AURA Documentation

A critical thinking partner, not a yes-man

AURA's built-in character is designed to help you think: examining ideas, questioning assumptions, weighing trade-offs, and offering honest counterpoints; kindly, and without empty flattery. Replies are deliberately short and conversational unless you ask it to go deeper.

• Replies follow the language of your message, not the language of the interface. Write in English inside an Indonesian interface and the answer comes back in English; the same goes for Japanese, Arabic, Javanese, Sundanese, and any other language.
• The interface language only decides the tie when your message is too short to read; an "ok", a single emoji, or a bare attachment.
• This underlying character stays the same on every provider; what changes is the reasoning quality of the model.

A 3D character that genuinely lives on your desktop

AURA is not a static icon. It stands, wanders around, and sits on its toolbox, with animations that flow from one state into the next. Leave it alone for a while and it gets bored and goes for a walk.

• The boredom delay is adjustable; 60 seconds by default before it starts wandering.
• Walking speed is adjustable; 80 pixels per second by default.
• It walks along your taskbar and desktop without covering the window you are working in.
• It can be hidden at any time from Settings when you need a clean screen.

Steps aside for full-screen apps

When a game, video, or presentation fills the screen, AURA steps out of the way and comes back on its own afterwards. This is on by default and can be turned off in Settings → Behaviour.

• The signal comes from Windows; the same question the system asks when deciding to hold back notifications.
• Your screen contents, window titles, and keystrokes are never read for this feature.
• The "Additional apps" field is optional and empty by default. While it is empty, the app never asks which program is in front.
• If you do fill it in (say zoom.exe, teams.exe), AURA also steps aside when those apps are in front, even when they are not full-screen.

Multiple monitors, a summon shortcut, and startup

AURA knows you might have more than one screen, and it does not insist on always being visible.

• Choose which monitor the pet stands on, or leave it on "Follow the primary display", which follows your Windows setting.
• If the chosen monitor is unplugged, the pet returns to the primary display automatically; it does not vanish.
• The default Ctrl+Alt+A shortcut summons AURA from any application and opens the chat straight away. At least one modifier key is required; leave it empty to disable.
• If the shortcut you want is already taken by another application, AURA tells you and uses a fallback; it does not fail silently.
• The tray icon offers show or hide pet, send behind, bring to front, move to another display, summon, open Settings, and quit.
• "Start when Windows starts" is off by default. Nothing is written to your system until you turn it on yourself.

Bring your own API key (BYOK)

AURA does not resell AI quota. You supply your own API key, and conversations flow straight from your computer to that provider. There are eight options, including one that runs entirely on your machine with no key at all.

• Anthropic (Claude), OpenAI, Google Gemini, xAI (Grok), Qwen, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, and local Ollama.
• OpenRouter is the app's default; one key reaching many models. You still need to supply your own key before you can chat.
• Models are offered as a list annotated with how token-hungry each one is, plus a free-text field for any model not on the list.
• The Test connection button confirms your key works; and once it succeeds, the model list is replaced with the real list from your own provider account.
• You can switch providers at any time without reinstalling the app.

Answers that arrive as they are written

Every provider streams; text appears piece by piece as the model writes it, rather than waiting for one finished reply. You can start reading early and stop it whenever you like.

• The Stop button halts a reply mid-flight. Whatever already appeared stays on screen; stopping is not a failure, so there is no error message and nothing to retry.
• If a provider does not respond at all within 30 seconds, the request is abandoned with a timeout message.
• If a provider stops sending mid-reply and goes quiet for 60 seconds, AURA stops waiting. A slow but steady reply is never cut off; only silence is.

Chat with attachments, markdown, copy, and save

AURA's chat bubble is built for real conversations, not one or two lines. Long answers stay readable and are easy to take with you.

• Attach up to 3 files in a single message, up to 20 MB in total.
• Replies render as markdown; lists, emphasis, and code blocks all display properly.
• A copy button to take the answer away, and a save button to write it to a file.
• While you are typing and talking, AURA stops wandering so it does not distract you.

Ask about your screen; if you switch it on

This is off by default. Once enabled in Settings → Screen, a camera button appears in the chat bubble and you can show it something on screen to discuss.

• The screen is only captured when you press that button. There is no periodic capture, no monitoring, and no timer.
• You choose the area yourself: drag to select part of the screen, Enter for the whole screen, Esc to cancel.
• It appears as an ordinary attachment you can remove before sending, and it is only transmitted when you press Send.
• The image is never written to disk and is not kept once the message is done.
• While the feature is off, screen capture requests are refused inside the app; not merely hidden behind a missing button.

Memory you switch on yourself

AURA remembers nothing until you ask it to. Memory is off by default; when enabled, it is stored locally on your computer and encrypted with Windows DPAPI.

• Per-conversation approval is on by default: an exchange is only saved after you press Remember in the chat bubble. Ignoring it means it is not saved.
• Memory drawers separate work from personal life; the chat only recalls the active drawer, and you can delete one drawer without touching the others.
• Retention is set in days. Enter 0 to keep until you delete it yourself; shortening it takes effect immediately.
• Export to Markdown or JSON at any time; your memories are not hostage to this app.
• Turning memory off also erases anything already stored.

Daily reminders

Add labelled reminders at a given time, either one-off or repeating on the days you choose. AURA raises them through ordinary Windows notifications.

• Weekly repeats can be chosen day by day.
• A reminder with no days selected runs once.

Battery warning

On a laptop, AURA tells you when the battery drops to the threshold you set; 20 percent by default. On a machine with no battery, the setting is ignored.

Two languages and a name of your choosing

The interface is available in Bahasa Indonesia and English, and can be switched at any time without reinstalling.

• You can rename the pet; up to 24 characters. The name appears in the chat bubble and is how the robot introduces itself.
• Changing character does not change your pet's name.

What changes and what does not

Switching character changes only how the pet looks and moves on screen. Every other setting stays exactly as it was.

• What changes: the 3D model, the idle, walk and sit animations, and the seat it uses.
• What does not: your pet's name, AI provider, API key, memory, reminders, language, shortcut, and everything else in Settings.

What a licence covers

One licence covers one character, bought through the AURA website. All four models already ship inside the app, so a licence unlocks the choice; there is no extra file to download.

• Good for up to three devices at once. A device can be released again when you change computers.
• Works without internet. AURA only needs to reach the licence service occasionally; when it cannot, the character keeps working for 14 days from the last successful check.
• Losing the key is not a problem. Purchases can be restored using the email address they were bought with.
• A network failure never revokes anything. Only an explicit revocation can, and it always says so.

A first message without AI tokens

Without ready provider credentials, the bubble says “To start chatting, please add your AI API key in Settings.” Open Settings goes directly to AI configuration. Local Ollama needs no API key, but its local service and model must be ready.

• When ready, a greeting is generated locally from device time: morning 04:00–10:59, midday 11:00–14:59, afternoon 15:00–17:59, evening 18:00–03:59.
• The greeting never calls a model and does not repeat whenever the same conversation bubble is reopened.
• The character faces the camera while the bubble is open; closing it returns to normal movement.

What the app never does

Some things are absent from the app entirely, not merely switched off by default.

• It does not access your camera or microphone.
• It does not read any file other than the attachments you pick yourself in the chat bubble.
• It does not control your computer, open applications, or modify files.
• It loads no telemetry, no usage analytics, and no third-party trackers of any kind.
• It requires no account and syncs nothing to any cloud.

Limitations worth knowing

Some things are not there yet, and some are deliberately absent. Better you know now than discover it later.

• Windows only. There is no macOS or Linux version.
• Not a task-running agent; AURA cannot open applications, change files, or control your computer.
• Qwen and DeepSeek accept text only; image attachments are refused before they are sent.
• On OpenRouter, image support depends on the model your request is routed to. That is why PDF and video are refused up front rather than failing differently depending on where they land.
• Legacy Office files (.doc, .xls, .ppt) cannot be read.
• Very long document content is truncated at around 30,000 characters.
• Startup status is read from Windows. If Windows disabled the startup task or the package is not registered, use Windows Settings → Apps → Startup. Registration and permission depend on the installed package.
• Screenshots are captured one request at a time; there is no recording and no periodic capture.