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computer-use — Claude Code skill: GUI control for local apps

This skill drives a visible app window through orca computer: accessibility tree, clicks, typing, screenshots. Reach for it when the job sits behind a GUI.

Install into Claude Code · Skills CLI (Vercel) All methods and platforms ↓
npx skills add stablyai/orca --skill computer-use -a claude-code
Open on GitHub

What computer-use does

The skill hands the agent a visible app window: it reads the accessibility tree, clicks, types, walks menus and dialogs, and grabs screenshots. Native apps count, and so do Chrome, Edge and Safari windows and webviews. What you install is a stub that loads a guide matching the Orca build used by the session.

Pick the executable first and stay with it. ORCA_CLI_COMMAND wins if it is set. A dev checkout exposing ORCA_DEV_REPO_ROOT wants orca-dev. On Linux outside an Orca-managed terminal use orca-ide, since a bare orca resolves to the GNOME Orca screen reader and starts talking out loud on the machine. Then run ORCA skills get computer-use, --json preferred. If Orca isn't running, ORCA open --json and retry. A runtime_access_denied reply means the sandbox cut the connection: rerun with escalated permissions instead of restarting Orca.

Worth installing when the job hides behind an interface nothing else reaches, like an installer with no console flags or a desktop app you don't own. Files, git and HTTP go through their normal paths, and the skill says to prefer them. Skip it for Orca's embedded browser, which belongs to orca-cli.

What it helps with

  • Walk an installer that offers no console flags
  • Fill an export dialog in a desktop app and screenshot the result
  • Flip a setting buried in a native menu
  • Drive a Chrome window that no HTTP call can reach

Example prompts for the agent

  • Open preferences in that app and turn on autosave, then show me the screenshot
  • Run `ORCA skills get computer-use --json` first and paste the output
  • Fill the export dialog in Safari and save the file to the desktop

How to install computer-use

1Skills CLI (Vercel)

npx skills add stablyai/orca --skill computer-use -a claude-code

2Manually: put the files in place

~/.claude/skills/computer-use/SKILL.md

Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/computer-use/

From the same set8

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Similar

Questions about computer-use

How do I install computer-use in Claude Code?

Run npx skills add stablyai/orca --skill computer-use -a claude-code. The skill lands at ~/.claude/skills/computer-use/SKILL.md. For other agents swap the flag, e.g. -a codex, -a cursor, -a opencode.

What does computer-use do?

It lets the agent operate a visible local window: accessibility tree lookups, clicks, typing, dialogs, screenshots. That covers native apps plus external Chrome, Edge and Safari windows.

Why shouldn't I run plain `orca` on Linux?

Outside Orca's terminals that name points at the GNOME Orca screen reader, which starts speaking on the user's machine. Use orca-ide there, or whatever ORCA_CLI_COMMAND provides.

Source text

SKILL.md · MIT
---
name: computer-use
description: >-
  Drives the GUI of a visible local app window through `orca computer`: accessibility
  tree, clicks, typing, menus, dialogs, and screenshots in native apps and external
  browser windows (Chrome, Edge, Safari) or webviews. Prefer a programmatic path
  (shell, filesystem, git, HTTP, existing CLIs) whenever it can complete the task.
  Use only when a visible window needs GUI control those cannot reach. Do not use
  for Orca's embedded browser (`orca-cli`).
---

# Computer Use

This discovery stub loads the version-matched guide from the Orca executable used for this session.

## Resolve the CLI for this session

Choose the executable once and reuse it for every later command:

- If the `ORCA_CLI_COMMAND` environment variable is set, use its value. Orca exports this
  for managed WSL sessions.
- Otherwise, in a dev checkout whose session exposes `ORCA_DEV_REPO_ROOT`, use `orca-dev`.
- Otherwise, on Linux outside an Orca-managed terminal, use `orca-ide`. Never run bare
  `orca` there — outside Orca's terminals it normally resolves to the
  GNOME Orca screen reader (`/usr/bin/orca`) and starts speech on the user's machine.
- Otherwise, use `orca`.

Below, `ORCA` is a placeholder for the executable you resolved. Substitute it before
running anything; do not create a shell variable or run `ORCA` literally. This works the
same way in POSIX shells, PowerShell, and cmd.exe.

If the selected executable cannot run, report its exact error and stop. Do not fall through
to another executable, which could silently target a different Orca build.

## Load the version-matched guide before running Orca commands

```text
ORCA skills get computer-use
```

Prefer `--json`. Use the selected executable's `--help` for commands or flags the guide does
not cover. If a command reports that Orca is not running, start it with `ORCA open --json`
and retry. If it fails with `runtime_access_denied`, your sandbox blocked the connection:
re-run it with escalated permissions, and do not run `ORCA open` or restart Orca. If
`skills get` is unknown, explain that updating Orca restores the guide; use `--help` for
read-only discovery and do not guess unsupported commands.

© stablyai · MIT · stablyai/orca

See also

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