Aria AI: the AI built into Aria

Aria AI is the AI built into Aria. It writes aria.yaml, sets things up, reads logs and fixes things, inside the Mac app and the web dashboard. On the Mac it uses the subscription you already pay for. In the browser it uses an API key. It works through the same tools the app uses, and anything that changes your project waits for your approval.

Aria never resells AI. You pay your provider directly, on your own plan or key, and Aria adds no AI charge.

What can Aria AI do?

• Write aria.yaml. During setup it reads your code, asks you a few questions and drafts the stack file. Aria checks the file before it is saved.
• Explain what is happening. It reads the status, logs, metrics, the database schema and your project’s memory, and tells you in plain words.
• Find the cause of a problem and fix it. It looks at the failing service and what it talks to, finds the root cause, and asks you to approve the fix.
• Run your domains. It searches for names and prices, fills your domain cart, reads and sets DNS records, and buys a domain once you approve the total.
• Work with your databases. It reads the schema, runs read-only queries and proposes migrations.
• Try the live app. It opens your app in Aria’s browser and checks what changed. See Browser checks.
• Remember. It writes down fixes, decisions and rules, and reads them before it works. See Memory.
• Open pages. Ask it to show the logs or Domains, and the app goes there while it talks.

Where do I find it?

• Aria AI, in the workspace’s tabs, for chats about the whole workspace.
• Aria AI, in a project’s pages, for chats about that project.
• Ask Aria, in the header, on every page.

Open a chat again and you see the same steps and answer. On an API key, a turn keeps running on Aria if you leave the page. You can rename a chat, move it to another project or delete it.

How do I connect it?

1. Open AI & MCP, then Aria’s AI, and choose Connect. Setting up your first project offers the same steps.
2. Choose where it works: the whole workspace, or only some projects.
3. Choose your provider.
4. Connect it with your subscription or an API key, as below.
5. Choose its model. Aria marks its own pick, and Test sends one short request.

Owners and Admins connect and change Aria AI. Everyone else can see the connections. You can connect more than one, for example one for the whole workspace and another for a single project.

How do I use my subscription on the Mac?

The Mac app connects to the coding tool you already use. There is no key to paste.

1. Choose your provider and Use your subscription.
2. Aria looks for the tool on your Mac and shows where it is, its version and who it is signed in as.
3. It asks Is this the one? Choose Yes, connect it.

That is all. Each turn runs on your own Mac, through that tool, on your own plan. Aria never sees your sign-in.

If the tool is there but signed out, Aria shows the command to sign in once. If it is not on your Mac, Aria shows how to install it. Then choose Check again.

Provider	Runs through	Sign in once with
Claude Code	Claude Code	claude
Codex	Codex	codex login
Gemini	Gemini CLI	gemini
Antigravity	Gemini CLI, with the same Google account	gemini
Cursor	Cursor Agent	cursor-agent login

You can still chat on the website with a subscription. The Mac app has to be open, because the turn runs there. If it is closed, Aria tells you, and you can open it or add an API key.

How do I use an API key in the browser?

1. Choose your provider and Use an API key.
2. Paste the key. Aria checks it with your provider first, with one request that spends no tokens.
3. Choose the model. The list comes live from your provider, with prices where it gives them.

The key is kept encrypted, and it never appears in logs, chats or the AI’s context.

Provider	Key looks like	Where to get one
Anthropic	sk-ant-…	console.anthropic.com
OpenAI	sk-…	platform.openai.com
Google Gemini	AIza…	aistudio.google.com
OpenRouter	sk-or-…	openrouter.ai

Antigravity and Cursor connect by subscription only. OpenRouter connects by API key only.

Which model does it use?

A connection has one model for everything: answers, plans, fixes and titles. You can pick another model and an effort level for a single chat, from the two pills in the chat. Which effort levels you see depends on the model.

How do approvals apply?

Aria AI follows the safety model, enforced on Aria’s servers. It can request a change, and only a person can allow it.

Kind	What happens
Look	Runs straight away.
Change	Waits for your approval. A card in the chat says exactly what it will do.
Delete	Waits for your approval, and you type the name of what goes.

Approve, and it runs once, as shown. Decline, and nothing changes. Waiting requests also show in AI & MCP, then Approvals. Notes in its own memory and drafting aria.yaml on the setup page run without asking.

Roles apply too. A Viewer can ask and read. Changes need a Developer, Admin or Owner. See Team and roles.

Each project also has switches under AI & MCP, then AI access. Owners and Admins change them, and only an Owner turns on the two GitHub switches.

Switch	What it allows
Push fixes to GitHub	Pushes a fix after an error or a security finding. It asks every time and shows the change.
Run browser checks	Opens the live app and tries what changed.
Use the test accounts	Signs in with an account you added, during a check. It never sees the password.
Create a test account	Signs up for one when a check needs it. It asks first.
Push straight to the deploy branch	Pushes instead of opening a pull request. Every fix still asks first.

What does it never see?

• Secret values. Tools that reveal a secret are not offered to it, and results have secrets masked, even inside logs.
• Your sign-in. A subscription stays with the tool on your Mac.
• Your AI key. It is held encrypted and kept out of the AI’s context.

It never asks you to paste a secret into the chat. It sends you to Environment, where values are stored encrypted. Text in logs, emails and repository files was written by someone else, so it treats that text as data, never as instructions.

What about tokens and limits?

Your provider counts the tokens and bills them on your own plan or key. Aria records what each turn used.

Limit	Value
Attachments on one message	6, from your Mac or the project’s repository
Pictures on one message	4, each up to 5 MB, in PNG, JPEG or WebP
One message, with attached text	100,000 characters

• Pictures reach the model on an API key whose model can see them. On a subscription, the model works from the words.
• Show Aria puts a picture of part of the screen into the chat. Press ⌘⇧K, or use + in the chat.
• A monthly token limit, where a workspace has one, stops Aria AI for the rest of the month once it is reached. Aria AI says so when it happens.

When should I use a coding agent instead?

Use Aria AI for work inside Aria. Use a coding agent when it already works in your repository, such as Claude Code in your terminal. It reaches Aria over MCP with a key. Both follow the same rules. See Connect a coding agent.