computer-use-mcp v5.0.1

MCP server for Claude Code (and any MCP client): control desktop apps
through their accessibility tree plus screenshots.

What's new in v5.0.1

v5.0: the settings panel, and a hub that shares the screen out by what
each agent at work needs; with a fix for every Linux version so far (one
call could take a KDE session down). What was tried out as v5.0.0-preview
and v5.0.1-preview; a preview build takes this release
(plan,
guide,
upgrading,
all commits).

Fixes and the hub

• Qt apps crashed when the server read them, KWin and Plasma too. The
  server asked each app for all of an element's properties at once
  (Properties.GetAll). Qt's accessibility bridge, up to Qt 6.9, reads a
  second argument from every such call, and that one has only one: the app
  crashes. KWin is a Qt program, so one list_apps (or doctor, which
  install.sh runs) closed every window, and a restarted KWin was crashed
  again by the next look. Each property is now asked for on its own, as Qt
  expects, and an element is asked for its extents and actions only when it
  says it has them (GTK printed warnings for the others). A new live test
  in CI reads, clicks and types in a real Qt app; the old code fails it.
• The desktop's own processes are never asked anything: the compositor
  (KWin, GNOME Shell, Xwayland), Plasma, the session manager, portals,
  kded, KWallet, the polkit agent. Their pid comes from the bus, not from
  them, and they aren't listed as apps.
• An app that quits while answering is left alone for 10 minutes (by
  its program, so a restarted copy is too): a call that crashes an app is
  never made to it again and again. Its windows are still listed, for
  screenshots and the mouse and keyboard.
• doctor no longer switches the desktop's accessibility on; it says
  whether it is on. A server switches it on when it is off (Qt, Firefox and
  Chromium show nothing without it) and the last server to end switches it
  off again.
• The hub shares the screen out by need, among the agents at work.
  Every server took a part of the screen as soon as it started, so other
  chats that never used the computer split it with the one at work (one
  agent working in a third of the screen, its glow around that third), and
  the parts were even or a fixed half, third or quarter. Now only agents at
  work have a part (one that makes no call for hub.release_after_secs,
  120, gives it up until its next call); each gets what its window needs
  (a full-size window and two small ones: a half and two quarters; 35% and
  65% windows: just that); a window the agent moved, resized, tiled or
  maximized itself stays where it put it while the others share the rest;
  a window that won't shrink keeps its least size; agents area takes a
  share such as 35%. The parts follow where the windows are, a change of
  under 4% of the screen moves nothing, and a window moves only when its
  agent looks next. agents list marks the idle ones. (The hub protocol is
  version 2: a server of this version and a hub of an older one don't mix.)
• install.sh and install.cmd add the program as zero-use-computer
  when Claude Code keeps the name computer-use for itself ("this name
  is reserved"), as the panel's Connect page already did, and say if adding
  it failed. --uninstall removes either name.

If a KDE session crashed: log out and back in (or restart), then update. To
switch accessibility off again: busctl --user set-property org.a11y.Bus /org/a11y/bus org.a11y.Status IsEnabled b false and, on GNOME-based
desktops, gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface toolkit-accessibility false.

The settings panel

• One panel for every setting (computer-use-mcp settings,
  Ctrl+Alt+J, or decide setup="open"): 187 settings in 22 groups, each with
  its help, its default and a reset, search, "changed from default", light,
  dark and automatic themes in Material Design 3 style with an accent colour.
  A test fails when a setting has no entry in the panel. Its address is the
  same every time (panel.port, a token in a file only you can read); it
  listens only while it is open. It sends its schema once and only the
  values that differ from the defaults after that (45 KB a request to 0.2 KB).
• The agent never uses it. A window whose title says "Zero panel
  [private]" is refused by every tool. Settings that limit the agent or the
  updates ask you to confirm, in the page and in the server; secrets are
  written but never sent back.
• Previews: how the pointer glides (from the program's own path maker),
  how the overlay's border, label and colours fit, what a picture costs in
  tokens.
• Profiles (Low tokens, Balanced, Best quality, Showcase, and your own),
  the tool list with what each tool costs, the apps report, the
  audit log, the settings file as text (checked as a whole, secrets
  covered) and import and export as TOML.
• Update controls: look every 5 minutes or more (check_every_mins) or
  never, stable or pre-release channel, pin a version, skip a version. A look
  asks GitHub only "has it changed?" (the tag is kept once a look is over);
  GitHub's "slow down" is waited out for an hour. The program an update
  replaces is kept, and Go back / update --rollback puts it in place.
  The panel shows when it last looked, what waits and its notes.
• One button to add it to the agents you use: the Connect page and
  computer-use-mcp install for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor
  and VS Code. Only its own entry is written, the rest of each file stays in
  its own order with its comments, a .bak copy is kept, a file with
  mistakes is left alone, and the program is kept at
  ~/.computer-use/bin so it stays where the agents look. Newer Claude Code
  keeps the name computer-use; the program is then added as
  zero-use-computer.
• A shortcut that opens the panel: on the desktop and with the system's
  apps (a .desktop file on Linux, a small app on a Mac, a .lnk on
  Windows), made, made again or taken away from the panel's Desktop shortcut
  page or with computer-use-mcp shortcut. It starts
  computer-use-mcp settings, which serves the panel on its own port and
  opens it in the browser, or shows the one already open. Only shortcuts the
  program made are ever removed. settings now serves the panel even when no
  browser can be opened, and prints its address.
• A guide inside the panel: nine short pages.
• More to turn: the pointer's trail, lean_strength and breathe
  (and how strong each is), and the real mouse's mouse_speed,
  mouse_overshoot and mouse_jitter. The real mouse travels only the last
  stretch of a reach, so mouse_overshoot (0 by default, as before) decides
  how often a long reach comes in a touch past its target.
• A reset leaves no empty section in the settings file.

Install

Windows: download computer-use-mcp-windows-x64.zip, extract it to a
permanent folder (for example C:\Tools\computer-use-mcp), then double-click
install.cmd (or run claude mcp add --scope user computer-use -- C:\Tools\computer-use-mcp\computer-use-mcp.exe serve).
Check with claude mcp list.

As a plugin (Customize ▸ Plugins ▸ Upload local plugin): upload the full
computer-use-mcp-<os>.zip. If "Upload failed" appears and a computer-use plugin is
already installed, remove the old one first, then upload again.
Only if the full zip is refused for containing a program, use the small
computer-use-plugin-<os>.zip (about 50 KB, no program inside on purpose): first run
install.cmd -NoRegister (Windows) / ./install.sh --no-register from the full zip,
which copies the program to ~/.computer-use/bin; then upload the plugin zip.

macOS / Linux: download your platform's zip, extract it, run ./install.sh.
macOS needs Accessibility and Screen Recording permission for the app that runs Claude Code.

Every zip contains the binary, the installers, docs/CONNECT.md (Claude Code, Claude Desktop,
Codex, Cursor, VS Code, HTTP) and ready-to-copy configs in examples/.
The binaries are not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may ask you to confirm.

Full Changelog: v4.0.1...v5.0.1