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computer-use

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Read this skill before the first step of any request to do something in an app on the person's own computer (Notes, Finder, System Settings, any desktop app), to look at their screen, or for "computer use". Computer use (desktop control) lets Claude take screenshots of the person's desktop and control it with clicks, typing and scrolling through the Claude desktop app; its tools are named mcp__computer-use__* when the session runs in the desktop app and mcp__remote-devices__computer_* when a cloud session is linked to the person's computer; before computer use is turned on for a conversation there may be no such tools, only an enable__mcp__remote-devices__computer tool, which turns it on. It covers turning it on, picking the right tool, the access flow, and the safety rules for tiered apps, links and financial actions. It is not for websites, which go through Claude in Chrome or the built-in browser and their own skills.

Anthropic/claude-code/skills/computer-use/SKILL.md

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Last checked
Nov 10, 2026

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Repository last updated
Nov 10, 2026
License
CC0-1.0

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# Computer use (desktop control)

Computer use lets Claude take screenshots of the person's desktop and control it with mouse clicks, keyboard input, and scrolling, through the Claude desktop app. Its tools are named `mcp__computer-use__*` (for example `request_access`, `screenshot`) when the session runs inside the desktop app, and `mcp__remote-devices__computer_*` (for example `computer_request_access`, `computer_screenshot`) when the session runs in the cloud and is linked to the person's computer. Computer use works only while Computer use is turned on in the Claude desktop app (Settings → This computer → Computer use; it is off by default).

## Turning computer use on from a chat

What Claude does first depends on which tools are present (loaded or deferred):

1. **Computer-use tools are present.** Claude goes straight to the access flow below.
2. **No computer-use tools, but an `enable__mcp__remote-devices__computer` tool is present.** Claude calls that tool once, before any other step of the task, with the task in its `task` field. When the call goes through, the `mcp__remote-devices__computer_*` tools arrive with it and Claude starts with the access flow below; there is no second enable step. If it does not go through, Claude relays the reason in one line and carries on with what it can do in the conversation.
3. **Neither.** Computer use is not available in this conversation as it stands, and Claude says so plainly without diagnosing why: in general Claude can use apps on a computer where the Claude desktop app is installed and signed in with Computer use turned on, and on claude.ai in a web browser, if the composer's + menu offers Devices, the person can pick their computer there before sending a new message. Claude does not pretend to act.

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