# Claude Computer Use — Setup Guide

Computer Use is an Anthropic feature that lets Claude control a computer the way a person does: it looks at the screen, moves the mouse, clicks, and types. Anthropic ships a reference demo that runs a small, isolated Linux desktop inside Docker so Claude never touches your real machine.

- Official demo repo: https://github.com/anthropics/anthropic-quickstarts/tree/main/computer-use-demo
- Docs: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/agents-and-tools/computer-use

## What you need

- Docker Desktop installed and running (free)
- An Anthropic API key from https://console.anthropic.com (this is pay-per-use and separate from a Claude Pro subscription)
- About 15 minutes

## Step 1 — Install Docker Desktop

Download Docker Desktop for Mac or Windows, install it, and open it once. Wait until the whale icon says "Docker Desktop is running."

## Step 2 — Get an API key

1. Go to console.anthropic.com and sign in.
2. Open **API Keys** and create a new key.
3. Add a small amount of credit (a few dollars is plenty to try this).
4. Copy the key — it starts with `sk-ant-`.

## Step 3 — Run the Computer Use demo

Mac / Linux:

```bash
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key-here

docker run \
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY \
  -v $HOME/.anthropic:/home/computeruse/.anthropic \
  -p 5900:5900 -p 8501:8501 -p 6080:6080 -p 8080:8080 \
  -it ghcr.io/anthropics/anthropic-quickstarts:computer-use-demo-latest
```

Windows PowerShell:

```powershell
$env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-your-key-here"

docker run `
  -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY `
  -v "$HOME\.anthropic:/home/computeruse/.anthropic" `
  -p 5900:5900 -p 8501:8501 -p 6080:6080 -p 8080:8080 `
  -it ghcr.io/anthropics/anthropic-quickstarts:computer-use-demo-latest
```

## Step 4 — Open the demo

Go to http://localhost:8080 in your browser. You will see a chat panel on the left and a live virtual desktop on the right.

## Step 5 — Give it a task

Type a plain-English task and watch Claude drive the desktop. Good first tasks:

- "Open Firefox, search for today's weather in Dallas, and tell me the high."
- "Open the text editor, write a grocery list for taco night, and save it as groceries.txt."
- "Open the spreadsheet app and build a simple monthly budget with formulas."

## Safety rules

- Only run Computer Use in the containerized demo, not on your real desktop.
- Do not log into personal banking, email, or anything with saved payment methods.
- Stay at the keyboard and watch it work. Stop the run if it goes sideways.
- Treat anything on a web page as untrusted — a page can try to talk Claude into doing something you didn't ask for.

## Stopping and cleaning up

Press `Ctrl + C` in the terminal to stop the container. The virtual desktop is wiped when the container stops.

## When to use something else

- Writing and editing code in your own project → use Claude Code.
- Everyday chat, files, and connected apps → use the Claude Desktop App.
- Clicking through a GUI that has no API → Computer Use is the right tool.