How Numa uses your screen

Numa can see your screen during active tasks. That is how it knows what app is open, where buttons are, what information is visible, and what action should happen next.

It is also one of the most important trust questions.

Is Numa always watching?

No.

When Numa is idle, it is not recording your screen, capturing screenshots, or building a timeline of your day.

Numa uses screen access when it needs visual context to complete work you started.

When screen access is used

Numa may capture the screen when:

You ask it to complete a desktop task.
You start a workflow recording.
You explicitly ask it to inspect something visible.
It needs to understand where to click or type next.

The screen is part of the task context, not a background surveillance feed.

Why screen access is necessary

Many apps are built for humans, not automation systems.

Numa needs to see the same interface you see:

Buttons
Menus
Forms
Files
Browser tabs
Documents
Dialogs
Error messages

Without screen access, Numa cannot reliably work in apps that do not expose a clean API.

The action loop

During a task, the loop is:

1. Numa looks at the current screen. 2. It decides the next step. 3. Your computer performs the action. 4. Numa looks again. 5. The process repeats until done or until Numa needs help.

This is closer to how a person works than how a traditional automation script works.

What Numa does not use

Numa does not use your webcam.

Numa does not need to see your face.

Numa does not watch other monitors in the current described behavior. It works from the active primary screen context described in the docs.

Numa does not capture your screen while idle.

What to do before sensitive tasks

Before asking Numa to work:

Close unrelated sensitive windows.
Scope the task to a specific app, folder, or file.
Avoid exposing accounts or documents unrelated to the task.
Review outputs before sending or publishing.
Stop the task if it moves in the wrong direction.

The short version

Numa uses your screen during active tasks so it can understand and operate your desktop. It is not an always-on screen recorder.