Drives native macOS apps in the background: Claude writes JavaScript against the bundled computer-use engine to launch apps, click, drag, type, read each app's accessibility tree and capture screenshots, while the target app stays behind the user's other windows and the cursor stays usable. Adds tools for menu bar icons and notifications (System Events UI scripting) and for real-mouse drags that the engine's app-level drag can't perform.
Click on "Deploy Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@sleight open Calculator in the background and compute 12 × 12"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
sleight is an MIT-licensed plugin for Claude Code, Codex, Grok CLI and Cursor (install not yet run). Grok Bot uses its local shell. Ask it to work out a sum in Calculator or edit a document, and it operates that app in the background.
You need an Apple Silicon Mac. The ChatGPT desktop app is required in /Applications because sleight runs its computer-use engine.
You don't need a ChatGPT account or sign-in. sleight uses your coding agent's account or API access, without a separate Codex sign-in.
sleight is unofficial. OpenAI and Anthropic don't endorse or support it. A ChatGPT update can break it. The new install flow and setup in a fresh macOS user haven't run live. Install time and typical task cost are unmeasured. Seerequirements for tested macOS versions. sleight contains no OpenAI code.
LCU, Cua, Peekaboo and FowlBrowser are competing computer-use tools. An arm means one agent setup.
sleight's own 9-task native Mac benchmark: 251.2 s total expected time. Claude computer use: 453.9 s. Expected time is mean time per attempt divided by the pass rate, estimating time to a correct result when failed attempts are retried. Benchmark hub · Interactive page
Install sleight from https://github.com/Land-o-Clusters/sleight and check it with its doctor.Paste that into your coding agent. It follows INSTALL.md, stopping for your admin password, macOS permissions, Chrome's debugging switch and app approvals.
Related MCP server: Windows Computer Control MCP Server
Host | Install route and validation | Limits |
Claude Code 2.1.288 or later | Plugin. Native and app claims on 2.1.289. | No known host-specific gaps. |
Codex CLI | Plugin. Calculator and TextEdit passed on 0.160.0 after first-call retries, fixed since but not rerun live. | Turbo needs trusted hooks and awaits a live check. |
Grok CLI | Direct MCP. Handshake on 1.0.13. Model and app tasks untested. | Turbo off. Results capped at 20,000 bytes. |
Grok Bot (preview) | Local shell via | Turbo off. Approvals wait in the menu bar glove (limits). |
Other MCP clients | Stdio config, tested with our own client. | Turbo unavailable. |
Cursor | Plugin, with marketplace install unverified. | Turbo unavailable. |
The action pane, status line and /sleight are Claude Code only (host details).
To install by hand, follow INSTALL.md. If Computer Use is already on in ChatGPT or Codex, installing the plugin is enough. Otherwise run ./bin/sleight-mcp setup from the installed plugin folder (Computer Use). It uses ChatGPT's Node runtime. npm isn't needed.
sleight drives native apps, including Electron apps such as VS Code, Slack and Spotify, through the engine. Safari and Firefox use the engine's accessibility path. The engine refuses terminals and OpenAI's own apps (how it works).
Turbo drives Chrome and Helium directly. It is on by default after you enable Chrome's one-time debugging switch. The browser asks you to allow each connection (setup).
In the turbo race, Chrome had the lowest expected time on 10 of 13 tasks, 258.9 s total against FowlBrowser's 447.8 s (2026-10-18 to 2026-10-19). Helium had the lowest expected time on 11 of 13, 241.8 s total against 338.3 s (2026-10-18).
From the installed plugin folder, you run ./bin/sleight-mcp turbo on (Chrome first, then Helium), ./bin/sleight-mcp turbo on --browser helium to choose Helium, or ./bin/sleight-mcp turbo off to opt out until you turn it on again (settings).
Text drags move between windows, repair spacing and keep empty final lines. Opened-file handles keep their document window. sleight refuses formatted cross-window moves.
sleight rejects malformed native arguments before the engine sends input and reports the correct signature. It handles shutdown while the engine loads.
Turbo fills multi-selects and accepts modifier clicks on safe targets. Shorter replies explain field values, batch boundaries and viewport markers.
Requested sign-ups count as confirmed when your message names the username or email and password (limits).
Opt-in local stats report action times and reads saved.
Grok CLI adds direct MCP (10 tools in its 1.0.13 handshake). Cursor adds a plugin, with install not yet run. Grok Bot adds the local shell route as a preview: one live Calculator read passed, and its approvals wait in the menu bar glove.
Protected consent buttons require physical input (accessibility limits). Chrome and Helium turbo is on by default after Chrome's debugging consent.
The ghost hand is off by default: textedit-drag took 31 to 37 s with it, 23 to 26 s without (3 runs a side, details).
Release validation for 1.4.1 (2026-10-22, Haiku 5.5 at high effort, engine 26.1016.51333): the full check passed (12,770 tests), and 1.4.1 ran against 1.4.0 on sleight's own tasks. In Chrome both passed all 13 tasks 3 times, at 218.9 s total expected time against 213.0 s. On 8 native held-out tasks, run on the same harness, 1.4.1's mean total was 501.7 s (7 runs) against 1.4.0's 515.8 s (3 runs). One Opus 5.5 round passed all 13 Chrome tasks in 237.3 s. The 1.4.1 benchmark harness makes native tasks slower than 1.4.0's harness, measured but not yet explained (known problems).
Native claim, 2026-10-17 to 2026-10-18: sleight's total expected time over 9 tasks is 251.2 s against Claude computer use at 453.9 s, and LCU, Codex, Cua and Peekaboo have no total because each never passed at least one task.
Native claim: "fastest", sleight's total expected time 251.2 s over 9 tasks (197 runs, 2026-10-17 to 2026-10-18). Engine 26.1007.71326, 2026-10-17 to 2026-10-18.
App claim: "fastest", sleight's total expected time 56.8 s over 3 tasks (60 runs, 2026-10-18, 02:39 to 03:16 UTC). Engine 26.1007.71326, 2026-10-18.
Chrome and Helium: turbo against FowlBrowser: in Chrome, the lowest expected time on 10 of 13 and a total of 258.9 s against FowlBrowser's 447.8 s (sleight-turbo-rel130). In Helium, the lowest expected time on 11 of 13 and a total of 241.8 s against FowlBrowser's 338.3 s (sleight-turbo-b5). 14 gate studies. Engine 26.1007.71326, 2026-10-18 and engine 26.1013.40934, 2026-10-19.
Safari and Firefox: the engine path against Codex, LCU, Cua and Peekaboo: in Safari sleight is fastest on 11 of 12 tasks, the only arm with a total (592.1 s) (sleight-b10, 2026-10-18). In Firefox sleight is fastest on 11 of 12 tasks, with a total of 557.1 s (sleight-b10, 2026-10-18). Engine 26.1007.71326, 2026-10-18 and engine 26.1013.40934, 2026-10-19.
Experiments: 17 studies with run data. The catalog has 95 benchmark write-ups and includes studies without structured run data.
Validation: build A against build B: 1 scored bank: 1 validation, 0 re-measure. 6 more have no score file. 21 A/B groups in all. Build B has a higher expected time or a lower pass rate than build A on 37 of 72 task comparisons. Newest scored bank: validation-140-final (2026-10-20).
Release passes and the earlier head-to-heads: 7 release passes (2026-10-05 to 2026-10-09), 115 results files in all.
Total expected seconds of sleight against the next-best arm with a total, in the newest complete set of each benchmark. Native apps, 251.2 s against Claude computer use at 453.9 s. VS Code, Slack, Spotify, 56.8 s against LCU at 101.3 s. Chrome, turbo, 258.9 s against FowlBrowser at 447.8 s. Helium, turbo, 241.8 s against FowlBrowser at 338.3 s. Safari, engine path, 592.1 s, and no other arm has a total. Firefox, engine path, 557.1 s against Cua at 2541.4 s.
The engine is the computer-use software bundled with ChatGPT. sleight's launcher starts it on ChatGPT's own Node runtime. The relay connects it to your agent and shows approval cards. In Claude Code, a UI extension (the mod) draws the action pane and ends the engine's turn after each of yours (how it works).
These are the intended checks. Known problems lists guards with only unit coverage and what has run live.
Each app gets one approval card with Allow, Always allow and Decline.
Always allow, payment and consent buttons accept only a person's click or key press.
VoiceOver, Switch Control, Voice Control and screen-sharing users need a physical keyboard or pointer for these cards in 1.4.0 (limits and planned alternative).
A payment goes ahead without another prompt only when your own message names what to pay, the amount and what to pay with. When a page tries to pay, sleight always asks (settings).
sleight treats page text as untrusted input when checking actions and approvals. The js tool runs JavaScript as you, so Claude Code asks before each call unless you allow mcp__plugin_sleight_computer__js.
sleight never switches Spaces or takes focus, except for Chrome's own consent prompt. A few fallbacks (foreground drag, hover, some menu bar icons) move the pointer briefly, each after you've stopped typing for 2 s.
INSTALL.md for every host, setup, update and uninstall. Settings lists every switch with its default, and privacy what sleight writes on your Mac (it doesn't call the network itself).
Known problems with the runs that showed each one, the benchmark method, the changelog and the roadmap.
@argofowl showed that the ChatGPT app's computer-use server works outside Codex.
LCU, started by 0xpolarzero, takes the same idea across several harnesses, and its notes mapped out the runtime's lifecycle.
Turbo includes playwright-core 1.64.0, unmodified, with its notices in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.
MIT. The ChatGPT app and its computer-use runtime belong to OpenAI, under OpenAI's terms, and sleight doesn't include or redistribute either. ChatGPT, Codex, Claude, Cursor, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Helium, Microsoft Word, Excel, VS Code, Slack, Spotify and other app names are trademarks of their owners, who don't endorse or sponsor sleight, and appear here to describe compatibility and benchmark results.
This server cannot be deployed
Use your Mac, Windows or Linux computer from ChatGPT, Claude or Codex: files, commands, documents.
Mac & Windows: let ChatGPT, Claude & Cursor use your email, calendar, iMessage, Teams, files.
Build agents to automate any background task. Works with your ChatGPT/Claude subscription.
Work on your own computers from Claude or ChatGPT: run commands, edit and search files.
