Computer use

Settings → Computer Use lets agents see and use the desktop windows you share with them — not the whole computer, just the few windows you picked one by one.

Subtitle: "Let agents see and use the desktop windows you share with them."

This screen only sets the boundary; the actual sharing happens in the Computer use popover in the status bar ("Share a window…"). Put differently: here you build the door, sharing opens it.

Enable computer use

The master switch, off by default.

What agents get once it is on comes in layers:

1. Listing apps and windows — available as soon as the master switch is on.
2. Reading a window's picture and contents — only for windows you have shared.
3. Clicking and typing — only for windows you marked Act when sharing.

Which means no window can be read until you share it from the status bar. Turn the master switch off and the permission and sharing settings below collapse or grey out.

Driver

Computer use reads and acts on windows through the open-source cua-driver. Croli runs only the one pinned release it has checked, and downloads it the first time it is needed.

The status line shows: Installed + version number / Not installed / "x is installed; this Croli runs y" (version mismatch) / "cua-driver has no build for this platform." The button changes with the state to Install / Upgrade to x / Uninstall, and a download shows progress as "Downloading… {done} / {total} MB".

This section only appears on the machine where computer use actually happens — the desktop app itself, or a server sharing its own screen.

Permissions (macOS only)

macOS requires permissions, and it grants them to the Croli Computer Use helper, not to Croli itself. That separation is deliberate: the permissions go to the helper, so only Croli can use them and agents' own shells cannot.

Two permissions:

Permission status refreshes by itself; no app restart needed. If Croli Computer Use isn't in the list, you can drag it in from the Finder (the panel has a Show in Finder button).

If Croli itself also holds Accessibility or Screen Recording, the panel says so: agents' shells can then use those permissions directly, without anything being shared — unless you need it, turn both off for Croli in System Settings.

Windows and Linux have no such helper separation. There these settings decide what agents get through Croli, not what programs on your computer can do.

Sharing, input and stopping

One card, covering how long a share lasts, the never-share list, the ways to stop, and bringing windows to the front. Changes need Save — this section does not save by itself.

Stop sharing unused windows after

A dropdown with five steps: 10 minutes, 30 minutes (default), 60 minutes, 240 minutes, Never (until I stop it).

The clock counts "has an agent read it", not whether you have been using the window.

Apps that are never shared

Windows of the apps on this list simply can't be selected in the share picker. After platform filtering the factory defaults come to 11 items on macOS / 9 on Windows / 5 on Linux, among them the few usually mentioned:

• System Settings
• System password and authorization prompts
• Keychain Access
• Passwords

The list also ships with a batch of password managers: 1Password, Bitwarden, KeePass / KeePassXC, LastPass, Enpass, Proton Pass, Dashlane, plus seahorse and KWallet on Linux. The UI lists all of the ones that apply to your platform.

Remove the defaults you don't need, or add your own — by bundle ID (com.example.app), executable name (app.exe) or full path. Restore defaults clears what you added and puts back what you removed; the dialog tells you exactly how many of each, and notes that the change takes effect when you save.

Croli's own windows can never be shared, and that isn't done through this list: an agent that could operate Croli could approve its own permission requests, or share more windows with itself. The windows of other Croli instances are the same.

Stop shortcut (desktop only)

Press it in any app to stop sharing every window, the same as clicking Stop sharing.

The default is ⌃⌘Esc on macOS, Ctrl+Alt+Esc elsewhere. Recording rules are stricter than for ordinary shortcuts:

• At least two modifiers, one of them Ctrl (on macOS ⌘ also counts).
• The main key must be a letter, a digit, F1–F12, Esc or a punctuation key.
• Outside macOS it can't include the Super / Windows key (⌘ only counts as a valid modifier on macOS).

Four status lines: Active / "Takes effect while computer use is switched on." / Off (only the buttons stop sharing) / "Not active: another app is probably using these keys. Choose others." The buttons are Default and Turn off.

While computer use is on these keys belong to Croli, so pick a combination nothing else uses.

Floating stop bar (desktop only)

On by default. While sharing, a bar floats above all windows saying what agents may do right now, with a Stop sharing button. Turned off, you can still stop from the status bar popover or with the stop shortcut.

Let agents bring windows to the front

On by default.

Some apps take no keys or typing while in the background — on Windows, every Chromium-based app does that (Edge, Chrome, VS Code). With this on, an agent can bring a window it may act on to the front for one action, then switch back to the window you were in (on Linux the window stays in front).

The cost is plain: anything you type at that moment may go to that window, and a click may move your mouse pointer.

Default input mode

Background (default) / Foreground. How clicks, scrolling, typing and keys reach a window when the agent doesn't ask for either:

• Background — the window stays where it is, and your mouse and keyboard stay yours.
• Foreground — every action brings the window to the front.

When the switch above is off, this one is locked to Background and greyed out, and its text changes to "Always Background while agents may not bring windows to the front."

Let agents open applications and move windows

Off by default. With it on, an agent can start installed applications in the background (never Croli or an app on the never-share list), and move or resize windows it may act on. Starting an application does not share its windows — sharing is still yours to click.

Let agents use the clipboard

Off by default. With it on, an agent can put text on the clipboard and paste it, and read back what it itself copied out of a window you shared. What you copied is never read for it, and it can only paste what it put there itself.

Offer the entire screen (macOS / Windows)

Off by default. This row doesn't appear on Linux — Linux has no complete list of all windows to judge one by one.

With it on, the share picker gains Entire screen: agents can see a picture of the whole screen and click anywhere on it, every shareable window goes with it, and the desktop's own shortcuts count too. Croli's own windows and the apps on the never-share list stay painted over. Turning this off ends screen sharing immediately.

Worth knowing

• There is one more prerequisite for agents to use any of this: the "See and use your desktop's windows" switch in Extension Tools has to be on (off by default). Only with both on are the tools actually injected, and tools are injected when an agent starts.
• Sharing is global, not per conversation: once you share a window, agents in every conversation can read it.
• The CROLI_COMPUTER_USE environment variable can control whether this capability is available at the deployment level.
• In a server deployment, computer use applies to the screen of the machine running croli-server, not the machine your browser is on. The stop shortcut and the floating stop bar don't exist there (they belong to the desktop app); the stop button is on this screen.