Asked,
answered.

Windows 10 or 11. You don't need a terminal, and nothing else has to be installed first — the installer puts Ora in your Start Menu.

Ora itself is in a private beta — invites go out personally. Running it with the local model is free and private. If you choose a cloud model instead, you bring a paid key from a model company — answers are faster, and what you type goes to that company. You can also decide later; your typed drafts are kept until a model is connected.

Whichever you choose on first run or in Settings → Models: the free local model on this PC, or a cloud model through your own API key. Each model card says whether it runs well, runs slowly, or is too big for this PC.

Separately, the clicking itself is decided by Compass-1 — Ora's own small model that runs on this PC and picks what to act on. There's more about it on the Compass-1 page.

Real limits, not bugs: it can't read or answer Windows' administrator prompts; it won't solve "prove you are human" checks or imitate a fingerprint or PIN; protected and DRM media is hidden from it entirely; apps drawn on a canvas have no controls it can read; tabs it isn't allowed to touch are refused rather than guessed at; and there's no phone app or thousands-of-app integrations — it works with local tools on this PC.

Files, yes — every file Ora changes is recorded first, and the Undo button in the chat header restores them, including folder tidy-ups and research reports. No for things that already left: a sent message can't be un-sent and a click can't be un-clicked, which is exactly why those stop at an approval card first.

No. Typed prompts go to the model you select. Screen content, passive context, and spoken transcripts each have separate controls before they can be shared with a remote model — or pick a model that runs on this PC, or turn on Local-only mode, which blocks all cloud content egress. The row-by-row version is on What leaves your computer.

One switch in Settings → Privacy & Safety → Screen & Voice privacy that keeps task content on this PC: it blocks cloud models, screen and file reading by outside services, and overrides the individual sharing toggles. Models on this PC keep working.

Honest limit: it's not the same as unplugging the internet — Ora still checks for updates when you ask, and a browser connection you set up yourself still works.

Yes, while Ora is open — and it stops to ask in its chat when it hits something it can't decide, instead of guessing. Everything it may do is written on its card before it starts, and finished work is listed in History. If Ora was closed when a scheduled run's time came, the miss is recorded as missed.

No. Every bot has an autonomy mode you choose, and the hard stops — payments, sends, uploads, installs, account-security changes — ask in every mode, including the most permissive one, which is time-boxed and steps itself back down when its timer ends.

Only after you connect your own mailbox in Settings → Integrations → Personal connectors. Reading mail is ordinary observing, and a freshly connected mailbox is draft-only — replies wait in your Drafts folder for a human to send. Sending is a separate permission, and even then Ora asks before every send and names the exact recipient.

Ora recognizes speech on this PC; the audio recording is not sent. The recognized text can go to a remote model only after you allow transcript sharing — a separate, revocable choice in Settings → Privacy & Safety → Screen & Voice privacy.

It keeps what you typed — "Your draft is saved." Press the button on the bar under your message — Start the local model and answer, or Get the free local model and answer — and your message sends itself. Or choose Add an API key there. If there's no bar, pick a model in Settings → Models.

Settings → General → About shows the installed version and whether the release feed lists a newer one. This build can't install updates on its own — Check for updates looks, and the releases page gives you the latest installer. Checking sends one request to Ora's release service, even under Local-only, and the card says so when it runs.

Open Get help — the life-ring button in the left rail. Press Review support info, read the preview, copy it — it holds only versions and redacted diagnostic lines, never chats, keys, or file paths — then Report a problem opens Ora's public issue tracker to paste it into. Check before posting: reports are public. Nothing is ever sent on its own — there is no telemetry.