Claude Code can now drive a GUI: open an app, click through it, screenshot the result. A lot of people try to turn it on and find the computer-use server simply is not in /mcp.
That is usually not a bug. The built-in feature has a narrow eligibility list. Here is what it is, and what you can do when you are outside it.
From Anthropic's own docs page (code.claude.com/docs/en/computer-use), as of October 2026, the CLI version needs all of these:
-p.
If one of those is false, the server does not show up. Run /status to check your plan and login.
On Windows: try computer use in the Claude Desktop app. The docs say it shares the CLI's engine and is switched on in Settings; check its own requirements page for your plan.
On Linux, on a Team or Enterprise seat, via a cloud provider, or in another client (Codex CLI, Cursor's in-editor Agent, Gemini CLI): Claude Code's built-in option is not there. What does work is a computer-use MCP server. MCP is client-side, so it does not care about your plan or which provider serves the model. Claude Code just sees more tools.
There are several open-source ones: per-platform Linux tools (X11, and Wayland-first ones built on AT-SPI), Windows UI Automation tools and ADB tools for Android, plus cross-platform computer-use MCP servers that cover macOS, Linux and Windows in one install. There are also open-source wrappers that let a CLI agent borrow another vendor's desktop computer-use runtime on macOS and Linux X11. Pick by what you need to drive.
Disclosure: we make Auten, so weigh this accordingly.
Auten is an MCP server that gives your agent hands on a real screen: macOS, Windows 10/11 and Linux (X11), plus an Android phone over USB (beta). It reads the accessibility tree, clicks, types and reads text, so it works in apps that have no API.
Setup on Linux or macOS:
curl -fsSL https://auten.ai/install | bash
claude mcp add -s user auten -- auten mcp-bridge
On Linux the installer asks for sudo once to apt-install the accessibility and input tools; on macOS it needs no admin rights.
On Windows (PowerShell, no admin rights):
irm https://auten.ai/install.ps1 | iex
claude mcp add -s user auten -- cmd /c npx -y @autenai/mcp
Then check with /mcp and ask in plain words: "Open the settings app and turn on dark mode."
Two things that differ from the built-in tool:
Honest limits: Linux means X11 today, not Wayland. The phone part is beta. It is not open source (the launcher and docs are). There is a free tier of 30 minutes a month, no card.
| You are on | Use |
|---|---|
| macOS, Pro/Max, claude.ai login, interactive | Built-in computer use |
| Windows, eligible for Desktop computer use | Claude Desktop computer use |
| Linux (X11), Team/Enterprise, Bedrock/Google Cloud/Foundry, other clients | A computer-use MCP server |
| You also need an Android phone | An MCP server with Android support |
Repo and setup for other clients: https://github.com/auten-ai/auten-mcp (docs: https://auten.ai/mcp?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=social)