--- title: Letting GitHub Copilot drive your desktop with computer use description: GitHub Copilot's 'computer use' feature lets it control desktop applications through your operating system's accessibility tree and screenshots. It can click,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/letting-github-copilot-drive-your-desktop-with-computer-use-mozgxsgjx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Letting GitHub Copilot drive your desktop with computer use | daily.dev og:description: GitHub Copilot's 'computer use' feature lets it control desktop applications through your operating system's accessibility tree and screenshots. It can click,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/letting-github-copilot-drive-your-desktop-with-computer-use-mozgxsgjx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/mOzgXSGJx.png og:image:alt: Letting GitHub Copilot drive your desktop with 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. # Letting GitHub Copilot drive your desktop with computer use **[The Art of Simplicity](https://daily.dev/sources/bartwullems)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary GitHub Copilot's 'computer use' feature lets it control desktop applications through your operating system's accessibility tree and screenshots. It can click, type, press keys, scroll and drag inside GUIs. The feature entered public preview on October 1, 2026, works locally on macOS and Windows, and is disabled by default. Enable it with '/computer on' in Copilot CLI or via Settings in the Copilot app. CLI sessions ask for approval before controlling an app, but the author did not get an approval request in the Copilot app. Copilot stops if it detects you interacting with the machine yourself. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the GitHub Copilot computer use feature and how does it work? Computer use lets GitHub Copilot interact with desktop applications on your behalf by reading content through the operating system's accessibility tree and taking screenshots for visual context. It can then click controls, enter and edit text, press keys, scroll and drag, making it useful for GUI-only legacy tools with no API, CLI or MCP server to automate against. _Developers automating legacy desktop tools can track GitHub Copilot's computer use rollout on daily.dev._ ### How do I enable computer use in GitHub Copilot CLI? Run '/computer on' in an interactive Copilot CLI session to enable it, since the feature is disabled by default. Use '/computer show' to check the status of the computer-use plugin, MCP server and associated skills, and '/computer off' to disable it again. The same toggle also works inside a session in the GitHub Copilot app, or via Settings > Computer Use there. _Anyone wiring up Copilot CLI automations can follow setup changes like this one on daily.dev._ ### Does GitHub Copilot ask for approval before controlling desktop applications? In the Copilot CLI, Copilot does ask for approval before controlling an application, offering 'Allow' for the current session or 'Always allow' as a saved approval shared between CLI and the Copilot app on the same computer. However, one tester reported that the GitHub Copilot app opened an application without showing any approval request first, despite documentation stating approval should be requested. _Teams evaluating approval and permission behavior in AI agent tools can follow reports like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [GitHub Copilot app generally available](https://daily.dev/posts/github-copilot-app-generally-available-1artyaowf) · GitHub Changelog · 5 upvotes · 1 comments - [GitHub takes aim at Claude Code and Codex with its new Copilot app](https://daily.dev/posts/github-takes-aim-at-claude-code-and-codex-with-its-new-copilot-app-u5mftvizf) · The New Stack · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#github](https://daily.dev/tags/github), [#automation](https://daily.dev/tags/automation) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/letting-github-copilot-drive-your-desktop-with-computer-use-mozgxsgjx) ```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":"Letting GitHub Copilot drive your desktop with computer use","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/letting-github-copilot-drive-your-desktop-with-computer-use-mozgxsgjx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/letting-github-copilot-drive-your-desktop-with-computer-use-mozgxsgjx"},"datePublished":"2026-11-04T05:55:54.471Z","dateModified":"2026-11-04T05:57:03.194Z","description":"GitHub Copilot's 'computer use' feature lets it control desktop applications through your operating system's accessibility tree and screenshots. 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It can then click controls, enter and edit text, press keys, scroll and drag, making it useful for GUI-only legacy tools with no API, CLI or MCP server to automate against. Developers automating legacy desktop tools can track GitHub Copilot's computer use rollout on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I enable computer use in GitHub Copilot CLI?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Run '/computer on' in an interactive Copilot CLI session to enable it, since the feature is disabled by default. Use '/computer show' to check the status of the computer-use plugin, MCP server and associated skills, and '/computer off' to disable it again. The same toggle also works inside a session in the GitHub Copilot app, or via Settings \u003e Computer Use there. 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