Computer Use for agents

Give Claude Code, OpenCode, Cursor, and other coding agents the same Computer Use as ChatGPT and Codex. Agents can see and control the apps on your Mac with OpenAI’s Computer Use runtime, and open websites in the CodexUse agent browser, which works in the background while you keep using your Mac. The agent’s own model decides each action.

Set it up

Open CodexUse → Computer Use in the For agents group of the sidebar. The screen checks Computer Use when it opens, and Check again repeats the check.

1. Apps installs the runtime on its first check, then shows how many apps are available to agents. With ChatGPT or Codex Desktop installed, CodexUse copies the runtime from that app in a few seconds. Otherwise it downloads and verifies OpenAI’s archive. Then grant the macOS permissions requested by Codex Computer Use.
2. Websites sets up the agent browser. It runs the Google Chrome installed on your Mac; no extension is needed. Watch or sign in shows the agent browser, so you can watch agents or sign in to a site once. Import cookies copies the cookies of one of your browser profiles, from Chrome, Helium, Brave, Edge, Arc, Vivaldi, or Chromium, so agents start signed in.
3. Add to your agents lists agents found on this Mac. Click Add beside an agent, then restart it. Hermes Agent can also run /reload-mcp. Mac task skills for Claude Code has Add skills, which gives Claude Code background scripts for Notes, Mail, Calendar, Reminders, Finder, System Settings, and the agent browser; other agents get them as MCP prompts. For an unlisted MCP agent, expand Other MCP agents and copy the config.

Agent browser

The agent browser is a hidden Google Chrome with its own profile, running with its windows parked off screen. It never takes focus or touches your tabs, and it keeps its own cookies in ~/.codexuse/agent-browser. When Chrome opens a dialog or window it can come to the front for a moment; CodexUse hands the front back to your app within about 200 ms. All agent sessions share it, and each session sees only its own tabs. Downloads go to ~/Downloads.

When a site needs a sign-in, import cookies from a browser where you are signed in, or choose Show agent browser, sign in, then choose Hide agent browser. Agent tabs stay open either way, and agents stay signed in. Google and ChatGPT end a session that two browsers share, so sign in to them through Show agent browser. The Agent browser switch turns it off for new agent sessions; agents then cannot open websites. Agents use only the agent browser, not the ChatGPT browser extension or your own browser windows.

How it works

Agents start Computer Use on their own when they need it. Agent entries use ~/.codexuse/bin/codexuse-cua. CodexUse refreshes this launcher when the installed app starts, so entries keep working when CodexUse moves or updates. It does not add entries while running from a disk image.

• computer operates native macOS apps.
• browser opens websites in the agent browser.
• reset clears the runtime’s JavaScript bindings.
• recipe runs and saves recipes, flows an agent saved so that a repeated task takes one call.

In Claude Code, Add also installs the CodexUse operator, a subagent that does website and app tasks of more than two steps on Sonnet in its own short context, so the main conversation stays small. Agents save a flow that works as a recipe in ~/.codexuse/recipes, and the next request runs it in one call. When tasks on a site keep taking eight or more calls, the agent saves one without being asked. A recipe step that sends, posts or deletes runs only when the request asks for exactly that.

Each agent process has one session. When the agent finishes its reply, CodexUse ends the turn and closes agent-created tabs unless the agent kept them for the next turn or for you. Claude Code signals the end of a reply through a hook that CodexUse adds; other agents end the turn after two idle minutes or when they exit. A Claude Code turn can stay open for hours, for example while a background subagent works. While a turn stays open, an agent tab that no call used for 15 minutes closes too, unless the agent kept it or asked to show the browser.

Runtime updates

With ChatGPT or Codex Desktop installed, CodexUse follows that app’s runtime without a download. Otherwise it checks the release feed that ChatGPT’s own updater uses, at most once per 24 hours, and downloads the signed build OpenAI serves. Every new runtime has its signatures, tools, and agent browser checked before it activates. If an update fails, the screen shows Computer Use update failed and the current version keeps working. Active sessions keep their current runtime.

The managed runtime currently supports Apple Silicon macOS. An unsupported platform reports that limitation.

App and site access

CodexUse automatically accepts app and site access requests for the agent; OpenAI restrictions still apply. An approval lasts at most the current agent session. CodexUse does not ask the runtime to remember it, so ChatGPT keeps its own browser prompts. Connected agents act with your macOS permissions. Connect only agents you trust. A sign-in challenge still requires you: it appears through MCP elicitation when supported, or a macOS dialog. Without a desktop session, the request is declined.

The server checks the CodexUse license before its first tool call. If CodexUse is locked, it reports the reason without starting the runtime.

Troubleshooting

• Download or signature check failed: check the network and choose Check again.
• Agent browser shows no engine: Google Chrome is not in /Applications or ~/Applications. Install it and choose Check again.
• A site asks the agent to sign in: use Show agent browser, sign in, and tell the agent to continue.
• Agent does not show the tools: restart it after adding the connection. In Claude Code, claude mcp get codexuse-cua shows the saved entry.