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sonichisonichi/sutando/skills/macos-use/SKILL.md

macos-use

Skill396 starsChanged 6 months agoMITView on GitHub

GUI control for macOS apps via mediar-ai's mcp-server-macos-use. Click, type, scroll, key-press, open apps — driven by accessibility tree, works in non-interactive Claude Code mode. Use this for any Sutando task that needs to drive another macOS application (Safari, Zoom, Mail, Finder, etc.).

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

3 rules. About 0 are common, 2 are distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈2

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 1

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    Prefer this skill over:

    line 19
  2. Very specific:

    After install, these appear as mcp__macos-use__* in Claude Code:

    line 27
  3. Distinctive:

    Every tool returns an accessibility-tree snapshot of the target app — structured UI elements with roles, titles, positions, and identifiers.

    line 38

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

macos-use

Drive macOS applications from Claude Code via mediar-ai's mcp-server-macos-use. A Swift MCP server that wraps the macOS Accessibility API. Unlike Claude's built-in computer-use, this works in non-interactive mode (which is how Sutando's proactive loop and task bridge run), does not hold a machine-wide lock, and does not require a Pro/Max subscription.

When to use

  • "Open Safari and navigate to github.com" — anything requiring real GUI interaction with an app
  • "Click the Join button on the Zoom invite dialog"
  • "Type this into the Discord message box"
  • "Scroll the frontmost window to the bottom"
  • Any task that currently falls back to AppleScript + Quartz mouse events in src/inline-tools.ts

Prefer this skill over:

  • bash src/screen-capture.sh — that captures screenshots; macos-use actually interacts
  • AppleScript tell application blocks — more reliable, better error handling
  • cliclick — lower-level, no accessibility context
  • Claude's built-in computer-use — that mode requires interactive sessions and holds a lock that contends with Sutando's own loop

Tools exposed

After install, these appear as mcp__macos-use__* in Claude Code:

ToolParametersPurpose
open_application_and_traverseidentifier (name/bundle ID/path)Launch or activate an app, return its a11y tree
click_and_traversepid, x, yClick at coordinates in a target app, return updated tree
type_and_traversepid, textType into the frontmost element
press_key_and_traversepid, keyPress a named key (Return, Tab, Escape, arrows, ...)
scroll_and_traversepid, direction, amountScroll in a direction
refresh_traversalpidRe-read the a11y tree without acting

Every tool returns an accessibility-tree snapshot of the target app — structured UI elements with roles, titles, positions, and identifiers. No pixels. Model reasons over the tree, not over screenshots.

Install

Two steps, one-time:

# 1. Build the Swift binary (~35s)
bash skills/macos-use/scripts/build.sh

# 2. Register with Claude Code's MCP config (writes ~/.claude.json)
bash skills/macos-use/scripts/install-mcp.sh

# 3. Grant Accessibility permission
#    System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
#    Click +, navigate to ~/.macos-use-mcp/.build/release/mcp-server-macos-use, enable.

Restart Claude Code after install for the MCP tools to appear.

Gotchas

  • Swift 6 build fragility: the swift-sdk transitive dep has data-race errors that Swift 6.3+ strict-concurrency trips on. build.sh uses -Xswiftc -swift-version -Xswiftc 5 as a workaround. When upstream fixes this, remove the flag.
  • Accessibility permission: the binary must be added to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, or every tool call will return "not authorized". First-run error is obvious; owner must click through once.
  • Apps without good a11y trees: Canvas / Electron / games degrade badly. For those, fall back to screen-capture.sh + Claude vision.
  • Build dep pulled from GitHub: air-gapped Macs won't work. No prebuilt releases yet.
  • Multi-node: each node builds its own binary. Not synced via sutando-memory.git (binaries are machine-specific). Run build.sh + install-mcp.sh on Mac Mini and MacBook separately.

Quick self-test

After install + restart:

Sutando, open Safari and navigate to https://github.com/sonichi/sutando

You should see Claude invoke mcp__macos-use__open_application_and_traverse with identifier: "Safari", then type_and_traverse into the URL bar, then press_key_and_traverse with Return.

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