Goose

Goose: Files, the web, and memory

This is page 3 of 8 for Goose. You finished the first safe job, so Goose is installed, Manual Approval is your Default Mode, and the goose-tryout folder holds two harmless files. This page shows what Goose can do with your files, with the web, and with memory, with one small exercise for each.

These steps match the Goose docs as checked on 14 November 2026. Start each exercise in a new chat, and check that it is in Manual Approval first.

Files: Goose reaches what you can reach

Goose runs on your real computer as you, so the files it can read and change are the files your everyday account can reach. The built-in Developer extension, which is on by default, gives it a text editor and a shell for running commands, and there is no folder lock around either one.

Each chat does have a working directory, which is the folder where Goose starts. To change it, click the directory switcher at the bottom of the app and choose your goose-tryout folder. That makes Goose start in the right place, but like the folder you name in a message, it is a starting point rather than a wall.

The desktop app gives you four documented ways to hand Goose a file.

In each case Goose gets the path, then opens the file itself with its tools, so the file stays where it is rather than being copied into Goose.

For PDF, Word, and Excel files, the docs point to the built-in Computer Controller extension, which you turn on from Extensions in the sidebar. The same extension can also control apps and system settings, which the docs describe as macOS automation, and this guide could not confirm how much of it works on Windows.

The Goose docs also say plainly that Goose "can and will edit files," and they advise keeping a way to undo its changes. For the files on this page, that means working only on copies inside goose-tryout, never on originals.

Try it: make a small spreadsheet

Set the working directory to goose-tryout with the directory switcher, then paste:

Work only in my current working directory. Make a file named shopping.csv with three grocery items in one column and a price for each in a second column. Do not read, change, move, or delete any other file.

Click Allow only when the request names shopping.csv inside your folder, and click Deny for anything else.

What you should see Goose asks once to write shopping.csv, and afterward the folder holds your note, the summary from the first job, and shopping.csv, which opens in Excel, Numbers, or any spreadsheet app.

The web: search is built in, browser control is not

Goose ships with one built-in skill, web-search, and the docs say it can "Search the web using DuckDuckGo (no API key), Tavily, or SearXNG, and extract page content" for you. It runs through the Skills extension, which is on by default. That means you can ask Goose to look something up without any setup.

Goose has no browser of its own that it can click around in. For that, the docs point to a separate skill from the browser-use project, installed with browser-use skill install. This guide does not walk through that install, and if you add it later, stay logged out of every account in the browser it drives, because a page can carry a prompt injection.

Try it: look something up

Paste this, and change the library to one near you:

Search the web for the opening hours of the public library in [your town]. Tell me the hours and the web address of the page you used. Do not open any page that asks you to sign in, and do not create or change any file.

If Goose shows Allow and Deny during the search, read the request first. A search should name a web address or a search site, not a file or a folder on your computer.

What you should see a short answer with the hours and the address of the page they came from, and no new or changed files in goose-tryout.

Memory: chats are kept, and facts are kept only if you turn it on

Goose remembers in two separate ways, and you can see and delete both.

Your chats. Goose saves every chat automatically in a database on your computer. Your 10 most recent chats sit in the Chat section of the sidebar, and Session History in the sidebar holds the rest. The docs say you can search across old chats there with Ctrl+F on Windows or Cmd+F on a Mac.

To delete a chat, click Session History, hover over the chat, click the button that appears, and confirm. The docs warn that deleting a chat "cannot be undone," so export it first if you might want it. An open GitHub issue from August 2026 reports that on Windows 11, in version 1.47.0, those hover buttons did not appear, and this guide could not confirm whether newer versions fix it.

Facts you ask it to keep. The built-in Memory extension lets Goose save preferences and facts that it recalls in later chats. To turn it on, open the sidebar, click Extensions, and switch Memory on. This guide could not confirm whether Memory is on when you first install Goose.

Memories are saved as plain files. A memory for every chat goes in ~/.config/goose/memory/, and a memory for one project goes in .goose/memory/ inside that chat's working directory. The docs give only the first path for macOS and Linux, so this guide could not confirm where global memories live on Windows.

The docs also say Goose "loads all saved memories at the start of a session and includes them in every prompt sent to the LLM," which matters for privacy. With a cloud model, everything in memory leaves your computer with every message, so do not ask Goose to remember a password, a key, or anything private.

Try it: save a preference, then delete it

Turn on Memory under Extensions, start a new chat, and paste:

Remember that I want prices in dollars and answers in short sentences. Save this as a global memory. Do not change any other file.

If Goose shows Allow and Deny for saving the memory, click Allow only when the request is about the memory. Then start another new chat and ask:

What do you remember about how I like answers?

Finally, clean up by asking:

Forget the memory about how I like answers.

What you should see in the second chat, Goose repeats the preference without being told again, and after you ask it to forget, the same question finds nothing saved.

Sources

Checked 14 November 2026.

Next

Next: Phone and schedules.

Checked 14 November 2026 · prices, limits, and versions change