llms.txt

# Mill

> Mill is a desktop app for guardrailed automation: workflows composed from typed steps, run by hotkey/schedule/watcher, with every external effect gated for approval — and a full MCP surface so AI agents can drive it under the same guardrails. Single binary, local data, no phone-home.

## Start here

- [What is Mill](start-here/what-is-mill.md): the product in three ideas
- [Install](start-here/install.md): release install, source build, where data lives
- [Your first workflow](start-here/first-workflow.md): run the seeded example, then rebuild it
- [Your first board](start-here/first-board.md): place a card, a table and a diagram on a board, line them up, undo

## How-to

- [Store and reference a secret](how-to/store-and-reference-a-secret.md): put a value in the vault and pick it wherever a step needs it
- [Install a plugin](reference/install-a-plugin.md): installing from a marketplace, a repository, or a folder, and what the badge means

## Concepts

- [Workflows and steps](concepts/workflows-and-steps.md): triggers, the typed step contract, payload vs attributes, versions
- [Guardrails and effect classes](concepts/guardrails.md): what asks for approval and how rules scope it
- [Configure entities](concepts/configure.md): integrations, lists, MCP servers, AI providers, environments
- [Atlas](concepts/atlas.md): the knowledge board: kinds, links, areas, doc mirrors, card actions
- [Runs, review, and debugging](concepts/runs-and-review.md): durable runs, the review queue, breakpoints
- [The coding loop](concepts/coding-loop.md): copy a command, confirm the parsed steps, watch it run, copy the result back
- [Secrets are references](concepts/secrets.md): the vault, references in every secret field, sources, the lock policy
- [Extensions and trust](concepts/extensions.md): the store, sources, verification tiers, and what an extension can reach
- [Trust, data, and safety](trust/data-and-safety.md): no phone-home, local data, honest limits

## Reference

- [Step reference](reference/steps.md): every step's contract, generated from the registry
- [Commands](reference/commands.md): every registered command's id, label, default binding, surface, and enablement, generated from the registry
- [Menu bar](reference/menu-bar.md): every menu and item in the macOS menu bar, its shortcut, and the command behind it, generated from the registry
- [Environments](reference/environments.md): named sets of plain and secret variables, {{var}} in a request, and which one a run selects
- [Client certificates](reference/client-certificates.md): presenting a client certificate per host: formats, matching, expiry status, and the Test action
- [The browser extension](reference/browser-extension.md): pairing a browser so Mill can replay recorded steps in your own signed-in session
- [Settings](reference/settings.md): app preferences: appearance, vault lock policy, hotkeys, shortcuts, MCP access, remote access, backups, updates
- [Extending the canvas](reference/extending-the-canvas.md): how a canvas noun loads, what its declaration requires, and what platform APIs it may and may not reach
- [Register a canvas tool](reference/register-a-canvas-tool.md): walks a new AtlasToolShape declaration end to end, quoting a real registered tool
- [Register a command](reference/register-a-command.md): walks a new Command registry entry end to end, quoting a real registered command
- [The plugin standard](reference/plugin-standard.md): the rules a shipped plugin follows, and which ones the conformance checker enforces
- [Plugin theming](reference/plugin-theming.md): the theme variables a plugin renders with
- [Managed extensions](reference/managed-extensions.md): the organisation policy file: allow and block lists, required tier, blocked capabilities, allowed sources, and what an install checks
- [Plugin API maturity](reference/plugin-api-maturity.md): each contribution family's level and its proof, generated from the repository

## For agents

- [Automate with agents](agents/connect-mcp.md): connecting over MCP and what agents can do
- [Edit a diagram with an agent](agents/diagrams.md): reading a diagram's shapes by id and adding, changing, deleting and importing them in place
- [What plugins expose to agents](agents/plugins.md): listing installed plugins, calling a plugin's declared tools, and how a plugin write parks