GitHub Copilot CLI and the Copilot app added computer use in public preview on macOS and Windows

Archive entry: this covers an event from October 1, 2026, and we published it on November 8, 2026. The details come from sources dated at the time and may have changed since.

On October 1, 2026, GitHub announced computer use in public preview for GitHub Copilot CLI and the GitHub Copilot app, according to a GitHub changelog entry on Copilot interacting with desktop apps. The preview covered macOS and Windows and let Copilot operate applications beyond the editor and the terminal.

What computer use could do

• Copilot could read accessible app content and visual context, click controls, enter and edit text, press keys, scroll, drag and move through workflows across applications.
• Copilot asked for approval before controlling an app, and users could review or reset the apps they had set to always allow.
• On macOS, setup guided users through the required Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions.

What it meant for people who build with AI

Copilot agents could act outside the editor and the terminal, for example in tools that only offer a graphical interface, and the preview applied to both Copilot CLI and the Copilot app. The approval prompts, together with the option to review or reset always-allow apps, gave users a way to manage which applications Copilot could control.

How it was turned on

In Copilot CLI, /computer on enabled computer use, /computer show checked its state and /computer off disabled it. In the Copilot app, it was enabled under Settings > Computer Use.

Sources

• GitHub Copilot can now interact with desktop apps with computer use (GitHub, October 1, 2026, official)

Written with AI assistance, strictly from the sources listed above. Before it went live, automated checks verified its dates, sources and every language edition.