Computer use

Computer use lets an agent work in other apps on your Mac. It can look at an app’s window, read its buttons and fields, and click, type, scroll and press keys in it. Codz provides this through its own computer-use server, so the macOS permissions involved belong to Codz, and you approve each app before an agent can touch it.

The agent works in the app’s window in the background. Your pointer stays yours, the app is not brought to the front, and the agent’s actions are sent to that app only.

Which agents can use it

• Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Kimi, OpenCode, Pi and Grok get Codz’s computer-use server during their turns while Computer use is on. For Codex it replaces Codex’s own computer-use plugin.
• DeepSeek gets it too once DeepSeek Harness’s MCP client, @deepseek-ai/dsh-mcp-client, is installed beside its runtime.
• OpenRouter, Ollama and local models get the same tools from Codz directly. In Agent mode each action that changes something waits for your approval in the chat, and an app you haven’t allowed yet asks first, as it does for the others. OpenRouter models load the tools when they need them, in chats on Codz’s managed harness.

OpenCode runs a turn without stopping to ask, so once you allow an app its actions go ahead; turn on Approve each click in the Computer panel to approve them one by one. In Ask and Plan, OpenCode and DeepSeek can look at apps but not change anything.

A model that can’t read images still gets computer use. It works from each app’s list of controls instead of a screenshot and acts on controls rather than points, so it has no Drag. That covers text-only OpenRouter, Ollama, local and Pi models, and DeepSeek.

Z.ai and Antigravity chats and cloud chats do not have computer use yet.

Use it from an agent in a terminal

Claude Code, Codex and other agents you run in a terminal can use Codz’s computer use too, the same way a chat in Codz does: each app they touch asks you first, the pill shows what they are using, and Esc stops them.

1. Turn on Let other apps use computer use in Settings ▸ Browser & tools, under Agents in a terminal. It is off until you turn it on.

2. Add the server to your agent. Copy next to Claude Code, Codex or Cursor copies what to run or paste, or run codz computer connect to print it. For Claude Code it is:

   claude mcp add --scope user codz-computer -- ~/.local/bin/codz computer mcp

   Copy

3. Keep Codz open while the agent works. Computer use runs through it.

If something is missing, the agent is told what and how to fix it, and so are you: codz computer status lists what is left and codz computer setup takes you to each step. Once you have fixed it, the agent can try again without restarting.

Set it up

1. Open the Computer panel with /computer or ⌘⇧6. It opens even while computer use is off, on a Set up list of what this chat’s agent still needs, each with its button: Turn On for computer use itself, Allow for each permission, Copy Command for DeepSeek’s MCP client.
2. Give Codz Screen Recording, to see an app’s window, and Accessibility, to read and click its controls. Settings ▸ Browser & tools ▸ macOS permissions shows whether each is allowed, with Allow next to a missing one.
3. Ask an agent to do something in an app.

If an agent tries and something is still missing, a card above the composer says what, with the button that fixes it. Ask the agent to try again once you have. From a terminal, codz computer status --provider claude (or your agent’s name) lists the same steps.

Seeing an app’s window needs macOS 15 or later.

Approve each app

The first time an agent looks at or acts on an app, Codz shows a card at the top of the screen, above your other windows: Allow Codz to use Safari? It explains that the agent will see the app’s windows and click and type in them.

• Always Allow (the default, ↩) lets agents use the app from now on.
• Allow Once lets them use it until you quit Codz.
• Don’t Allow refuses, and the agent is told not to try again. The next attempt asks again.

A card left unanswered for three minutes counts as Don’t Allow. To be asked about every app again, click Reset next to Always-allowed apps in Settings ▸ Browser & tools, which lists the apps you have always allowed.

While an agent works

A pill at the top of the screen says Codz is using and the app’s name, with esc to cancel. The agent has its own pointer, drawn separately from yours, which moves to what it clicks.

• Press Esc, in any app, to stop. Codz refuses any approval that is waiting and pauses computer use. While paused, the agent can still look at apps but cannot change anything until you click Resume the agent in the Computer panel.
• Use the app yourself and the agent backs off. After you click, scroll or type in the app it is using, its actions wait for five seconds, and it has to look at the app again before it acts.

Each time the agent looks at an app, Codz captures just that app’s window, without your pointer, and keeps a copy on your Mac. More ▸ Reveal in Finder in the Computer panel shows the latest.

The Computer panel

Open it with ⌘⇧6, from the rail’s Open a panel list, or by typing /computer in the composer. It is available in an existing chat while Computer use is on.

The panel shows the window the agent last looked at, live while the panel is on screen, with the last control it acted on outlined. Its title is the app’s name. Below, Activity lists the agent’s last 20 actions, in words such as Clicked “Save” in TextEdit.

• Approve each click makes every action that changes something, not only clicks, wait for you. The panel shows the waiting action, such as Approve click Save?, with Approve and Deny. When no Computer panel is on screen, such as when you are in another chat or the agent runs in a terminal, the same question appears on the card at the top of the screen instead. Looking at the app does not need approval. It stays on until you turn it off or quit Codz.
• Pause the agent stops actions that change anything. While paused, click the screen in the panel to use the app yourself; Resume the agent hands it back.
• Select an element on the screen lets you click a control in the capture to add it to the chat, with a cropped screenshot and the control’s description. ⇧-click to pick several; Esc stops.
• Attach this capture to the chat attaches the current screenshot to the composer. More ▸ Save as evidence attaches it to the chat’s last finished turn.

When nothing has happened yet, the panel says No app yet.

What an agent can do

An agent names an app by its name, bundle identifier or path. If it is not running, Codz opens it without bringing it to the front.

Locked use

Locked use lets computer use continue after your Mac locks. It is off by default.

1. In Settings ▸ Browser & tools, click Turn on… next to Locked use.
2. Enter your Mac login password. Codz stores it in the Keychain behind Touch ID and uses it only to unlock this Mac.

When an agent first looks at an app while your Mac is unlocked, Codz asks for Touch ID to read the password. If the Mac locks later in that run, Codz unlocks it for the agent’s next action and covers every display with a lock-screen look-alike that reads Codz is using this Mac · move the mouse to take back control. When the agent is done, Codz locks the Mac again.

To take the Mac back, move the mouse or press a modifier key such as ⇧ or ⌘. Codz locks the Mac, forgets the password until the next Touch ID, and pauses computer use.

If the Mac is already locked and Codz has not read the password, the agent is told to ask you to unlock it. Click Turn off next to Locked use to switch it off and remove the stored password.

Turn it off

Turn off Computer use in Settings ▸ Browser & tools. Agents then start their turns without Codz’s server, Claude Code’s and Codex’s own computer-use tools are switched off too, OpenRouter, Ollama and local models are no longer offered the tools, and agents in a terminal are refused. The Computer panel still opens, on the step that turns it back on.

Troubleshooting

Codz needs Screen Recording or Accessibility permission. Click Allow in the Computer panel’s Permissions section or in Settings ▸ Browser & tools, run codz computer setup, or open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and allow Codz for screen recording and for Accessibility.

An agent in a terminal says Codz isn’t open, or doesn’t let other apps in. Open Codz, and turn on Let other apps use computer use in Settings ▸ Browser & tools. codz computer status says which.

The setting says to restart Codz from the app bundle. Codz can only offer computer use when it runs as the Codz app. Quit it and open the Codz app again.

The agent says computer use is paused. You pressed Esc, paused it, or took the Mac back from Locked use. Click Resume the agent in the Computer panel.

The agent says the Mac is locked. Unlock it, or turn on Locked use while the Mac is unlocked.

The agent was not allowed to use an app. You chose Don’t Allow, or the card went unanswered. Ask the agent to try again and choose Allow Once or Always Allow.