What Etude Agent can do

Workspaces: Work with your files

Etude Agent works in a folder, called its workspace. It can read, create and edit the files there, find files by name and search inside them. It starts in Etude Home; add any folder as a workspace and start a chat in it.

Where

+ New Workspace at the bottom of the sidebar, or File › New Workspace…

Try

Turn the meeting notes in this folder into one summary, newest first.
Which of these files mention the lease?

Read your documents

Attach a PDF, text or Markdown file and ask about it. Etude turns a PDF into text on your Mac and saves it in the workspace, so the agent can read it, quote it and work with it. For now it reads text, not images.

Where

The paperclip, Add document, in the message box, or drag the file onto the chat

Try

Do any of my subscriptions overlap?
List every deadline in this contract.

Use your apps, with connectors

Connectors let Etude Agent work with other apps. None is on until you add it, and each one asks macOS for access once.

• Apple apps: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Reminders, Keynote, Numbers and Pages. Read mail, find free time, add reminders, make decks and spreadsheets.
• Popular services: GitHub, Linear and Notion.
• Your own: any MCP server, added under Custom MCP…, or Import mcp.json… from Claude Desktop, Cursor or LM Studio.

Each connector has an access level: Read only, Ask before actions or Allow all. Changing or deleting something, or sending anything to other people, always asks first. Add only the connectors you use: each one gives the model more to keep track of.

Where

Settings › Connectors, then Add and Allow Access

Try

What’s on my calendar tomorrow? Find me a free hour.
Find Dana’s email about the lease and draft a reply.

Make web pages you can preview

Ask for a web page, a chart or a small tool, and the agent writes it as an HTML file in the workspace. Open it beside the conversation with Preview; the preview can’t reach the internet.

Where

Preview on the row of the file the agent wrote

Try

Make a one-page site for our book club with this month’s pick.
Chart my spending by month from this statement.

Look things up on the web

Etude Agent can search the web, and read a page when you give it the address. Web search is off until you turn it on, because searches go to an outside search service. The first time the agent wants to search, it asks: Not now, Just this search or Always on. It asks before reading a web page, too.

Where

Settings › General › Internal agent › Web search tool used by Etude

Try

Find reviews of The Remains of the Day and sum them up.
Read this article and give me the three main points: (paste the link)

Run commands for you

Some jobs are quicker with a command than by hand: renaming a batch of files, converting formats, adding up numbers, running a script. Etude Agent can run commands on your Mac, and shows you each one before it runs.

Where

The agent asks Allow this command? in the chat: Reject or Allow once

Try

Rename the photos in this folder so they start with the date they were taken.
Make a spreadsheet of every file here with its size.

Decide what it can do on its own

The button left of the paperclip sets, for each chat, how often the agent asks you first:

• Ask each time (the default): asks before each edit, command or web page. Reading and finding files in the workspace never asks.
• Allow edits: edits files without asking; still asks before commands and web pages.
• Allow all: edits and runs commands without asking. Needs the sandbox.

The sandbox is on from the start: with it, the agent can only reach files in its workspace and the folder it runs from. It limits what the agent can change, but the agent can still reach the internet, so keep Ask each time for anything that matters.

Where

The approval button in the message box; the default and the sandbox are in Settings › General › Internal agent

Choose the model, and how hard it thinks

The model button at the right of the message box picks the model the agent runs on, on a line from the fastest to the smartest, and sets Thinking: Off, Some, Medium or Most. More thinking answers hard questions better, and takes longer. Every model is listed on the Models page.

Where

The model button (its dots) at the right of the message box

What stays on your Mac

The model, the agent and your files stay on your Mac, and Etude Agent works with Wi-Fi off. Something leaves only when you let it: a web search, a web page the agent reads, a connector for an online service (GitHub, Linear, Notion), or an email you have it send.

Prefer an agent you already use? Etude can run it on its local model too: see External Agents.