Computer Control MCP

Computer Control MCP

MCP server that provides computer control capabilities, like mouse, keyboard, OCR, etc. using PyAutoGUI, RapidOCR, ONNXRuntime. Similar to 'computer-use' by Anthropic. With Zero External Dependencies.

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Quick Usage (MCP Setup Using uvx)

Note: Running uvx computer-control-mcp@latest for the first time will download python dependencies (around 70MB) which may take some time. Recommended to run this in a terminal before using it as MCP. Subsequent runs will be instant.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "computer-control-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["computer-control-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

OR install globally with pip:

pip install computer-control-mcp

Then run the server with:

computer-control-mcp # instead of uvx computer-control-mcp, so you can use the latest version, also you can `uv cache clean` to clear the cache and `uvx` again to use latest version.

Features

• Control mouse movements and clicks
• Type text at the current cursor position
• Take screenshots of the entire screen or specific windows with optional saving to downloads directory
• Extract text from screenshots using OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
• List and activate windows
• Press keyboard keys
• Drag and drop operations
• Enhanced screenshot capture for GPU-accelerated windows (Windows only)

Note on GPU-accelerated Windows

Traditional screenshot methods like GDI/PrintWindow fail to capture GPU-accelerated windows, resulting in black screens. This impacts games, media players, Electron apps, browsers with GPU acceleration, streaming software, and CAD tools. Use WGC through take_screenshot tool's flag or ENV variable

Configuration

Custom Screenshot Directory

By default, screenshots are saved to the OS downloads directory. You can customize this by setting the COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_SCREENSHOT_DIR environment variable:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "computer-control-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["computer-control-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_SCREENSHOT_DIR": "C:\\Users\\YourName\\Pictures\\Screenshots"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or set it system-wide:

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_SCREENSHOT_DIR = "C:\Users\YourName\Pictures\Screenshots"

# macOS/Linux
export COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_SCREENSHOT_DIR="/home/yourname/Pictures/Screenshots"

If the specified directory doesn't exist, the server will fall back to the default downloads directory.

Automatic WGC for Specific Windows

You can configure the system to automatically use Windows Graphics Capture (WGC) for specific windows by setting the COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_WGC_PATTERNS environment variable. This variable should contain comma-separated patterns that match window titles:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "computer-control-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["computer-control-mcp@latest"],
      "env": {
        "COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_WGC_PATTERNS": "obs, discord, game, steam"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or set it system-wide:

# Windows (PowerShell)
$env:COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_WGC_PATTERNS = "obs, discord, game, steam"

# macOS/Linux
export COMPUTER_CONTROL_MCP_WGC_PATTERNS="obs, discord, game, steam"

When this variable is set, any window whose title contains any of the specified patterns will automatically use WGC for screenshot capture, eliminating black screens for GPU-accelerated applications.

Available Tools

Mouse Control

• click_screen(x: int, y: int): Click at specified screen coordinates
• move_mouse(x: int, y: int): Move mouse cursor to specified coordinates
• drag_mouse(from_x: int, from_y: int, to_x: int, to_y: int, duration: float = 0.5): Drag mouse from one position to another
• mouse_down(button: str = "left"): Hold down a mouse button ('left', 'right', 'middle')
• mouse_up(button: str = "left"): Release a mouse button ('left', 'right', 'middle')

Keyboard Control

• type_text(text: str): Type the specified text at current cursor position
• key_down(key: str): Hold down a specific keyboard key until released
• key_up(key: str): Release a specific keyboard key
• press_keys(keys: Union[str, List[Union[str, List[str]]]]): Press keyboard keys (supports single keys, sequences, and combinations)

Screen and Window Management

• take_screenshot(title_pattern: str = None, use_regex: bool = False, threshold: int = 10, scale_percent_for_ocr: int = None, save_to_downloads: bool = False, use_wgc: bool = False): Capture screen or window
• take_screenshot_with_ocr(title_pattern: str = None, use_regex: bool = False, threshold: int = 10, scale_percent_for_ocr: int = None, save_to_downloads: bool = False): Extract adn return text with coordinates using OCR from screen or window
• get_screen_size(): Get current screen resolution
• list_windows(): List all open windows
• activate_window(title_pattern: str, use_regex: bool = False, threshold: int = 60): Bring specified window to foreground
• wait_milliseconds(milliseconds: int): Wait for a specified number of milliseconds

Testing MCP Server with mcp-caller

You can quickly test the MCP server tools without an MCP client using mcp-caller:

# List all available tools
npx mcp-caller --server-json '{"type":"stdio","command":"uvx","args":["computer-control-mcp@latest","server"]}' --list-tools

# Call a specific tool
npx mcp-caller --server-json '{"type":"stdio","command":"uvx","args":["computer-control-mcp@latest","server"]}' --tool list_windows --params-json '{}'

Development

Setting up the Development Environment

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/AB498/computer-control-mcp.git
cd computer-control-mcp

# Build/Run:

# 1. Install in development mode | Meaning that your edits to source code will be reflected in the installed package.
pip install -e .

# Then Start server | This is equivalent to `uvx computer-control-mcp@latest` just the local code is used
computer-control-mcp

# -- OR --

# 2. Build after `pip install hatch` | This needs version increment in orer to reflect code changes
hatch build

# Windows
$latest = Get-ChildItem .\dist\*.whl | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
pip install $latest.FullName --upgrade 

# Non-windows
pip install dist/*.whl --upgrade

# Run
computer-control-mcp

Running Tests

python -m pytest

API Reference

See the API Reference for detailed information about the available functions and classes.

License

MIT

For more information or help

• Email ([email protected])
• Discord (CodePlayground)