Breaking

Anthropic adds background computer use for Claude on macOS in Cowork and Claude Code

September 3, 2026 at 02:23 EDT

AI Agents
Software Dev & Coding

Anthropic has enabled Claude to click, type, and open apps in the background on macOS, so the assistant can finish desktop tasks while the user keeps working in other windows. The company said the capability is now available in beta in Claude Cowork and Claude Code inside the Claude Desktop app for Pro and Max subscribers.

Sep 2, 2026 · Anthropic

Claude works the desktop in the background

In Claude Cowork and Claude Code, Claude can click, type, and open apps on macOS 15 or later without taking the user’s pointer—while computer use stays in beta on Pro and Max for Mac and Windows.

How Claude chooses a tool

Screen control is last. Direct connectors are fastest; clicking through a UI is slower and more error-prone.

1 · First

Connectors

Gmail, Drive, Microsoft 365, Slack

→

2 · Next

Browser

Built-in desktop browser or Chrome

→

3 · Last

Screen

Click, type, open desktop apps

Per-app control, drawn to scale

Three fixed access tiers. Column height matches how much Claude may do once the user approves an app.

View only

Browsers, trading

Click only

Terminals, IDEs

Full control

Other approved apps

What users like

Background windows on macOS 15+ let people keep typing while Claude works in other apps—avoiding a stolen cursor.

What still bites

No sandbox, screenshots of visible data, Pro/Max only, machine must stay awake, complex jobs may need a retry.

Guardrails

Off by default. Per-app prompts. Investment and crypto apps blocked.

Enable under Settings → General → Computer use
Dispatch-spawned app approvals expire after 30 minutes
Do not use on banking, health, or legal apps

Continue reading

The rest of this article is for AI News Blitz readers. Choose an option below to keep reading.