About 5 min read

Karma Box (macOS)

Karma Box is the macOS companion app for Karma One. It turns your Mac into an AI-powered workstation by giving the AI assistant deep access to native macOS capabilities -- file management, app control, email, calendar, voice interaction, and more.

Overview

While the Karma One mobile and web apps focus on conversation and content, Karma Box extends AI into your desktop workflow. The assistant can take screenshots, read your clipboard, manage files in Finder, control Safari, send emails, create calendar events, and even respond to voice commands -- all through natural language.

Karma Box also serves as the host for Local Sovereign AI, enabling fully offline AI processing on your own hardware.

System Requirements

  • macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
  • Apple Silicon (M1 or newer) recommended for Local Sovereign AI
  • For Safari control: enable Settings > Advanced > Show features for web developers, then Develop > Allow JavaScript from Apple Events

Installation

  1. Download Karma Box from the Karma One website or the Mac App Store.
  2. Open the app and sign in with your Karma One account.
  3. Grant the requested macOS permissions (Accessibility, Notifications, Camera, etc.) when prompted.
  4. Karma Box runs in the menu bar and connects to Karma One automatically.

System Tools

Karma Box provides a comprehensive set of system tools that the AI can use during conversations.

Screenshots

The AI can capture your screen on demand:

  • Full screen -- Capture the entire display.
  • Window -- Capture a specific application window.
  • Selection -- Capture a user-selected region.
  • Delayed capture -- Wait a specified number of seconds before taking the screenshot.

Screenshots are returned directly in the conversation for discussion, annotation, or analysis.

Clipboard

  • Read clipboard -- The AI can read the current contents of your clipboard and work with the text or data.
  • Write to clipboard -- The AI can place text into your clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere.

This is useful for workflows like "rewrite what I just copied" or "format this clipboard content as a table."

Notifications

The AI can send native macOS notifications with a title, message, optional subtitle, and optional sound. Useful for reminders, task completions, or alerts.

Text-to-Speech

The AI can speak text aloud using macOS's built-in voices:

  • Choose from system voices (e.g., Samantha for English, Ting-Ting for Chinese).
  • Adjust speech rate.
  • Useful for hands-free listening or accessibility.

AppleScript Execution

For advanced automation, the AI can execute AppleScript code to interact with any scriptable macOS application. This unlocks deep system automation beyond the built-in tools.

Finder File Management

Karma Box integrates with Finder to give the AI file management capabilities:

| Operation | Description | |-----------|-------------| | List files | Browse directory contents with name, size, type, and modification date | | File info | Get detailed metadata about a specific file or folder | | Move | Move files or folders to a new location | | Copy | Copy files or folders to a new location | | Create folder | Create new directories at a specified path |

Example prompts:

  • "List all PDFs in my Downloads folder"
  • "Move last week's reports to the Archive folder"
  • "Create a new folder called Q1 Reports on my Desktop"

Calendar Integration

The AI can read from and write to Calendar.app:

| Operation | Description | |-----------|-------------| | List calendars | Show all available calendars | | View events | Retrieve events within a date range, optionally filtered by calendar | | Create events | Add new events with title, time, location, notes, and optional alarm | | Delete events | Remove events by title and start date |

Example prompts:

  • "What meetings do I have tomorrow?"
  • "Create a team standup every weekday at 9:30 AM"
  • "Delete the dentist appointment on March 5th"

Safari Control

Karma Box can control Safari for web browsing and research:

| Operation | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Open URL | Open a webpage in a new tab | | List tabs | Show all open tabs across windows with URLs and titles | | Read page | Extract the text content of a Safari tab (up to 10,000 characters) | | Execute JavaScript | Run JavaScript in a tab and return the result | | Close tab | Close a specific tab |

This allows the AI to browse the web on your behalf, extract information from open pages, or automate web-based tasks.

Note: Safari control requires enabling JavaScript from Apple Events. See System Requirements above.

Mail.app Integration

The AI can manage your email through Mail.app:

Reading Email

| Operation | Description | |-----------|-------------| | List messages | View recent messages with subject, sender, date, and read status | | Read message | Get the full content of a specific email | | Search | Find messages by subject or sender | | Actions | Mark as read/unread, delete, or move to another mailbox |

Sending Email

The AI can compose and send emails with:

  • Multiple recipients (To, CC, BCC)
  • Subject and body text
  • File attachments

Important: The AI will always confirm with you before sending an email. Emails are sent immediately once confirmed.

Example prompts:

  • "Show my unread emails"
  • "Read the latest email from Alice"
  • "Send a follow-up email to the team about the Q4 report"

Camera and Screen Recording

Karma Box provides access to your Mac's camera and screen recording:

| Feature | Description | |---------|-------------| | Photo capture | Take a photo from the built-in or connected camera | | Video clip | Record a short video from the camera (specify duration) | | Screen recording | Record the screen for a specified duration |

Camera warmup time can be configured for better photo quality on initial capture.

Location Services

With your permission, the AI can access your current geographic location. This enables location-aware responses such as local weather, nearby recommendations, or timezone-specific scheduling.

Note: Location access requires macOS permission and is entirely optional.

Voice Wake and Talk Mode

Karma Box supports hands-free interaction through two voice features:

Voice Wake

When enabled, Karma Box listens for a wake word. Once detected, the AI activates and begins listening for your spoken request. This allows you to interact with the AI without touching your keyboard.

Talk Mode

Talk Mode enables continuous voice conversation. Instead of single wake-word activations, the AI stays in listening mode and you can speak naturally back and forth, similar to a phone call.

| Feature | Activation | Behavior | |---------|-----------|----------| | Voice Wake | Wake word detection | Single activation per trigger | | Talk Mode | Manual toggle | Continuous listening until deactivated |

Both features can be toggled from the Karma Box menu bar icon or through the app settings.

Shell Command Execution

For power users, Karma Box can execute shell commands on your Mac:

  • Run any terminal command (subject to user approval for sensitive operations).
  • Set a working directory for command execution.
  • Configure timeouts for long-running commands.

This enables workflows like running scripts, checking system status, managing Docker containers, or interacting with development tools -- all through natural language.

Local Sovereign AI

Karma Box serves as the host for Advanced Sovereign AI (local deployment). When configured:

  • AI models (text, vision, image generation) run directly on your Mac using Ollama or compatible runtimes.
  • All data processing happens locally -- nothing leaves your machine.
  • Works fully offline after initial model download.
  • Ideal for sensitive data, compliance requirements, or air-gapped environments.

See Sovereign AI for setup instructions and detailed capabilities.

Summary

Karma Box bridges the gap between AI conversation and real desktop productivity. Instead of copying results between your AI chat and your Mac apps, the AI works directly within your system -- managing files, composing emails, scheduling events, and automating workflows as a natural extension of your conversation.