Computer Use
When you ask, an agent can work in the apps on your desktop with a labelled cursor of its own. Every app needs your permission first.
Computer Use lets an agent see and operate the apps on your desktop: click, type and scroll in the app you name. It is available in the desktop app and runs on the bundled Cua Driver.
Ask for it
Agents use your computer when you ask, or when a task clearly needs a desktop app that no other tool
covers. Say so in your message, or start it with /computer, which tells the agent to use Computer
Use for that request (see all slash commands):
/computer In the Atlas app, fill in the New release form for 2.4.0 and publish it.While a turn uses the computer, the composer shows which app it is working in, with a Stop button.
Permission, app by app
Before an agent reads or acts on an app, it asks in the chat. You choose how much it may do:
| Access | Lets the agent |
|---|---|
| Read | See the app’s windows and take screenshots. No input. |
| Act | Also click, type and scroll in the app. |
| Full control | Also bring the app to the front and drive it like you would. |
Grants last until Glade restarts. Settings → Browser & Computer Use lists them under Access grants, where you can revoke any of them.
Stop it from anywhere
Press ctrl+alt+cmd+esc on macOS, or ctrl+alt+shift+esc on Windows and Linux, to stop Computer Use
from any app, even when Glade isn’t in front.
Turn it on or off
Allow Computer Use in Settings → Browser & Computer Use is on by default. On, agents may use the computer in any chat. Off, no computer tools exist anywhere. There is no per-chat switch.
Glade needs Accessibility, to read app interfaces and send input, and Screen Recording, to take window screenshots. Settings shows whether each is allowed, with a button to grant it.
Settings states the platform’s input limits instead of permissions.
Limits
- Computer Use runs on the machine with the Glade window. Chats on an SSH host and paired devices can’t use it.
- An agent works through the app’s interface like you would. Keep an eye on long runs, and use Stop whenever it heads the wrong way.
Under the hood
Agents use your apps through computer_* tools on Glade’s glade MCP server, backed by the bundled
Cua Driver:
| Group | Tools |
|---|---|
| Access | computer_apps, computer_request_access, computer_open_app, computer_stop |
| Look | computer_screenshot, computer_verify, computer_window_state, computer_window_frame |
| Act | computer_left_click, computer_double_click, computer_triple_click, computer_right_click, computer_left_click_drag, computer_scroll, computer_type, computer_key, computer_set_value, computer_select_text |
| System | computer_menu, computer_file_dialog, computer_clipboard_read, computer_clipboard_write |
computer_request_access is what shows the Read, Act or Full control prompt in the chat. With
Allow Computer Use off, none of these tools exist.