Codex's computer-use runtime, smuggled out of the app

What it does

LCU takes the computer-use runtime that ships inside the official ChatGPT desktop app and exposes it to whatever agent harness you already use — Claude Code, Codex CLI, Pi, plus experimental Oh My Pi and Hermes integrations. The agent can read windows, click, type, take screenshots, and (opt-in) control Chrome tabs through the official extension. The ChatGPT app must still be installed locally; it supplies the runtime and instructions, while LCU handles setup and wiring.

The interesting bit

The permission model is two-layered and unusually careful. Your harness decides whether the agent may call LCU’s tools at all; LCU then decides, per app, whether that agent may touch it — in every permission mode. First-time approvals surface as a native pane in the Claude app that the model cannot see, press, or fake, and “always allow” grants are managed with Touch ID from the terminal. High-risk apps get warnings; the app hosting the agent is never approved.

Key highlights

• Adapters for Pi, Codex CLI, and Claude Code; experimental Oh My Pi and Hermes support
• Native approval pane in Claude Code/Claude app (lcu-approve mod), with an Approved apps panel and /computer-use-apps
• lcu apps allow/revoke manages always-allowed apps from the terminal, picked up by running sessions immediately
• Optional unattended mode (--approval auto) for VMs/CI that pre-allows tools but keeps per-app approval
• Opt-in computer-audio recording and Chrome control; sites still require approval

Caveats

• Requires the official ChatGPT desktop app installed — LCU borrows its runtime rather than bundling one
• Platform support is narrow: Apple Silicon macOS and X11-based Linux (Ubuntu 24.04-era glibc); no Windows, Intel Macs, Wayland, or musl
• Chrome support in Claude Code is experimental (some interruptions don’t trigger tab cleanup), and the installer doesn’t put lcu on your PATH

Verdict

Worth a look if you run agents on a Mac or X11 Linux desktop and want computer use without being locked into one vendor’s app. If you’re on Windows or Wayland, or want a self-contained runtime, this isn’t it yet — and the ChatGPT-app dependency is a philosophical as well as practical constraint.