Amont Labs' LCU Lets Claude and Codex Control Your Desktop Through ChatGPT
A new open-source tool extracts the Codex computer-use runtime from OpenAI's ChatGPT desktop app so any agent harness can drive your Mac or Linux desktop.
- LCU exposes Codex's computer-use runtime to any agent harness without Codex authentication.
- Requires the official ChatGPT desktop app installed locally to supply the runtime.
- Ships adapters for Pi, Codex CLI and Claude Code; experimental Oh My Pi and Hermes support.
- Supports macOS Apple Silicon and Linux ARM64 or x86-64 on X11; Windows and Wayland unsupported.
- Covers desktop click, type, screenshot, window reading, plus opt-in Chrome tab control and audio recording.
- MIT licensed, 537 stars, trending as a way to pair Claude with OpenAI's desktop automation loop.
LCU Connects Coding Agents to ChatGPT’s Desktop Runtime
Amont Labs has released LCU, an MIT-licensed integration layer that lets supported coding agents call the computer-use runtime bundled with OpenAI’s ChatGPT desktop app. The runtime can inspect windows, capture screenshots, click, and type. LCU currently integrates with Claude Code, Pi, and Codex CLI, and its runtime setup requires no Codex authentication. The repository has 21 GitHub stars.
Developers still need the official ChatGPT desktop app installed locally. It supplies the runtime and instruction assets, while LCU configures those components and connects them to an agent harness, the process that hosts the model and its tools. This separation allows a model from one vendor to plan tasks while OpenAI’s runtime handles desktop execution.
The app supplies the hands
LCU locates the computer-use components shipped with ChatGPT, runs the required setup, and registers an adapter for the selected coding agent. Its code serves as the connection layer between the agent and the local runtime.
That dependency reduces the amount of automation code each agent project must build. It also creates a maintenance risk because changes to ChatGPT’s bundled files or instructions could require corresponding LCU updates.
Two control surfaces, five adapters
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