# Set up a desk pet

> Set up a StellarFirm desk pet over USB or its own Wi-Fi, type the confirm code, then talk to your team out loud. Settings, privacy, and fixes.

A desk pet is a small figure that sits on your desk and connects your team to your voice. You hold its light, say what you want, and your assistants do the work. It speaks the answer back. The three figures are Nova the astronaut, Zib the alien, and Comet the cat.

> [!NOTE]
> Desk pets are Coming soon. The screens described here open for your account when desk pets are switched on for it. Until then, the entry in Settings shows a Coming soon badge and is not a link.

## What you need

- A desk pet, switched on and charged.
- A computer with Chrome or Edge and a USB data cable, for the USB way. Or a phone, for the pet's own Wi-Fi way.
- Your home Wi-Fi name and password. The pet uses the 2.4 GHz band only.
- A StellarFirm account. Everyone on a team can set up desk pets for their own account.

Open **Your desk pets** from your account menu in the rail, or from **Settings**, then **Your desk pets**. Choose **Make a setup code**. The code is good for 30 minutes and works once.

## Set up over USB

This is the easiest way, and it is offered first where your browser can talk to a USB device.

1. Plug the pet's **DATA** port into your computer with a data cable, then switch the pet on. The **CHARGE** port shows nothing, and neither does a cable that only charges.
2. In **Add a desk pet**, choose **Connect to my pet**. Pick your pet in the box your browser shows.
3. Wait for the line that says your pet answered. Pick your Wi-Fi network from the list, or choose **A hidden network** and type its name.
4. Type your Wi-Fi password and choose **Join this network**.
5. The pet joins your Wi-Fi and asks StellarFirm to pair. Then it says a confirm code out loud. Go to [Type the confirm code](#type-the-confirm-code).

Your Wi-Fi password goes over the cable to your pet and nowhere else. StellarFirm never sees it.

## Set up with the pet's own Wi-Fi

Use this if your browser has no USB (Safari, a phone, or the StellarFirm desktop window), or if the USB way did not work. Choose **Use the pet's Wi-Fi instead**.

1. Switch the pet on with nothing paired. It opens its own Wi-Fi network, named like **StellarFirm Nova 1A2B**.
2. Listen to the pet. After it says hello, it spells the network's password, one letter or digit at a time, in lower case. Tap its lime light to hear the password again.
3. On your phone, join the pet's network with that password.
4. Open the setup page the pet shows. Pick your home Wi-Fi, then type its password and the setup code from the screen.
5. The pet joins your Wi-Fi and asks StellarFirm to pair. It says a confirm code out loud. Go to [Type the confirm code](#type-the-confirm-code).

Only someone in the room with the pet can hear the password, so nobody else can join its network. The pet's network closes after 10 minutes, and when setup is done.

## Type the confirm code

The pet says an eight character code slowly, one letter or digit at a time. It says the code three times, with "Listen, here is the code again" before the second and the third time. You have 10 minutes to type it. Tap its lime light to hear it again.

1. On **Your desk pets**, find the card that says your pet is waiting.
2. Type the code into **Code your pet said**. The **Approve** button stays off until you have typed all eight characters.
3. Choose **Approve**.

Nothing sets a pet up without this typed code. The page never shows the code or fills it in for you. If you type a wrong code, you can try again. After five wrong tries the request closes. Make a new setup code and start again.

When it works, your pet appears in the list as **Online**, with its battery and when it last spoke to StellarFirm. You can unplug the cable.

## What the light means

| Light | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Slow blue blink | Setting up Wi-Fi or pairing. |
| Soft green glow | Ready. |
| Solid bright green | Listening. The microphone is recording. |
| Pulsing green | Thinking. |
| White flicker | Speaking. |
| Slow purple blink | An assistant is waiting for your Approve in the app. |
| Quick green sparkles | Done. |
| Pink double blink | Stopped, or something went wrong. |
| Slow grey breathing | Offline. It is saving what you say. |
| Dim solid pink | The microphone is switched off. |

## Talk to it

Hold the lime light for a moment and talk. The light turns solid green while the microphone records. It stops when you are quiet for 5 seconds, when you tap the light, or after 2 minutes. Your words go to your team as your own message in your main chat, and the answer is there to read as well as spoken.

| Gesture | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| Hold the lime light | Start listening. |
| Tap while listening | Stop and send now. |
| Tap while not listening | Plays the notice that is waiting. |
| Double tap | Plays what is happening now. |

A desk pet never approves anything. If an assistant needs your Approve, the pet tells you there is one waiting. You decide in the app.

## Settings

Each pet has a card on **Your desk pets**. Changes save as you make them.

- **Name**: what your pet is called. Letters only.
- **Voice**: how it sounds. Hearing a voice sample uses credits.
- **Volume** and **Say notices aloud**.
- **Quiet hours**: a time range when the pet stays silent.
- **Saved notes**: what happens to notes your pet saved while offline. Send them when it is back, or keep them as drafts for you to read.
- **Daily limit**: the most turns a day, from 1 to 200.
- **Pause**: the pet stops sending and speaking until you turn it back on.

You can have up to 10 desk pets on an account.

## Forget a pet

On a pet's card, choose **Forget**, then confirm. The pet is removed from your account at once. To use the same pet again, hold its lime light for ten seconds while you switch it on, then set it up again.

## Privacy

- The microphone records only after you hold the lime light. There is no wake word. The light is solid green whenever it records, and a switch on the pet cuts the microphone's power.
- No audio is kept. Your words are turned into text, sent as your message, and the recording is discarded.
- Your home Wi-Fi password goes only over the cable to the pet, or to the pet's own page on its own network. It never goes to StellarFirm.
- A pet is approved only by the code you type, and it can only act as your own message. Every Approve, rule, and limit in StellarFirm still applies.

## If something goes wrong

| What you see or hear | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| **Your pet did not answer** | Check that the pet is switched on and plugged in by its **DATA** port, with a data cable. Choose **Try again**. |
| No pet shows in the browser's box | Try another cable or port. On Linux, your user may need permission to use serial devices. Close any program that is using the pet's port. |
| **Your pet could not join that Wi-Fi network** | Check the password, and that the network uses the 2.4 GHz band. Try again. |
| It joined Wi-Fi but could not reach StellarFirm | Check that the network has internet access. Try again. |
| **That code does not match** | Type the newest code your pet said. If you made more than one setup code, only the latest request counts. Tap the lime light to hear the code again. After five wrong tries, make a new setup code. |
| The setup code expired or was used | Choose **Make a new code**. A setup code works once and lasts 30 minutes. |
| The pet says it is offline | Check that it is plugged in and on Wi-Fi. What you say is saved on the pet and sent when it is back. |
| **My memory is full** | The pet could not reach StellarFirm and has no room to save what you said. Check its Wi-Fi, wait for the soft green glow, and say it again. |
| The pet says it is not connected to StellarFirm anymore | It was forgotten on your account. Hold its lime light for ten seconds while you switch it on, then set it up again. |
| The page says desk pets are set up on StellarFirm web | Open StellarFirm in your browser, then choose **Your desk pets** from your account menu. |

## Related

- [Approvals](/docs/ceo/approvals) explains how Approve works across StellarFirm.
- [Credits and usage](/docs/credits) shows where to see what your assistants used.
- [Privacy and security](/docs/trust) explains how StellarFirm keeps your work private.

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Source: https://stellarfirm.ai/docs/getting-started/desk-pets