> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bor-os.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What is bor # What is Bed of Roses? Bed of Roses is an **AI-native operating-system layer for macOS**. It is built on a single premise: a conversation with an AI should be able to *produce durable software and take real action* — not just return text. ## The presence The thing you interact with is the **presence**: a small orb that floats above your desktop, always on top, draggable anywhere. It has three states you'll see constantly: * **Collapsed orb** — idle, waiting. Click it to talk. * **Expanded prompt** — a composer where you type (or attach files / screenshots). * **Thought bubble** — while BOR works, a bubble streams its thinking and shows **live cards**: a code editor filling in, a terminal running a command, a browser session with screenshots, a generated image, a countdown while it waits. The presence is deliberately *ambient*. It sits beside your real apps, not in front of them. When it builds you an app, that app opens as its own native Mac window you can dock-tab to, resize, and keep. ## What a "turn" produces When you ask for something, BOR doesn't only reply — it can emit any combination of: * **A spoken answer** (``) — streamed text in the bubble. * **An app** — a full-screen, stateful application that opens as a Mac window (a calorie tracker, a CRM, a dashboard). * **A shortcut** — a small live interactive card that lives *inside* the thought bubble (a translator, a Pomodoro timer, a pay button). * **Files** — real source code or documents written to disk. * **Commands** — shell commands actually executed on your machine. * **A new look** — a theme change, a generated wallpaper, new fonts. * **Actions** — clicking in another app, opening a URL in a browser, scheduling a job, sending a notification. Each of these is a **tool call** in BOR's XML protocol. See [The protocol](../concepts/the-protocol.md). ## Apps vs. shortcuts vs. real projects This distinction matters and BOR enforces it: * **App** (``) — a BOR-internal surface that opens as its own Mac window. Long-lived, multi-screen, the kind of thing you return to. * **Shortcut** (``) — a BOR-internal surface that renders as a sandboxed iframe card *inside the bubble*. Conversation-adjacent, small, stateful. * **Real project** — when you ask BOR to "build a React landing page" or "fix the bug in my repo", that is **not** a BOR app. BOR writes real code to a workspace, runs the dev server, and previews it in the browser. See [Apps](../features/apps.md) for how BOR chooses. ## Who it's for * People who want an AI that *does things on their Mac*, not just chats. * Developers who want a conversational way to scaffold, run, and preview real projects. * Anyone who wants a customizable, ambient assistant that remembers them and grows with use. ## What it is **not** * It is not a VSCode extension (though it can write and run code like one). * It is not locked to a single AI vendor — you bring your own provider, or use BOR credits. * It is not a cloud service that owns your data. Everything generated lives on your disk and is yours. ## Next * [Installation](installation.md) — get it running. * [Quickstart](quickstart.md) — your first useful turns. * [Architecture](../concepts/architecture.md) — how the pieces fit.