| name | open-computer-use |
| description | Platform-neutral guidance for using Open Computer Use, the open-source Computer Use MCP server and CLI for macOS, Linux, and Windows. Use when an agent needs to install, verify, troubleshoot, configure, or operate Open Computer Use through its native CLI, stdio MCP server, or direct Computer Use tool calls. |
Open Computer Use
Overview
Open Computer Use exposes Computer Use as a local CLI and stdio MCP server, usable by any agent runtime.
It supports the same core tool surface across macOS, Linux, and Windows:
list_apps, get_app_state, click, perform_secondary_action, scroll,
drag, type_text, press_key, and set_value.
Core Workflow
- Check the CLI is installed with
open-computer-use -h. If installation or setup is missing, read references/installation.md.
- On macOS, run
open-computer-use doctor before the first real GUI task. If permissions are missing, ask the user to approve Accessibility and Screen Recording in the onboarding UI.
- Inspect available apps before acting:
open-computer-use call list_apps.
- Capture current UI state with
open-computer-use call get_app_state --args '{"app":"TextEdit"}'.
- Prefer element-targeted actions using
element_index from the latest get_app_state result.
- For multi-step CLI work, use
open-computer-use call --calls '<json-array>' so one process can reuse the latest element index mapping.
- For agent runtimes that support local MCP servers, configure
open-computer-use mcp and call the exposed Computer Use tools directly. Read .
