Quickstart (GUI)

Get up and running with the cua Agent UI in 3 simple steps.

Introduction

cua combines Computer (interface) + Agent (AI) for automating desktop apps. The Agent UI provides a simple chat interface to control your remote computer using natural language.

Set Up Your Computer Environment

Choose how you want to run your cua computer. Cloud containers are recommended for the easiest setup:

Easiest & safest way to get started

Go to trycua.com/signin
Navigate to Dashboard > Containers > Create Instance
Create a Medium, Ubuntu 22 container
Note your container name and API key

Your cloud container will be automatically configured and ready to use.

Install lume cli

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trycua/cua/main/libs/lume/scripts/install.sh)"

Start a local cua container

lume run macos-sequoia-cua:latest

Enable Windows Sandbox (requires Windows 10 Pro/Enterprise or Windows 11)
Install pywinsandbox dependency

pip install -U git+git://github.com/karkason/pywinsandbox.git

Windows Sandbox will be automatically configured when you run the CLI

Install Docker Desktop or Docker Engine
Pull the CUA Ubuntu container

docker pull --platform=linux/amd64 trycua/cua-ubuntu:latest

Install and Run cua

Install uv

# Use curl to download the script and execute it with sh:
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# If your system doesn't have curl, you can use wget:
# wget -qO- https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

# Use irm to download the script and execute it with iex:
powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Install Python 3.12

uv python install 3.12

Run cua

uv run --with "cua-agent[ui]" -m agent.ui

Start Chatting

Open your browser to the displayed URL and start chatting with your computer-using agent.

You can ask your agent to perform actions like:

"Open Firefox and go to github.com"
"Take a screenshot and tell me what's on the screen"
"Type 'Hello world' into the terminal"

For advanced Python usage, see the Quickstart for Developers.