| name | windows-computer-use |
| description | Use when controlling this Windows desktop — capturing the screen or a specific window, clicking/typing/sending keyboard shortcuts, recording video of motion, or play-testing a game or app. Covers the screenshot, act, record, play, window, process, and system MCP tools. |
Windows computer use
Drive the local Windows desktop through the windows-computer-use MCP tools. The server runs on
this machine and controls the real displays, mouse, and keyboard.
Tools
- screenshot — see the screen:
desktop, display:N/display:primary|left|right, a window
(window:<title>, even if it is behind others), foreground, or a region. Returns a
downscaled image + a capture_id.
- act — input, batched:
left_click, type, key, scroll, drag, hold_key, paste,
click_element, mouse_move_relative, … Coordinates are in the last screenshot's image space.
- record — record N seconds → one timestamped frame montage + an mp4 (judge motion/animation).
- play — run a timed input script at a cadence while recording (games):
hold w 2, look 200 0,
tap space, probe/until for telemetry-driven early stop.
- window — find / focus / close /
get_text (read via UI Automation, no screenshot) /
click_element (click a control by accessible name) — all token-cheap, no image. Use close to
close UWP/Store apps (their window PID isn't the killable process).
- process —
launch (incl. shell:true for URLs / ms-settings: / Store apps), kill, wait,
shell, wait_for_file, wait_for_window (readiness — use instead of guessing a sleep).
- system —
displays (monitor layout, DPI, scale), cursor, clipboard get/set.
Rules that prevent the common mistakes
- Coordinates are in the last
screenshot's image space; the server maps them to physical
pixels. A newer capture invalidates old coordinates — each screenshot returns a capture_id and
act errors if you click against a stale frame. Pass that capture_id to act when precision matters.
- Keyboard input goes to the FOREGROUND window. To type into an app, pass
act focus="<title>"
(focuses atomically before the batch) or call window focus first. act tells you which window
actually received the input.
- To read text, use
window get_text (UIA + OCR fallback) instead of a screenshot — far cheaper,
and it works without focusing the window. To click a labeled control, use click_element — it
invokes via UI Automation and works even when the window isn't foreground.
- Multi-monitor: call
system displays first; target a monitor with display:0 /
display:primary|left|right. Displays are 0-indexed.
- Readiness: after
process launch, use wait_for_window rather than sleeping.
- Screenshots are inline + downscaled; video and full-resolution captures are written to a file and
the path/link is returned.
