TAFEL

Bring your ideas to life with visual prompts

Draw on paper, arrange sticky notes, hold up a book. Tafel watches your desk with any camera, and a thumbs up sends what it sees to your AI agent as a prompt. The agent reads your handwriting and your layout together and builds what you sketched.

app ↘Tafel on your computer
visual prompt
result ↓in your agent's chat
Download for macOS See examples macOS, Windows and Linux (preview) · All downloads

From desk to working result

Each example shows what was on the desk next to what the agent built from it. Play the game, try the explanation or enlarge either side.

What you get

Features

  • Connect any camera

    Your computer's camera, a USB webcam, an iPhone through Continuity Camera on a Mac, or an Android phone or IP camera on your local network.

  • Works with most AI agents

    Tafel runs a local MCP server, so any MCP-capable agent can use it. In hosts that support MCP Apps, your snapshots appear as a card right in the conversation.

  • Use gestures and put your laptop away

    Hold a gesture for two seconds. A ring fills while you hold, and letting go cancels.

    👍
    Send a snapshot of this camera
    🙌
    Send every watching camera at once
    👌
    Start a collection, then finish and send it
    ✋
    Pause this camera
    ✌️
    Resume a paused camera

  • Integrate physical objects

    The agent sees the whole desk: a book open on the right page, a prototype, a stack of sticky notes in priority order. Objects become part of the prompt.

Use

  • Multiple cameras at once

    Point one camera at the desk and one at the whiteboard. Two thumbs up sends both views as a single prompt.

  • Multiplayer by default

    Everyone at the table can draw on the same sheet and give the thumbs up. Co-author a visual prompt without passing a laptop around.

  • Several sheets, one prompt

    Make an ok sign, show page after page, and make it again to send them together. Good for a multi-screen flow or a storyboard.

  • Sessions that keep your work

    Snapshots are grouped in named sessions on your computer and survive a restart. Your agent can look back at earlier sketches in the same session.

  • Private by design

    Hand detection runs on your computer. The MCP server only listens on your own machine, and Tafel needs no account or API key. Pause a camera and the agent stops seeing it.

Install

Four steps, the last one optional.

  1. Download the app

    • macOS. Open the disk image and drag Tafel to Applications. Allow camera access when macOS asks.
    • Windows (preview). Run the installer. It is not signed yet, so Windows may say it protected your PC: choose More info, then Run anyway.
    • Linux (preview). Make the AppImage executable and open it, or install the .deb on Ubuntu or Debian.

    Checksums for every download.

  2. Connect your agent

    Add Tafel as an MCP server. In the Claude desktop app, choose Settings → Developer → Edit Config, paste this, and restart. Other MCP hosts can connect to http://127.0.0.1:41625/mcp directly. 

    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "tafel": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "http://127.0.0.1:41625/mcp", "--allow-http"]
    }
  }
}

  3. Start prompting

    Tell your agent "I'll sketch it", or pick Start visual prompting from its prompt menu. Draw, then hold a thumbs up. The agent receives the snapshot and gets to work.

  4. Add a camera over your network (optional)

    Run an IP camera app on a phone or tablet and paste its stream URL under Developer → Network camera. Tafel only accepts addresses on your local network.

Questions

Which agents work with Tafel?

Any agent that can use an MCP server over HTTP. The Claude desktop app connects through mcp-remote as shown above. Hosts that support MCP Apps also show your snapshots as an inline card with their delivery status.

Where do my images go?

Snapshots are stored on your computer, in sessions, until you delete them. What you send goes to your agent, and through it to the model provider that agent uses. Tafel itself uploads nothing.

Can the agent see my desk all the time?

While a camera is watching, a connected agent can take a look at the desk, and Tafel shows you each time it does. Pause the camera and it stops.

What if a gesture fires while I'm writing?

Every gesture has to be held for two seconds, and letting go cancels it. You can switch off individual gestures, or gesture recognition altogether, and use the buttons in the app instead. A fist does nothing, because a hand holding a pen looks like one.

Does Tafel run on Windows or Linux?

Yes, as a preview, with the same gestures, cameras and agent connection. The Windows installer is not signed yet, so Windows may say it protected your PC: choose More info, then Run anyway. On Windows and Linux, Tafel finds your hands with Google's MediaPipe hand models, run inside the app, so detection stays on your computer just as it does on a Mac.

Do I need a special camera?

No. The built-in camera works, though a camera looking down at the desk works best. On a Mac, an iPhone on a desk stand through Continuity Camera is a good setup. Up to four cameras run smoothly on a Mac. On Windows and Linux, hand detection takes more processor time, so start with one or two.

Does it need an internet connection or an API key?

Tafel itself does not. It never reaches the public internet. Your agent needs whatever connection it normally uses.

Example