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Coalesce Desktop
Coalesce Desktop is the Coalesce build experience you know from the web app, running on your computer and pointed at a local workspace folder. It enables local AI development: your pipeline lives as files your AI agent can work on, and Desktop turns those files into the visual, interactive Coalesce interface.
Ask your agent to add a source node, and the node appears in your graph as the agent writes the file. Ask it to restructure a pipeline, and you watch the DAG reshape itself. You review AI-driven work the way you already build in Coalesce. You inspect columns, open the SQL, and run nodes in a visual interface, rather than reading YAML in a code editor. Everything works in both directions: create, edit, and run nodes in the app exactly as you would in the web app, and the files on disk update to match.
Differences From the Web App
| Coalesce Desktop: on your machine | Web app: in your browser | |
|---|---|---|
| Your workspace | A folder you control | Managed for you |
| Building | The visual build experience, over local files | The same experience |
| AI assistance | Your choice of agent and LLM | Coalesce Copilot |
| Warehouse connection | Direct from your machine | Routed through Coalesce |
| Warehouse credentials | Your local coa config file | Saved to your account |
| Plan and deploy | The coa CLI | The deploy interface |
Because connections are direct, your queries, results, and warehouse secrets never pass through Coalesce servers; you may need to adjust your warehouse's network policy—for example, Snowflake network policies—to allow connections from developer machines. And because plans and deploys run through the CLI, your agent can run, inspect, and debug them for you.
Install
- macOS
- Windows
Download Coalesce Desktop for macOS, open the disk image, and drag Coalesce to Applications.
Download Coalesce Desktop for Windows and run the installer.
Desktop bundles Node.js and the coa CLI, so there's nothing else to install. The app runs this bundled build itself, kept off your PATH so it never collides with a standalone coa. Desktop publishes ~/.coalesce/desktop/agent.json so your agent can discover and run it.
Supported Platforms and Authentication
| Platform | Supported authentication |
|---|---|
| Snowflake | Username/password or programmatic access token (PAT), key pair (including encrypted keys), OAuth |
| Databricks | Personal access token, OAuth M2M (client ID and secret) |
| BigQuery | Service account, Application Default Credentials |
Use a programmatic access token (PAT) in place of your password, or use key pair or OAuth. These methods avoid per-query MFA prompts.
Username and password with MFA is supported with push-based authenticators, such as Duo.
Usage
- Complete the Local Development Setup Guide so a workspace exists on disk.
- Launch Coalesce Desktop and open your workspace folder. Desktop shows one workspace at a time; you can switch between workspace folders.
- Build, by hand or with your agent. The app updates as files change.
Updating
Desktop checks for updates each time it launches. When a new version is available, it asks whether to download it. Choose Update to download it, or Not now to keep your current version. After the download finishes, choose Restart now to apply the update, or Later to apply it the next time you quit the app.
To check at any time, choose Check for Updates… from the Coalesce menu on macOS or the File menu on Windows. Select Install Updates Automatically in the same menu to download and apply updates without being asked. It's off by default.
Preview builds don't update to release builds. If you installed a preview build, reinstall Desktop once from the Install links.
Uninstalling
- macOS
- Windows
Quit Coalesce, then drag Coalesce from Applications to the Trash.
Go to Settings > Apps > Installed apps, find Coalesce, and select Uninstall.
Uninstalling leaves your workspace folders untouched. It also leaves app settings, logs, and the agent discovery files, which you can delete manually:
- App settings and logs:
~/Library/Application Support/@coalescesoftware/desktopand~/Library/Logs/@coalescesoftware/desktopon macOS,%APPDATA%\@coalescesoftware\desktopon Windows. - Agent discovery files:
~/.coalesce/desktop/on macOS,%USERPROFILE%\.coalesce\desktop\on Windows.