Open Computer Use

MCP server that gives any LLM its own computer — managed Docker workspaces with live browser, terminal, code execution, document skills, and autonomous sub-agents. Self-hosted, open-source, pluggable into any model.

Online demo: chat.yambr.com — Open WebUI with Computer Use already set up, sign in with GitHub or Google. (More ways to try it below.)

An MCP server that gives any LLM a fully-equipped Ubuntu sandbox with isolated Docker containers. Think of it as your AI's computer — it can do everything a developer can do:

• Execute code — bash, Python, Node.js, Java in isolated containers
• Create documents — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF with professional styling via skills
• Browse the web — Playwright + live CDP browser streaming (you see what AI sees in real-time)
• Run Claude Code — autonomous sub-agent with interactive terminal, MCP servers auto-configured
• Use 13+ skills — battle-tested workflows for document creation, web testing, design, and more

Built for production multi-user deployments. Tested with 1,000+ MAU. Each chat session runs in its own isolated Docker container — the AI can install packages, create files, run servers, and nothing leaks between users. Works seamlessly across MCP clients: start with Open WebUI today, switch to Claude Desktop or n8n tomorrow — same backend, no migration.

Works with any MCP-compatible client: Open WebUI, Claude Desktop, LiteLLM, n8n, or your own integration. See docs/COMPARISON.md for a detailed comparison with alternatives.

See docs/FEATURES.md for architecture details and docs/SCREENSHOTS.md for all screenshots.

Pro tip: Create skills with Claude Code in the terminal, then use them with any model in the chat. Skills are model-agnostic — write once, use everywhere.

OAuth only — no email/password, no SMS. On chat.yambr.com models are bundled as a free convenience; the hosted API is tools-only. Canonical cloud docs: docs.yambr.com. Repo-side orientation: docs/CLOUD.md.

git clone https://github.com/Yambr/open-computer-use.git
cd open-computer-use
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — set OPENAI_API_KEY (or any OpenAI-compatible provider)

# 1. Start Computer Use Server (builds workspace image on first run, ~15 min)
docker compose up --build

# 2. Start Open WebUI (in another terminal)
docker compose -f docker-compose.webui.yml up --build

Open http://localhost:3000 — Open WebUI with Computer Use ready to go.

Note: Two separate docker-compose files: docker-compose.yml (Computer Use Server) and docker-compose.webui.yml (Open WebUI). They communicate via localhost:8081. This mirrors real deployments where the server and UI run on different hosts.

After adding a model in Open WebUI, go to Model Settings and set:

Without Function Calling: Native, the model won't invoke Computer Use tools.

13 built-in public skills + 14 examples:

14 example skills: web-artifacts-builder, copy-editing, social-content, canvas-design, algorithmic-art, theme-factory, mcp-builder, and more.

See docs/SKILLS.md for details.

The server speaks standard MCP over Streamable HTTP. Point any MCP client at it — hosted or self-hosted.

• Hosted: https://api.yambr.com/mcp/computer_use with Authorization: Bearer <key from app.yambr.com>. Client configs and full reference live on docs.yambr.com.

• Self-hosted: http://localhost:8081/mcp. Quick sanity check:

  curl -X POST http://localhost:8081/mcp \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -H "X-Chat-Id: test" \
    -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1.0"}}}'

  Full self-host integration guide (LiteLLM, Claude Desktop, custom clients): docs/MCP.md. The per-chat system prompt rides six redundant MCP-native channels (tool descriptions, /home/assistant/README.md in the sandbox, InitializeResult.instructions, resources/list for uploaded files, plus an HTTP /system-prompt endpoint for legacy integrations) — full map in docs/system-prompt.md.

All settings via .env:

By default, all 13 built-in skills are available to everyone. For per-user skill access and custom skills, deploy the Settings Wrapper — see settings-wrapper/README.md.

Personal Access Tokens (PATs): The settings wrapper can also store encrypted per-user PATs for external services (GitLab, Confluence, Jira, etc.). The server fetches them by user email and injects into the sandbox — so each user's AI has access to their repos/docs without sharing credentials. The server-side code for token injection is implemented (docker_manager.py), but the Open WebUI tool doesn't pass the required headers yet. This is on the roadmap — if you need PAT management, open an issue.

The Computer Use Server speaks standard MCP over Streamable HTTP — any MCP-compatible client can connect. Open WebUI is the primary tested frontend, but not the only option.

Open WebUI is an extensible, self-hosted AI interface. We use it as the primary frontend because it supports tool calling, function filters, and artifacts — everything needed for Computer Use.

Compatibility: Tested with Open WebUI v0.8.11–0.8.12. Set OPENWEBUI_VERSION in .env to pin a specific version.

Why not a fork? We intentionally did not fork Open WebUI. Instead, everything is bolted on via the official plugin API (tools + functions) and build-time patches for missing features. This means you can use stock Open WebUI versions v0.8.11–0.8.12 (tested) — just install the tool and filter. Patches are applied at Docker build time; strongly recommended — 4 of them affect user-visible UX (artifacts panel, preview iframe, error banners, large tool-result handling). Pulling ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui directly skips all of them — see Required setup when embedding Open WebUI for the full checklist.

Running Claude Code through a corporate gateway (LiteLLM, Azure, Bedrock)? See docs/claude-code-gateway.md for the three-path operator recipe.

The openwebui/ directory contains:

• tools/ — MCP client tool (thin proxy to Computer Use Server). Required — this is the bridge between Open WebUI and the sandbox.
• functions/ — System prompt injector + file link rewriter + archive button. Required — without it the model doesn't know about skills and file URLs.
• patches/ — Build-time fixes for artifacts, error handling, file preview. Optional but recommended — improves UX significantly.
• init.sh — Auto-installs tool + filter on first startup. Optional — you can install manually via Workspace UI instead.
• Dockerfile — Builds a patched Open WebUI image with auto-init. Optional — use stock Open WebUI + manual setup if you prefer.

On first docker compose up, the init script automatically:

1. Creates an admin user (admin@open-computer-use.dev / admin)
2. Installs the Computer Use tool via POST /api/v1/tools/create
3. Installs the Computer Use filter via POST /api/v1/functions/create
4. Configures tool and filter valves (ORCHESTRATOR_URL=http://computer-use-server:8081 — internal URL for server↔server, seeded into both Valves)
5. Marks the tool public-read (access grants for both group:* and user:* wildcards) — so non-admin users see the tool in their workspace
6. Marks the filter both active and global (two separate toggles: /toggle and /toggle/global) — active-but-not-global is silently inert and a common manual-setup mistake
7. Merges {function_calling: "native", stream_response: true} into DEFAULT_MODEL_PARAMS via POST /api/v1/configs/models — every model gets the right defaults without per-model Advanced Params clicks

A marker file (.computer-use-initialized) prevents re-running on subsequent starts.

Note: Open WebUI doesn't support pre-installed tools from the filesystem — they must be loaded via the REST API. The init script automates this so you don't have to do it manually.

If you run Open WebUI separately, you need to manually:

1. Go to Workspace > Tools → Create new tool → paste contents of openwebui/tools/computer_use_tools.py
2. Set Tool ID to ai_computer_use (required for filter to work)
3. Configure Valves: ORCHESTRATOR_URL = internal URL of your Computer Use Server (http://computer-use-server:8081 for Docker compose)
4. Open the tool's ⋯ → Share menu and set access to Public (grants read to both group:* and user:* wildcards) — otherwise only your admin account sees the tool and non-admin users get an empty tool list with no error
5. Go to Workspace > Functions → Create new function → paste openwebui/functions/computer_link_filter.py
6. Enable the filter: toggle Active and toggle Global in the Functions list — these are two separate switches, and active-but-not-global means the filter loads but is never applied to chats
7. In your model settings, set Function Calling = Native and Stream Chat Response = On. Or set them globally once in Admin → Settings → Models → Advanced Params (function_calling: native, stream_response: true) — that becomes DEFAULT_MODEL_PARAMS for every model.

The docker-compose stack handles all of this automatically.

If you run Open WebUI outside the stock docker-compose.webui.yml — your own compose, Kubernetes, Portainer, or a downstream repo — there are four traps that will silently break Computer Use. All four hit us in production. Check in this order.

Pulling ghcr.io/open-webui/open-webui:vX.Y.Z gives you a stock image without any of this repo's patches. Four of them are critical for UX:

Only CHAT_RESPONSE_MAX_TOOL_CALL_RETRIES keeps working on an upstream image (it's a stock Open WebUI env) — which creates a false "everything is configured" feeling.

Use build: in your downstream compose, mirroring docker-compose.webui.yml:11-15:

services:
  open-webui:
    build:
      context: ./openwebui   # path into this repo
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
      args:
        OPENWEBUI_VERSION: "0.8.12"
        COMPUTER_USE_SERVER_URL: "cu.your-domain.com"   # see Step 2 — NOT an internal hostname
    image: open-webui-with-cu-patches:latest   # local tag, do not pull

Verify the patches are baked into the running container:

docker exec open-webui bash -c \
  'grep -l "bn.set(!0),Jr.set(!0)" /app/build/_app/immutable/chunks/*.js >/dev/null \
   && echo "patches applied" || echo "MISSING — you are on upstream image"'

The bn.set(!0),Jr.set(!0) marker is injected by fix_artifacts_auto_show into the minified Svelte chunks at build time. Empty output = stock upstream image, not ours.

This is the most confusing trap. COMPUTER_USE_SERVER_URL is a build argument in openwebui/Dockerfile:16-17 that — despite the name — is not a network endpoint. It is compiled into a regex inside the minified Svelte chunks by openwebui/patches/fix_preview_url_detection.py:54. The regex searches assistant messages for links of the form {COMPUTER_USE_SERVER_URL}/(files|preview)/... and triggers the preview iframe.

The model writes whatever URL the Computer Use Server injected into the system prompt — i.e. the server's PUBLIC_BASE_URL, which is your public domain. So the regex must match that public domain, not the internal Docker service name.

⚠️ If you change this after an initial build, you must rebuild the image (docker compose up -d --build open-webui) — the value is compiled into chunks, not read at runtime.

Verify:

docker exec open-webui bash -c \
  'grep -oE "[a-z0-9.:-]+\\\\/\\(files\\|preview" /app/build/_app/immutable/chunks/*.js | head -1'
# → should contain your public domain (e.g. cu.your-domain.com), NOT computer-use-server:8081

v4.0.0: the old "three FILE_SERVER_URL places that must match" footgun is gone. There are now only three places and two distinct roles — public (browser-reachable) vs internal (Docker-local).

⚠️ Do NOT point ORCHESTRATOR_URL at your public domain. It technically works, but every MCP request then goes browser→CDN→Traefik→container. Any hiccup in that chain kills the stream mid-tool-call and the user sees MCP call failed: Session terminated. Stay inside the Docker network.

⚠️ Do NOT set the build-arg to the internal service name. The regex will then look for computer-use-server:8081/files/... in assistant text, but the model writes whatever is in the server's PUBLIC_BASE_URL — your public domain. Mismatch → the patched frontend won't auto-promote the preview link into the artifact panel; the markdown link stays plain clickable text. (Filter v4.1.0 dropped the artifact/both PREVIEW_MODE values so the raw-<iframe>-in-chat symptom that #43 described is no longer possible.)

The filter no longer has a public-URL Valve at all — it reads the public URL from the server's X-Public-Base-URL response header and caches it alongside the prompt. One public knob, one internal knob.

See also docs/openwebui-filter.md.

Copy-paste into your downstream compose environment: block:

services:
  open-webui:
    environment:
      # --- Computer Use required env vars (read by build-time patches) ---
      - CHAT_RESPONSE_MAX_TOOL_CALL_RETRIES=200
      - TOOL_RESULT_MAX_CHARS=50000
      - TOOL_RESULT_PREVIEW_CHARS=2000
      # Internal URL of the Computer Use server — seeded by init.sh into both
      # Tool and Filter Valves, and read by the fix_large_tool_results patch.
      # Same Docker network: use the service DNS name.
      - ORCHESTRATOR_URL=http://computer-use-server:8081

Note: the last three are no-ops if the image is upstream ghcr.io — they need fix_large_tool_results from Step 1.

Open WebUI has two separate switches for each function (is_active and is_global) and two required grants for each tool (group:* + user:*). The stock init.sh does this for you; manual / custom deployments commonly miss one side and then spend hours wondering why "everything is installed but nothing works."

Verify against the database (Postgres used by the stock stack; see docker-compose.webui.yml:53):

# Filter flags — expect (t, t):
docker exec <postgres-container> psql -U openwebui -d openwebui -c \
  "SELECT is_active, is_global FROM function WHERE id='computer_use_filter';"

# Tool grants — expect TWO rows (group|* and user|*, both 'read'):
docker exec <postgres-container> psql -U openwebui -d openwebui -c \
  "SELECT principal_type, principal_id, permission FROM access_grant WHERE resource_id='ai_computer_use';"

For SQLite-backed Open WebUI deployments, swap psql for sqlite3 /app/backend/data/webui.db with the same SQL.

# 1. Image has patches:
docker exec open-webui bash -c \
  'grep -l "bn.set(!0),Jr.set(!0)" /app/build/_app/immutable/chunks/*.js >/dev/null \
   && echo OK || echo MISSING'

# 2. Build-arg baked into regex matches your public domain:
docker exec open-webui bash -c \
  'grep -oE "[a-z0-9.:-]+\\\\/\\(files\\|preview" /app/build/_app/immutable/chunks/*.js | head -1'

# 3. Env vars reached the container:
docker exec open-webui env | grep -E 'CHAT_RESPONSE_MAX_TOOL_CALL_RETRIES|TOOL_RESULT_|ORCHESTRATOR_URL'

# 4. Tool+Filter Valve (Session-terminated trap) — Admin UI is simplest:
#    Workspace → Tools → ai_computer_use → Valves → ORCHESTRATOR_URL
#    Admin → Functions → computer_link_filter → Valves → ORCHESTRATOR_URL
#    → both must be http://computer-use-server:8081 (internal URL, Docker service DNS),
#      NOT your public domain.

# 5. Server env (baked into system prompt AND returned to filter via header):
docker exec computer-use-server env | grep ^PUBLIC_BASE_URL=
# → must equal your public URL (matches the build-arg from #2).

# 7. Filter is ACTIVE *and* GLOBAL (see Step 5):
docker exec <postgres-container> psql -U openwebui -d openwebui -c \
  "SELECT is_active, is_global FROM function WHERE id='computer_use_filter';"
# → expect (t, t). Two 't's, not one.

# 8. Tool is public-read with both wildcards (see Step 5):
docker exec <postgres-container> psql -U openwebui -d openwebui -c \
  "SELECT principal_type, principal_id, permission FROM access_grant WHERE resource_id='ai_computer_use';"
# → expect TWO rows: (group, *, read) and (user, *, read).

After rebuilding the image, do a hard reload in the browser (Cmd+Shift+R / Ctrl+Shift+R). Otherwise it keeps the old cached JS chunks and you'll think the fix didn't work.

Production tested with 1000+ users on Open WebUI in a self-hosted environment. For public-facing deployments, see the hardening roadmap below.

• Docker socket: The server needs Docker socket access to manage sandbox containers. This grants significant host access — run in a trusted environment only.
• MCP_API_KEY: Set a strong random key in production. Without it, anyone with network access to port 8081 can execute arbitrary commands in containers.
• Sandbox isolation: Each chat session runs in a separate container with resource limits (2GB RAM, 1 CPU). Containers use standard Docker runtime (runc), not gVisor — they share the host kernel. For stronger isolation, consider switching to gVisor runtime (see roadmap). Containers have network access by default.
• POSTGRES_PASSWORD: Change the default password in .env for production.

• Unauthenticated file/preview endpoints: /files/{chat_id}/, /api/outputs/{chat_id}, /browser/{chat_id}/, /terminal/{chat_id}/ — accessible to anyone who knows the chat ID. Chat IDs are UUIDs (hard to guess but not a real security boundary).
• No per-user auth on server: The MCP server trusts whoever sends a valid MCP_API_KEY. User identity (X-User-Email) is passed by the client but not verified server-side.
• Credentials in HTTP headers: API keys (GitLab, Anthropic, MCP tokens) are passed as HTTP headers from client to server. Safe within Docker network, but use HTTPS if exposing externally.
• Default admin credentials: admin@open-computer-use.dev / admin — change immediately in multi-user setups.

We plan to address these in future releases:

• Per-session signed tokens for file/preview/terminal endpoints (replace chat ID as auth)
• Server-side user verification via Open WebUI JWT validation
• HTTPS support with automatic TLS certificates
• Audit logging for all tool calls and file access
• Network policies for sandbox containers (restrict egress by default)
• Secret management — move credentials from headers to encrypted server-side storage
• gVisor (runsc) runtime — optional container sandboxing for stronger isolation (like Claude.ai)

Ideas? Open a GitHub Issue. Want to contribute? See CONTRIBUTING.md or reach out on Telegram @yambrcom.

# Build workspace image locally
docker build --platform linux/amd64 -t open-computer-use:latest .

# Run tests
./tests/test-docker-image.sh open-computer-use:latest
./tests/test-no-corporate.sh
./tests/test-project-structure.sh

# Build and run full stack
docker compose up --build

See CONTRIBUTING.md. PRs welcome!

• Managed hosting: yambr.com — cloud version by the maintainers (chat.yambr.com for the free demo, app.yambr.com for API keys, docs.yambr.com for the cloud docs)
• Issues & Ideas: GitHub Issues
• Telegram: @yambrcom

This project uses a multi-license model:

• Core (computer-use-server/, openwebui/, settings-wrapper/, Docker configs): Business Source License 1.1 — free for production use, modification, and self-hosting. Converts to Apache 2.0 on the Change Date. Offering as a managed/hosted service requires a commercial agreement.
• Our skills (skills/public/describe-image, skills/public/sub-agent): MIT
• Third-party skills: see individual LICENSE.txt files or original sources.

Attribution required: include "Open Computer Use" and a link to this repository.

See NOTICE for details.