Employee setup guide

Print this and hand it to every new hire on day one.

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MARINA

AI Chief of Staff · Employee setup guide

Welcome to MARINA.

This guide gets the desktop agent running on your work computer. It takes about 10 minutes end-to-end and only needs to be done once per device.


What MARINA does

  • · You get credit for what you ship — the agent watches focus time, apps, breaks.
  • · You don't write status updates — MARINA drafts them from your real activity.
  • · Standups stop wasting time — Scrum Mode pre-fills yesterday / today / blockers.
  • · One click when you're stuck — your manager sees blockers instantly.

What it does NOT do: read your messages, emails, files, or browser history. No screen capture, no keystroke logging, no tracking outside your working hours. You can pause anytime.

Before you start

You'll need:

  • A Mac (macOS 13 Ventura or later) or a Windows 10/11 PC.
  • Your work email — the same one your HR used to invite you.
  • About 10 minutes.

Step 1 — Accept your invite (3 min)

  1. Find the email titled “You're invited to join [Workspace] on MARINA”.
  2. Click Open your workspace.
  3. Choose a sign-in method: GitHub (engineers), Google (Workspace teams), or email magic link.
  4. Pick a character avatar — your teammates spot you across the product. You can change it anytime.
  5. Fill in: discipline, job title, joining date, and (optional) birthday.

Step 2 — Install the desktop agent (4 min)

On Mac

  1. Download Marina.dmg from marina.team/download.
  2. Open the DMG and drag Marina into Applications.
  3. Launch Marina from Applications. macOS blocks it the first time — follow “If macOS says it can't verify Marina” just below.
  4. Grant Accessibility (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility) so it can tell active from idle.
  5. A welcome window opens automatically — continue setup there.

On Windows

  1. Download Marina-Setup.exe from marina.team/download.
  2. Run the installer. If SmartScreen warns you, click More info → Run anyway.
  3. Marina starts in the system tray (bottom right, click ^ to expand) and opens its welcome window.
  4. Pin it to the tray: right-click the tray → Taskbar settings → toggle Marina on.

If macOS says it can't verify Marina

The first time you open it, macOS may show:“Apple could not verify ‘Marina’ is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.”

This is expected — Marina is distributed directly to your company, not through the Mac App Store, so Apple hasn't notarized it. It's safe to open. Here's how:

  1. On that message, click Done (do not click “Move to Trash”).
  2. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
  3. Scroll to the Security section. You'll see “Marina was blocked to protect your Mac.” Click Open Anyway.
  4. Confirm with Touch ID or your password, then click Open Anyway once more.

On macOS Sonoma and earlier you can instead right-click Marina in Applications → Open → Open. You only do this once — after that it launches normally.

Still see “Marina is damaged and can't be opened”? That's the download quarantine flag. Open Terminal, paste xattr -cr /Applications/Marina.app, press Return, then open Marina again.

Step 3 — Pair the agent (1 min)

When Marina first opens, a welcome window walks you through what it does, your privacy, and connecting this computer. At the “Connect this Mac” step:

  1. On the web at marina.team, open Settings → Pair a device and click Generate code.
  2. Type the 8-character code into the welcome window (it's valid for 10 minutes).
  3. Click Pair device. You'll see “Welcome, [your name]” and a quick tour of the menu-bar actions.

Lost the window? Click the Marina icon in your menu bar (top-right) → Set up Marina to reopen it.

Step 4 — Your first day (2 min)

Everything is one click in the menu bar — click the Marina icon (top-right) to punch in or out, take a break, request leave, mark work as done, pause tracking, or open your dashboard. Two actions also have global keyboard shortcuts:

⌘⇧D / Ctrl+Shift+DMark work as done — quick deliverable log
⌘⇧B / Ctrl+Shift+BTake a break (Coffee / Lunch / Personal / Blocked)

Your day: punch in when you open your laptop · log deliverables with ⌘⇧D when you finish something · take a break when you step away · punch out at end of day.

Optional but recommended

  • Connect Google Calendar — see meetings in the agent.
  • Connect GitHub (engineers) — PRs and commits show up automatically.
  • Set working days — for hybrid / 4-day weeks.
  • Quiet hours — MARINA queues notifications outside your window.

What your manager sees

Yes

  • Punch in / out times
  • Focus % during your shift
  • App categories you used
  • What you marked as done
  • Working / paused / blocked / off state

No

  • Messages, emails, document contents
  • Window titles or URLs (unless opted in)
  • Your screen — never captured
  • Anything during pause or off-hours

Help

· Can't sign in or pair? Email thetanishgarg@gmail.com — we usually reply within an hour during IST business hours.
· Found a bug? Desktop agent menu → Report an issue — logs attach automatically.
· Security / privacy questions? thetanishgarg@gmail.com · thetanishgarg@gmail.com


We hope MARINA makes your work life better. If anything feels off, tell us — we ship fixes weekly. — The MARINA team