Peekaboo 🫣 - Mac automation that sees the screen and does the clicks.

Peekaboo brings high-fidelity screen capture, AI analysis, and complete GUI automation to macOS. Version 3 adds native agent flows and multi-screen automation across the CLI and MCP server.

Note: v3 is currently in beta (3.0.0-beta1) and has a few known issues; see the changelog for details.

What you get

• Pixel-accurate captures (windows, screens, menu bar) with optional Retina 2x scaling.
• Natural-language agent that chains Peekaboo tools (see, click, type, scroll, hotkey, menu, window, app, dock, space).
• Menu and menubar discovery with structured JSON; no clicks required.
• Multi-provider AI: GPT-5.1 family, Claude 4.x, Grok 4-fast (vision), Gemini 2.5, and local Ollama models.
• MCP server for Claude Desktop and Cursor plus a native CLI; the same tools in both.
• Configurable, testable workflows with reproducible sessions and strict typing.
• Requires macOS Screen Recording + Accessibility permissions (see docs/permissions.md).

Install

• macOS app + CLI (Homebrew):

  brew install steipete/tap/peekaboo
  

• MCP server (Node 22+, no global install needed):

  npx -y @steipete/peekaboo
  

Quick start

# Capture full screen at Retina scale and save to Desktop
peekaboo image --mode screen --retina --path ~/Desktop/screen.png

# Click a button by label (captures, resolves, and clicks in one go)
peekaboo see --app Safari --json-output | jq -r '.data.snapshot_id' | read SNAPSHOT
peekaboo click --on "Reload this page" --snapshot "$SNAPSHOT"

# Run a natural-language automation
peekaboo "Open Notes and create a TODO list with three items"

# Run as an MCP server (Claude/Cursor)
npx -y @steipete/peekaboo

# Minimal Claude Desktop config snippet (Developer → Edit Config):
# {
#   "mcpServers": {
#     "peekaboo": {
#       "command": "npx",
#       "args": ["-y", "@steipete/peekaboo"],
#       "env": {
#         "PEEKABOO_AI_PROVIDERS": "openai/gpt-5.1,anthropic/claude-opus-4"
#       }
#     }
#   }
# }

| Command | Key flags / subcommands | What it does | | --- | --- | --- | | see | --app, --mode screen/window, --retina, --json-output | Capture and annotate UI, return snapshot + element IDs | | click | --on <id/query>, --snapshot, --wait, coords | Click by element ID, label, or coordinates | | type | --text, --clear, --delay-ms | Enter text with pacing options | | press | key names, --repeat | Special keys and sequences | | hotkey | combos like cmd,shift,t | Modifier combos (cmd/ctrl/alt/shift) | | scroll | --on <id>, --direction up/down, --ticks | Scroll views or elements | | swipe | --from/--to, --duration, --steps | Smooth gesture-style drags | | drag | --from/--to, modifiers, Dock/Trash targets | Drag-and-drop between elements/coords | | move | --to <id/coords>, --screen-index | Position the cursor without clicking | | window | list, move, resize, focus, set-bounds | Move/resize/focus windows and Spaces | | app | launch, quit, relaunch, switch, list | Launch, quit, relaunch, switch apps | | space | list, switch, move-window | List or switch macOS Spaces | | menu | list, list-all, click, click-extra | List/click app menus and extras | | menubar | list, click | Target status-bar items by name/index | | dock | launch, right-click, hide, show, list | Interact with Dock items | | dialog | list, click, input, file, dismiss | Drive system dialogs (open/save/etc.) | | image | --mode screen/window/menu, --retina, --analyze | Screenshot screen/window/menu bar (+analyze) | | list | apps, windows, screens, menubar, permissions | Enumerate apps, windows, screens, permissions | | tools | --source native\|mcp, --server <name> | Inspect native + MCP tools | | config | init, show, add, login, models | Manage credentials/providers/settings | | permissions | status, grant | Check/grant required macOS permissions | | run | .peekaboo.json, --output, --no-fail-fast | Execute .peekaboo.json automation scripts | | sleep | --duration (ms) | Millisecond delays between steps | | clean | --all-snapshots, --older-than, --snapshot | Prune snapshots and caches | | agent | --model, --dry-run, --resume, --max-steps, audio | Natural-language multi-step automation | | mcp | serve, list, add, enable/disable, test | Manage external MCP servers and serve Peekaboo |

Models and providers

• OpenAI: GPT-5.1 (default) and GPT-4.1/4o vision
• Anthropic: Claude 4.x
• xAI: Grok 4-fast reasoning + vision
• Google: Gemini 2.5 (pro/flash)
• Local: Ollama (llama3.3, llava, etc.)

Set providers via PEEKABOO_AI_PROVIDERS or peekaboo config add.

Learn more

• Command reference: docs/commands/
• Architecture: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
• Building from source: docs/building.md
• Testing guide: docs/testing/tools.md
• MCP setup: docs/commands/mcp.md
• Permissions: docs/permissions.md
• Ollama/local models: docs/ollama.md
• Agent chat loop: docs/agent-chat.md
• Service API reference: docs/service-api-reference.md

Development basics

• Requirements: macOS 15+, Xcode 16+/Swift 6.2. Node 22+ only if you run the pnpm docs/build helper scripts (core CLI/app/MCP are Swift-only).
• Install deps: pnpm install then pnpm run build:cli or pnpm run test:safe.
• Lint/format: pnpm run lint && pnpm run format.

License

MIT