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Hermes Computer Use lets an AI agent interact with desktop apps without taking your keyboard focus or moving your real cursor, so you can keep working in another window. To set it up, enable the Computer Use toolset, confirm its driver is installed, meet your operating system’s display and permission requirements, then start a Computer Use session. The steps below follow Hermes Agent’s current documentation; the documented behavior is not an independent performance test.
What “background” means in Hermes Computer Use
Hermes describes Computer Use as reading an app’s accessibility tree and sending synthesized input without bringing the target window to the foreground, moving the physical cursor, taking keyboard focus, or switching virtual desktops or macOS Spaces. Its bundled skill recommends capturing the screen first, limiting work to the intended app, and not raising a window unless asked. In practical terms, the agent can work in one desktop app while you type in another; it is not a promise that every app or operating-system setup will behave identically. Hermes Computer Use documentation and the bundled Computer Use skill describe these behaviors.
Computer Use acts on the display available to the machine hosting the bot’s screen. Depending on configuration, that may be the local gateway host or a supported sandbox display. Some hosted sandboxes do not provide a display; Hermes says Computer Use refuses in that case unless configured for a supported gateway placement. Check where the bot’s screen is hosted before diagnosing a blank or unavailable desktop.
The Tool Desk
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- Enable the toolset. In the CLI, run
hermes toolsand select Computer Use. Alternatively, enable it in the Hermes dashboard or desktop app. Current installers and the desktop app include the driver by default, but setup may be skipped or a download may fail. (Official setup guide.) - Install or repair the driver if needed. Run
hermes computer-use install, then verify it withhermes computer-use status. - Meet your operating system’s prerequisites. Follow the relevant macOS, Windows, or Linux section below before trying to control an app.
- Start a session. Run
hermes -t computer_use chat. To make the toolset available through the regular configuration instead, addcomputer_useto the enabled toolsets in~/.hermes/config.yaml. - Diagnose setup problems. Run
hermes computer-use doctor. Hermes identifies this as the first diagnostic step for common driver, permission, and display issues.
Check the requirements for your operating system
macOS
Grant the permissions requested by the identity shown by hermes computer-use doctor in System Settings → Privacy & Security. The guide identifies the driver as CuaDriver / com.trycua.driver and calls for both Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions. If the permission check remains stale after a driver update, the guide recommends resetting the relevant Accessibility or Screen Capture grant and granting it again. See Hermes’ macOS permission guidance.
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Windows
The setup guide lists no install-time permission prerequisite. A separate issue can arise when running over SSH rather than from a local console or RDP: SSH may put the process in Session 0, where it cannot access the interactive desktop as expected. For that situation, Hermes documents a Windows SSH autostart pattern in its Computer Use guide.
Linux
Hermes needs a reachable display: DISPLAY for X11 or XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland for Wayland. Wayland capture requires an XWayland bridge, and AT-SPI must be enabled. A missing display variable or a pure Wayland setup without that bridge can result in empty captures. The guide says the driver is available for glibc Linux targets; it does not provide a musl or Android build. Check the Linux requirements in the official guide.
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Choose Computer Use or browser tools
Use the tool that matches the target. Computer Use is for desktop-level controls, including native applications, browser chrome, permission prompts, extension popups, and native dialogs. For webpage content, DOM-oriented navigation, or page interaction, Hermes’ bundled skill directs users to browser tools such as browser_navigate, browser_click, browser_type, browser_snapshot, and—when Browser Use CLI is active—browser_exec. The Hermes Browser Automation guide says Browser Use runs a packaged Chromium locally by default and does not touch the user’s installed Chrome; cloud browser providers and connected-browser paths can be configured separately.
| Need | Use | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Operate a desktop app, native dialog, or browser interface outside the page’s DOM | Computer Use | Accessibility-tree reading and synthesized desktop input |
| Navigate or interact with webpage content and page elements | Browser tools | DOM-oriented browser navigation and interaction |
Troubleshoot common failures
- The driver is missing: Enable the Computer Use toolset, or run
hermes computer-use install; then confirm withhermes computer-use status. - macOS permission checks do not clear: Confirm the permissions are granted to the identity reported by
hermes computer-use doctor. If they remain stale after an update, reset the relevant Accessibility or Screen Capture grant and grant it again. - Linux captures are empty: Check that the relevant display is reachable and that the required Wayland XWayland bridge and AT-SPI setup are present.
- Windows captures are empty over SSH: Check whether the process landed in Session 0; use the documented SSH autostart procedure for an interactive desktop.
- A click appears to do nothing: Capture the screen again and look for a blocking modal. Element indices can become stale after a new capture, so recapture after an action changes the interface.
For any of these cases, hermes computer-use doctor is the documented starting point for checking driver, permissions, and display configuration. Consult the Computer Use guide for platform-specific recovery details.
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