<!-- mobian-agent-page publisher="dailydev" canonical="https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52" -->

---
title: How to use Cursor Computer Use | daily.dev
description: Cursor's Computer Use feature lets an agent click and type inside desktop apps and the iOS Simulator to test a feature after building it. You mention...
canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52
twitter:card: summary_large_image
twitter:site: @dailydotdev
og:type: website
og:site_name: daily.dev
og:title: How to use Cursor Computer Use | daily.dev
og:description: Cursor's Computer Use feature lets an agent click and type inside desktop apps and the iOS Simulator to test a feature after building it. You mention...
og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52
og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Wfy4JNS52.png
og:image:alt: How to use Cursor Computer Use
og:image:width: 1200
og:image:height: 630
og:locale: en
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How to use Cursor Computer Use

**[Flavio Copes](https://daily.dev/sources/flaviocopes)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments

## Summary

Cursor's Computer Use feature lets an agent click and type inside desktop apps and the iOS Simulator to test a feature after building it. You mention '@Computer Use' in an Agent conversation to select it, and on macOS it requires Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions. The walkthrough uses a notes app example: save a note, try empty and whitespace-only input, then close and reopen the app to check persistence. After a fix, you re-run Computer Use on the rebuilt app rather than an old running copy. It's best for flows that depend on the running interface, not for testing pure functions or API responses directly.

## Full article

daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: <https://flaviocopes.com/cursor-computer-use>

## Questions this post answers

### What macOS permissions does Cursor Computer Use need to interact with apps?

Cursor Computer Use needs Accessibility permission to interact with apps and Screen Recording permission to capture their interfaces. These are granted to the helper named 'Cursor Computer Use' in System Settings → Privacy & Security, not to your terminal or another app. Cursor shows an 'Enable Computer Use' window to walk you through this.

_Developers wiring up agent-driven UI testing can find setup specifics like this on daily.dev._

### How do I select Computer Use in a Cursor agent prompt?

Type '@' in the prompt field within an Agent conversation and choose 'Computer Use' from the mention menu. Typing the name into an ordinary message without selecting it from the menu does not actually enable the tool. Cursor can also choose Computer Use automatically when it decides a task needs it.

_Anyone adopting agent tooling in Cursor can track workflow details like this on daily.dev._

### When should I use Cursor's Computer Use versus Cloud Agents or the built-in Browser tool?

Use the built-in Browser for testing a website's form and inspecting console or network errors, use Computer Use for interacting with a native desktop app or the iOS Simulator, use Cloud Agents when an agent should test inside Cursor's remote VM environment, and use a self-hosted worker with --computer-use to run a cloud agent's tools on hardware you own.

_Developers deciding between Cursor's testing modes can compare these tradeoffs on daily.dev._

---

Tags: [#testing](https://daily.dev/tags/testing), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding)

[View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How to use Cursor Computer Use","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52"},"datePublished":"2026-10-24T08:33:16.113Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T11:41:17.865Z","description":"Cursor's Computer Use feature lets an agent click and type inside desktop apps and the iOS Simulator to test a feature after building it. You mention...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/291e36d9489a39ae873e727edd0ed576?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/291e36d9489a39ae873e727edd0ed576?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Flavio Copes","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Flavio Copes","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/1f2dbd275797411bbd37bfdaaf0951a9","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/flaviocopes"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"testing,ai-coding","timeRequired":"PT8M"}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Flavio Copes","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/flaviocopes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to use Cursor Computer Use"}]}
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-cursor-computer-use-wfy4jns52#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What macOS permissions does Cursor Computer Use need to interact with apps?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Cursor Computer Use needs Accessibility permission to interact with apps and Screen Recording permission to capture their interfaces. These are granted to the helper named 'Cursor Computer Use' in System Settings → Privacy \u0026 Security, not to your terminal or another app. Cursor shows an 'Enable Computer Use' window to walk you through this. Developers wiring up agent-driven UI testing can find setup specifics like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I select Computer Use in a Cursor agent prompt?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Type '@' in the prompt field within an Agent conversation and choose 'Computer Use' from the mention menu. Typing the name into an ordinary message without selecting it from the menu does not actually enable the tool. Cursor can also choose Computer Use automatically when it decides a task needs it. Anyone adopting agent tooling in Cursor can track workflow details like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"When should I use Cursor's Computer Use versus Cloud Agents or the built-in Browser tool?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Use the built-in Browser for testing a website's form and inspecting console or network errors, use Computer Use for interacting with a native desktop app or the iOS Simulator, use Cloud Agents when an agent should test inside Cursor's remote VM environment, and use a self-hosted worker with --computer-use to run a cloud agent's tools on hardware you own. Developers deciding between Cursor's testing modes can compare these tradeoffs on daily.dev."}}]}
```

