wtf is vantage?

Vantage is a Windows desktop application that lets you type a goal in plain English and have it actually control your computer to get it done. It opens apps, clicks through menus and dialogs, and copies values between windows on its own, deciding what to click by looking at screenshots of your screen through a vision capable AI model. The app is built with WinUI 3 and .NET 9, packaged as a signed MSIX installer that runs self contained, so you do not need to separately install a .NET runtime. It works directly with your Windows desktop through low level Win32 calls rather than launching a helper subprocess or using a separate protocol layer, which the author notes keeps everything happening in a single process. You are not locked into one AI provider. Vantage supports Anthropic's Claude as well as any OpenAI compatible endpoint, including Azure, Groq, OpenRouter, or plain OpenAI, and you choose which one to use for each conversation. The app does not come with any provider set up by default. After installing, you open Settings, add a provider by entering its endpoint URL, API key, and model, then you are ready to type tasks for the agent to carry out. A single task can run for many steps in a row, and the app shows a running activity log of what it is doing at each phase, along with before and after screenshots when it checks its own work. Building Vantage from source requires the .NET SDK 9 and Windows App SDK 1.8 packages, which restore automatically. Installing a self built package requires signing it with your own development certificate, and the README walks through generating one and wiring it into the build either through environment variables or a local configuration file that is deliberately excluded from the repository for security reasons. The project is released under the MIT license and is aimed at Windows users comfortable installing developer style software who want an AI assistant that can operate their desktop directly rather than just answer questions in a chat window.