# Cua review

> Cua is open-source infrastructure that gives AI agents full desktops, with desktop automation drivers, local VMs, sandboxes, and computer-use benchmarks.

Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026. Canonical page: https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/cua/

## TL;DR

Cua provides computers and automation tools for AI agents: Cua Spaces desktops, Cua Driver for operating native apps, Lume for local VMs, an SDK and CLI for sandboxes, and Cua Bench for evaluation. Cua is for developers building, running, or evaluating computer-use agents. You bring your own agent and model and run desktops on hardware you own or your own cloud.

## Cua at a glance

- **Category:** [Browser and computer use](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/categories/browser-and-computer-use/)
- **Maintained by:** Cua (organization, [@trycua](https://github.com/trycua) on GitHub)
- **License:** MIT
- **Language:** Rust, TypeScript, Python
- **Repository:** [github.com/trycua/cua](https://github.com/trycua/cua)
- **Website:** [cua.ai](https://cua.ai)
- **Latest release:** [cua-spaces-v0.16.0](https://github.com/trycua/cua/releases/tag/cua-spaces-v0.16.0) on GitHub, Oct 25, 2026
- **First published:** Jan 31, 2025

## What Cua does

- Cua Spaces gives agents full desktops as macOS VMs built locally on your Mac, or Linux or Omarchy images.
- Cua Driver lets agents inspect and operate native desktop apps and browsers on macOS, Windows, and Linux through CLI, MCP, or typed SDKs.
- Cua Driver background delivery lets agents work without moving your pointer or taking focus, when the app and platform support it.
- Lume creates and manages local macOS and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon using Apple's Virtualization.Framework.
- Cua Teleport moves a signed-in app such as Chrome or Slack into a Space, with sessions kept encrypted in the Cua Keyvault until you approve.
- Cua Spaces multiplayer lets you and your agents share one desktop, each with your own cursor.
- Cua Bench builds computer-use tasks, evaluates agents, and exports trajectories for training.

### How it works

Cua runs desktops on your Mac, other machines you own, or your own AWS, Google Cloud, or Modal account. The cua SDK in Python, TypeScript, and Rust drives local VMs, containers, and machines running cua-spacesd on port 3211. The SDK has no agent layer, so you drive sandboxes from your own harness. Agents such as Claude Code or Codex connect through the Cua MCP.

## How to install Cua

**Cua Spaces and CLI (macOS / Linux)**

```
curl -fsSL https://cua.ai/install.sh | sh
```

**Cua Driver (macOS / Linux)**

```
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://cua.ai/driver/install.sh)"
```

**Lume**

```
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://cua.ai/lume/install.sh)"
```

### Requirements

- Cua Spaces installer requires macOS 26 or later.
- Lume requires Apple Silicon.
- Cua Bench requires Python 3.12 or 3.13 and uv.

### First steps

1. Run the installer; it installs the cua CLI and then runs cua auth login, which offers to set up your AI coding agents.
2. Create a local gVisor sandbox with cua sb create ubuntu --name dev, which is set up on first use.
3. Run a command inside the sandbox with cua sb exec dev uname -a, then capture it with cua sb screenshot dev.
4. Remove the sandbox when finished with cua sb rm dev.

## Who Cua is for

- Developers giving coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor control of native desktop apps.
- Teams who want agents working on shared desktops on hardware they already own.
- Researchers training and evaluating computer-use agents with benchmarks and trajectory export.
- Developers needing local macOS VMs on Apple Silicon.

### Limitations

- Cua Spaces is source-available under FSL-1.1-MIT, not MIT, and prohibits a competing hosted service.
- Cua Driver background delivery works only when the app and platform support it.
- Cua Spaces on Windows is a preview, and the Swift and Kotlin SDK bindings are not yet released.
- CUA-S1 is an early, source-only research release with model weights hosted separately on Hugging Face.

## Usage data (the week of Oct 25–31, 2026)

- Board rank: #40 overall, #3 in Browser and computer use, momentum score 78
- New GitHub stars per week (last 12 weeks): Aug 9: 381; Aug 16: 408; Aug 23: 224; Aug 30: 241; Sep 6: 334; Sep 13: 2.1k; Sep 20: 1.9k; Sep 27: 1.4k; Oct 4: 1.4k; Oct 11: 784; Oct 18: 867; Oct 25: 590

## Cua alternatives

| Rank | Tool | Stars | Downloads/wk |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | [ego lite](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/citrolabs-ego-lite/) | 21k | – |
| #2 | [Moli](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/lexmount-moli/) | 21.9k | – |
| #4 | [Browser Harness](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/browser-use-browser-harness/) | 18.8k | 3.3M |
| #5 | [Jev Ultrafast](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/browser-use-jev-ultrafast/) | 24k | – |
| #6 | [Stagehand](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/stagehand/) | 25.9k | 3M |
| #7 | [Steel Browser](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/tools/steel/) | 7.9k | 158.7k |

## Cua FAQ

### Is Cua free and open source?

Yes. Cua's source code is on GitHub (trycua/cua) under the MIT license, so you can use it for free. Its website also links to a pricing page (https://cua.ai/pricing) for any paid plans.

### How do I install Cua?

Run `curl -fsSL https://cua.ai/install.sh | sh`. The install section above has the other options from the project's README.

### Is Cua still maintained?

Yes. The trycua/cua repository was last updated on Oct 25, 2026, and the latest release, cua-spaces-v0.16.0 on GitHub, came out on Oct 25, 2026.

### How popular is Cua?

Cua has 31.4k GitHub stars as of Nov 1, 2026. It gained 590 new stars in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, against a 12-week average of 887 a week. That made it #3 among browser and computer-use agents on the Devtoolwatch Board.

### What are the best alternatives to Cua?

Other browser and computer-use agents on the Devtoolwatch Board in the week of Oct 25–31, 2026, by momentum: ego lite (#1), Moli (#2), Browser Harness (#4), Jev Ultrafast (#5), Stagehand (#6). The alternatives table above has their numbers.

### Does Cua include its own AI agent?

No. Cua provides the computer and automation tools, and you bring your own agent and model. The SDK has no agent layer, so you drive sandboxes from your own harness. CUA-S1 offers small models for bounded computer-use decisions, not general planning.

### Which agents can connect to Cua?

Cua connects to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, and other agents. Cua Driver connects through the CLI, MCP, or typed SDKs, and Spaces connect through the Cua MCP.

### Can I use Cua Driver without Cua Spaces?

Yes. Cua Driver is open source under MIT and can be used without Spaces. Cua Driver lets an agent use native desktop apps on macOS, Windows, and Linux without taking over your cursor or keyboard.

### Where do Cua Spaces run?

Cua Spaces run on your Mac, on other machines you own, and in your own cloud account on AWS, Google Cloud, or Modal. The command cua host setup makes a machine reachable through the cua.ai relay without port forwarding.

### What should I use instead of deprecated Cua packages like cua-agent?

Cua recommends a coding agent with the Cua Driver MCP or sandbox.agents() in the cua SDK instead of cua-agent. Cua says not to run cuabot because it has known security issues; use Cua Driver or the cua CLI instead.

## Sources

1. [trycua/cua on GitHub](https://github.com/trycua/cua)
2. [Cua README](https://github.com/trycua/cua/blob/main/README.md)
3. [Cua website](https://cua.ai)
4. [Release cua-spaces-v0.16.0 (Oct 25, 2026)](https://github.com/trycua/cua/releases/tag/cua-spaces-v0.16.0)
5. [Release cua-spaces-v0.16.0-beta.2 (Oct 25, 2026)](https://github.com/trycua/cua/releases/tag/cua-spaces-v0.16.0-beta.2)
6. [Release nightly-cua-driver-rs-v0.38.1-nightly.20261025.40174952744 (Oct 25, 2026)](https://github.com/trycua/cua/releases/tag/nightly-cua-driver-rs-v0.38.1-nightly.20261025.40174952744)
7. [Hacker News: Apple Silicon and macOS VMs: Faster LLM Inference with llama.cpp](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49259339)
8. [Hacker News: Show HN: Drive any macOS app in the background without stealing the cursor](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47936312)
9. [Hacker News: Launch HN: Cua (YC X25) – Open-Source Docker Container for Computer-Use Agents](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43773563)
10. [Devtoolwatch Board, the week of Oct 25–31, 2026](https://index.devtoolwatch.com/)