agent-eyes 0.8.0

Accessibility-tree vision for AI agents — see and interact with ANY application without screenshots

agent-eyes

Accessibility-tree vision for AI agents — see and interact with any application without screenshots.

Instead of pixel-based screen capture, agent-eyes reads the OS accessibility tree to give AI agents a structured, semantic view of every UI element on screen. The tree is the vision.

Key Advantages

• No screenshots needed — works through accessibility APIs, not pixels
• Cross-platform — macOS (AXUIElement), Windows (UI Automation), Linux (AT-SPI2)
• Native + Web — interact with desktop apps and Chrome tabs from one server
• Shadow mode — control Chrome in the background without stealing window focus
• Human-like input — real keyboard/mouse events that trigger all event listeners
• Element IDs — every UI element gets an [id] for precise click/type targeting
• OCR fallback — for apps with sparse accessibility trees, get text via screen OCR

Installation

Run directly via uvx (no install needed):

uvx agent-eyes

Linux only — install AT-SPI2 via system package manager

apt install python3-pyatspi   # Debian/Ubuntu
dnf install python3-pyatspi   # Fedora

Requirements: Python 3.10+ • Chrome Extension (recommended) or Chrome with --remote-debugging-port=9222 for web tools

Quick Start

As an MCP server

Add to your Claude Code config (~/.claude.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-eyes": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["agent-eyes"]
    }
  }
}

Standalone

agent-eyes

First-Time Setup

After adding agent-eyes as an MCP server, run the setup wizard to auto-detect competing servers (Playwright, Puppeteer, etc.) and configure your AI tools:

/agent-eyes-init

This scans your machine for AI coding tools and competing MCP servers, then presents interactive choices to replace them with agent-eyes. All changes are backed up automatically.

Tip: In Claude Code, setup uses native multi-choice prompts. In other AI tools, it falls back to text-based selection.

Tools (28)

Orientation

Tool	Description
eyes_status	Check platform adapter, permissions, CDP availability
eyes_context	Quick snapshot — frontmost app, active window, focused element
eyes_list_apps	List all running apps with PIDs and window titles
eyes_get_focused	Get the currently focused UI element

Reading UI

Tool	Description
eyes_get_tree	Full accessibility tree of an app by PID
eyes_get_subtree	Drill into a specific subtree by element ID
eyes_find	Search elements by role, name, or value (regex/contains/exact)
eyes_element_at	Identify the element at screen coordinates
eyes_get_ocr_hints	OCR fallback — get text blocks with coordinates

Interaction

Tool	Description
eyes_click	Click an element by ID or screen coordinates
eyes_type	Type text into a field with real key events
eyes_press_key	Press keys with modifiers (Enter, Tab, Ctrl+C, etc.)
eyes_hover	Hover to trigger tooltips and :hover states
eyes_scroll	Scroll vertically/horizontally in apps or browser
eyes_drag	Drag and drop between coordinates
eyes_fill_form	Fill multiple form fields in one call
eyes_file_upload	Upload files to a file input element
eyes_wait_for	Poll until an element appears (with timeout)

App Management

Tool	Description
eyes_app	Launch, quit, or focus an application
eyes_window	List, focus, minimize, close, move, or resize windows

Chrome / Web

Tool	Description
eyes_list_chrome_tabs	List all Chrome tabs (title, URL)
eyes_get_web_tree	Chrome tab accessibility tree via CDP
eyes_navigate	Navigate a tab to a URL
eyes_evaluate	Execute JavaScript in a tab
eyes_new_tab	Open a new Chrome tab
eyes_close_tab	Close a Chrome tab
eyes_handle_dialog	Accept/dismiss JS dialogs (alert, confirm, prompt)

Shadow Mode

Tool	Description
eyes_shadow	Control Chrome without focusing it — click, type, scroll, read, run JS

How It Works

AI Agent
  ↓ MCP
agent-eyes server
  ├── Tier 1: Chrome Extension Bridge (best — no flags, cross-platform)
  │     └── chrome.scripting / chrome.tabs → fast web automation
  ├── Tier 2: CDP Persistent Connection (fast — needs debugging port)
  │     └── Single WebSocket + flat sessions → Chrome accessibility tree
  ├── Tier 3: Native Fallback (always available)
  │     ├── OS Accessibility API → structured UI tree
  │     ├── AppleScript JS injection → web interaction (macOS)
  │     └── Input Simulator → real keyboard/mouse events
  └── Desktop/Native Apps
        └── Always uses native accessibility (unchanged)

1. Read — eyes_get_tree returns every button, text field, heading, link, etc. as a numbered tree
2. Find — eyes_find searches by role/name/value, or eyes_element_at for coordinate lookup
3. Act — eyes_click, eyes_type, eyes_press_key target elements by their [id]

Connection Tiers

agent-eyes automatically selects the best available connection method:

Tier	Method	Setup Required	Performance	Cross-Platform
1	Chrome Extension Bridge	Install extension	Fastest	Yes
2	CDP Persistent Connection	--remote-debugging-port=9222 flag	Fast	Yes
3	Native Fallback	None	Good	Yes

Use eyes_status to see which tier is currently active.

Supported Platforms

Platform	Native Adapter	Web (Chrome)	Shadow Mode
macOS	AXUIElement + pyobjc (Tier 3)	Extension Bridge (Tier 1) or CDP (Tier 2)	Yes
Windows	UI Automation + pywinauto (Tier 3)	Extension Bridge (Tier 1) or CDP (Tier 2)	Yes
Linux	AT-SPI2 + pyatspi (Tier 3)	Extension Bridge (Tier 1) or CDP (Tier 2)	Yes

License

MIT