Drive any macOS app in the background without stealing the cursor
Hi HN, Francesco from Cua here. I hacked this project together last weekend, inspired by the Codex Computer-Use release and lessons learned from deploying GUI-operating agents for our customers. The main problem: when a UI automation process controls a desktop app today, it usually takes over the human’s session. Your cursor moves, keyboard focus gets stolen, windows jump to the front, and you have to stop working until the agent is done. That is why we have historically avoided encouraging users to run these processes directly on their host machine, instead relying on VMs or GUI containers…
Drive any macOS app in the background without stealing the cursor launched on April 28, 2026 with 192 votes, #146 of 21,248 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches.
In plain words
This macOS tool enables background automation of desktop applications without interrupting the user's current session. Unlike traditional UI automation that steals cursor control and keyboard focus, it allows processes to operate apps independently while the human continues working. Built for AI agents and automation workflows, it solves the concurrency problem that previously required virtual machines or containers to safely run multiple automation tasks on a shared machine.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Scale computer-use 2.0 with open-source drivers, cross-OS fleets, and benchmarks for training, evaluation, and data generation. - trycua/cua
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi HN, Francesco from Cua here. I hacked this project together last weekend, inspired by the Codex Computer-Use release and lessons learned from deploying GUI-operating agents for our customers. The main problem: when a UI automation process controls a desktop app today, it usually takes over the human’s session.…
Pricing, as stated on its site
Free — Agent is an open-source framework available on GitHub with no pricing mentioned. The product itself appears to be free/open-source software. The pricing page shown is for GitHub's hosting platform, no
checked September 2026 · prices change
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
Switch for macOS2021 · get-switch.app · ▲174Keyboard-driven commands to navigate your mac apps faster.
Lock-in2025 · lock-in.ai · ▲132Hey HN, you may have seen me post about Lock In recently—it's a minimalist task management HUD that sits silently on your desktop. It gained some traction for its Mac version, and as of today, it's finally available for Windows. The idea remains the same: productivity apps are often click-heavy databases that feel like administrative work. Lock In is designed as an "execution engine"—a small, transparent window that forces you to focus on doing. It works entirely via slash commands. E.g., /d 100 pushups, /lockin 1h. What's new in this release: Windows Support: Fully native builds…
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