with your user account’s access. The result goes back to the chat so your agent can continue.
  • You stay in control. Each tool is Off, Ask or Allow for each caller. Nothing set means Ask.
  • The connection is outbound only. Your computer connects to CREAO. You don’t need to open ports or set up a VPN.

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Install and pair

You need a Mac with Apple silicon and a CREAO account with early access.
1

Download the app

In CREAO, open Devices and click Get CREAO Connect, then Download for macOS. The download is a disk image.
2

Move it to Applications and open it

Drag CREAO Connect into your Applications folder, then open it from there. It has to live in Applications for install links from CREAO to work.
3

Name this computer

Under Connect this computer, enter a name such as “MacBook Pro” and click Connect. This is the name you mention in chat, so give each device a different one.
4

Approve the pairing code in CREAO

The app shows a pairing code. Click Open approval page, or open Devices in CREAO and click I have a pairing code. Check that the device name matches, then click Approve device. Codes expire after 10 minutes. If one expires, click Get a new code.
The Pair a device dialog in CREAO showing the device name MacBook Pro and the Approve device button

Approve the pairing in CREAO. Approve only a device you set up yourself.

Approve only a pairing you started yourself. If someone sends you a code to approve, click I didn’t start this.
When pairing is done, the app says Computer connected and the device appears on the Devices page in CREAO.
The Devices page in CREAO listing a MacBook Pro and a build-server, both online

Paired devices on the Devices page, with status, platform and what each one offers.

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The app

The CREAO Connect window has five tabs. The header shows the connection status, Open CREAO and the Agent access switch. Close the window and the app keeps running in the menu bar. Quit it and your agents can’t reach the computer until you open the app again.
The CREAO Connect Home tab with installed MCP servers, a worker and recent executions

Home shows what this computer offers your agents and what ran recently.

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Use your device from chat

Type @ in the CREAO message box, choose Devices, pick your computer, then describe the task. For example: “@MacBook Pro list the PDFs in my Reports folder”. Your agent picks the tool it needs. Each tool call appears in the chat as a Device task card with its status: Waiting for approval, Running, Completed or Refused. You can Stop a task from the card. A task keeps running on your device even if you leave the chat.
The device must be online when your agent starts a task. If the app isn’t running, the task waits briefly and then expires.

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Tool access: Off, Ask, Allow

Open Tools, then open a row’s ⋯ menu and choose Configure…. All tools sets the default for the whole server, and each tool can override it. Every tool has one setting per caller:
  • Agents in cloud: your CREAO agents in chat, agents and scheduled runs.
  • Local workers: workers running on this computer.
The CREAO Connect tool settings dialog with Off, Ask and Allow controls per tool for Agents in cloud and Local workers

Each tool has a separate Off / Ask / Allow setting for agents in cloud and for local workers.

Built-in tools include Run a terminal command, file tools and system information. A terminal command runs with your account’s full access, so keep it on Ask unless you trust every request.

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Approval prompts

When a tool is set to Ask, a Permission request pop-up appears on top of your other windows on the Mac. It names who is asking, the tool, and the details of the call. Tools that can make changes you can’t undo say so.
The CREAO Connect permission request pop-up asking to run a terminal command, with Deny and Allow once buttons

The approval pop-up on your Mac. Deny is the default; Allow runs the call.

Choose what to allow under Applies to (This call, the tool, or All of its server) and how long under For (Once, 1 hour, 8 hours or Always). The allow button changes to match: Your answer applies only to the caller that asked. Allowing a tool for your cloud agent doesn’t allow it for local workers. A prompt that nobody answers is denied automatically when its countdown ends, after at most 15 minutes. While you’re working in the pop-up, the countdown pauses.

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Answer from CREAO on the web or your phone

You don’t have to be at your Mac. When a prompt is waiting, CREAO shows it on the task card in the chat and sends you a notification. The card offers the same answers as the pop-up, and your Mac checks every answer before it acts. The pop-up says You can also answer this in CREAO on your phone or browser when this is available.
A device task card in CREAO chat showing Approval needed with Deny and Allow once options

An approval card in CREAO chat. Answer it here or on your Mac, whichever is first.

Anyone signed in to your CREAO account can answer your device’s prompts. Keep your account secure, and sign out of shared browsers.

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Add MCP servers

MCP servers give your agents new tools on your computer, such as a notes app, a browser or an internal API.
  1. In CREAO, open Devices → Browse MCP servers, or click Discover MCP servers in the app.
  2. Open a server and click Install on this Mac. If your browser asks “Open CREAO Connect?”, choose to open it.
  3. CREAO Connect shows exactly what will be installed: the command it runs or the address it connects to, any settings and any setup scripts. Nothing changes until you confirm.
  4. Fill in any settings, sign in if the server needs it, and wait for the check to confirm the server answers.
The server starts right away. You don’t need to restart anything.
Servers you add start with tool access set to Ask. Some catalog servers start Off for agents in cloud because a Local Worker is meant to drive them instead.
An MCP server page in the CREAO catalog showing the install options

An MCP server from the CREAO catalog. Servers that also support Linux offer a command for your server.

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Local Workers

A Local Worker is a small specialist agent installed on your computer, such as a files organizer. Your CREAO agent hands it a whole job, and the worker does that job with the tools on your computer that it declares.
  • Install workers from Devices → Browse local workers in CREAO. A worker that needs an MCP server shows Needs setup until that server is connected.
  • Starting a worker asks first, like a tool does. When you allow a start, that run can also use the worker’s tools that make no irreversible changes. Actions that change things still ask, unless you opt in on the prompt.
  • Questions. A worker can ask you a question while it works. Answer it in Activity, or in the chat if the worker is set up to ask there.
  • Permissions and runs. In Workers, open a worker’s ⋯ menu and choose Configure… to see its About, Permissions and Runs.

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File access

The file tools read and write only inside the folders listed under Settings → Folders for file tools. If you add no folders, they use a single workspace folder that CREAO Connect creates. Add the folders you want your agents to work in, for example ~/Documents/Reports.
The folder list covers the file tools only. A terminal command or an MCP server can reach anything your account can, which is why both ask by default.

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Pause, unpair or remove a device

  • Pause agent access. Click Agent access in the app’s header. While access is paused, agents can’t act on this computer. Click it again to resume.
  • Unpair from the Mac. Open Settings → Unpair this computer. Agents lose access at once. To reconnect, pair again with a new code.
  • Remove from CREAO. On the Devices page, open the device’s actions menu and choose Revoke. The device is disconnected at once and can’t reconnect without pairing again. Use Rename there to change the name your agents see.

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Privacy and safety

  • Tools run on your computer. CREAO stores the device’s name and platform, the list of tools it offers, and each task with its result. The result is sent back to the chat so your agent can use it.
  • Nothing runs without your approval unless you set it to Allow, chose Always allow, or gave a temporary permission that hasn’t expired yet. Off always wins.
  • Settings and sign-ins stay local. The values you enter while installing an MCP server are saved on your computer and are not sent to CREAO.
  • Everything is logged. Activity records each call, who asked, how it was decided and how it ended, including answers you gave in CREAO.
  • “Read-only” and “Can make changes” labels come from the tools themselves. CREAO doesn’t verify them, and your device still asks before running anything set to Ask.
For more detail, see Security and Privacy.

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Troubleshooting

Nobody answered the prompt before its countdown ended, so it was denied. Home shows prompts that expired recently. Ask your agent to try again and answer on your Mac or on the chat card. For a tool you always want to run, choose Always allow or set it to Allow in Tools.
Your browser may have asked “Open CREAO Connect?”. If you dismissed that dialog, click install again and choose to open it. If the app isn’t in your Applications folder yet, download it from Devices → Get CREAO Connect, open it once, then try again.
The app isn’t running, or the computer is asleep or offline. Open CREAO Connect. The status dot turns green when it’s connected. If the app says the computer isn’t paired, or that access was withdrawn, pair it again.
The tool is Off for agents in cloud, its MCP server is disabled or signed out, or Agent access is paused. Check Tools and the app’s header. Home lists servers that failed to connect or need you to sign in.
An MCP server the worker needs isn’t connected. Open the worker in Workers to see what it needs, then install or sign in to that server.

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Next steps

Terminal and Linux servers

Run CREAO Connect on a Linux server, board or VM, and drive it from SSH or tmux.

Skills and Connectors

Cloud connectors and skills, which don’t need a device.