agent-desktop/docs/phases.md

agent-desktop — Phase Roadmap

Public source of truth for shipped and planned platform work.

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Release Tracker

Most recent shipments against this roadmap:

Version	Date	What shipped
Unreleased	2026-06	Reliability hardening on the Phase 1 contracts: session-scoped latest snapshot pointers, explicit snapshot IDs usable across sessions, actionability checks, JSONL --trace, stale-ref diagnostics, and refstore symlink hardening
v0.1.14	2026-05	Phase 1 unified core: typed batch/CLI path, CommandPolicy, PermissionReport, snapshot-scoped RefStore, headless ActionRequest, macOS screenshot backend boundary
v0.1.13	2026-04-17	FFI cdylib on 5 platforms (aarch64/x86_64 macOS + Linux, x86_64 Windows MSVC), Sigstore build-provenance attestations, FFI review fixes (#26 — 50 commits)
v0.1.12	2026-03–04	Progressive skeleton traversal + ref-rooted drill-down (#20)
v0.1.11	2026-02–03	Skill-install prompt fix on all success paths
v0.1.9	2026-01–02	Scalable skill architecture + ClawHub auto-publish (#14)
v0.1.8	2026-01	--compact flag to collapse single-child unnamed nodes
v0.1.7	2025-12	Electron / web app accessibility-tree compatibility

• Phase 1 completion: incremental across v0.1.0 – v0.1.14 (macOS MVP, 54 commands, unified core engine).
• Current unreleased hardening extends Phase 1 contracts; it does not change the planned Windows/Linux adapter sequence.
• Phase 1.5 completion: v0.1.13 (FFI cdylib on 5 platforms).
• Phase 2: planned. Public scope is summarized in the Phase 2 section below.
• Phase 3+: planned. See each phase section below for the additive platform work and trait defaults that later phases backfill.

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Phase Overview

Phase	Name	Status	Platforms
1	Foundation + macOS MVP	Completed (v0.1.0 – v0.1.14)	macOS
1.5	FFI Distribution (C-ABI cdylib)	Completed (v0.1.13)	macOS, Windows, Linux
2	Windows Adapter	Planned	macOS, Windows
3	Linux Adapter	Planned	macOS, Windows, Linux
4	MCP Server Mode	Planned	All
5	Production Readiness	Planned	All

Future platform phases are additive against the Phase 1 contracts: typed command args, CommandPolicy, PermissionReport, snapshot-scoped refs, session-scoped latest snapshot pointers, ActionRequest, JSONL reliability tracing, and the PlatformAdapter boundary. Core can still gain explicitly planned additive trait methods, but Windows/Linux should not fork command semantics or duplicate transport dispatch.

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Command Surface Architecture (DRY invariant)

Every command in agent-desktop has one shared semantic path. CLI and batch both parse into the same typed Commands enum, run the same CommandPolicy preflight, and enter the same dispatch() match. Platform crates implement primitives through PlatformAdapter; they do not own command semantics.

Current shipped code uses explicit match arms, not a runtime command registry. Later sections that discuss descriptor/codegen work are planned future transport-generation work; they do not describe the current CLI/batch dispatch path.

Current Layering

Layer	Scope	Invariant
crates/core/src/commands/<name>.rs	Platform-agnostic command behavior and args passed to &dyn PlatformAdapter	One command implementation
src/cli/ / src/cli_args/	Clap command enum and transport args	CLI shape only, no platform behavior
src/command_policy/	Permissions, ref usage, side-effect classification	One policy source of truth for CLI, batch, and tests
src/batch/	JSON batch parser and executor	Deserializes into Commands; no separate command interpretation
src/dispatch/	Direct command match plus parse helpers	Shared CLI/batch execution path
crates/{macos,windows,linux}/	Adapter method implementations	Same trait signatures across platforms
crates/ffi/	C ABI wrappers around adapter/core types	ABI marshaling only

Add a Command

1. Add crates/core/src/commands/{name}.rs.
2. Register it in crates/core/src/commands/mod.rs.
3. Add the CLI args/variant in src/cli_args/ and src/cli/mod.rs.
4. Add a single arm in src/dispatch/mod.rs.
5. Add a CommandPolicy arm.
6. If needed, add one PlatformAdapter method with a not_supported() default, then implement it per adapter.

Batch receives the command automatically once src/batch/mod.rs maps the JSON command name to that same CLI enum variant. There is no separate batch-only behavior.

Headless Contract

Ref actions use ActionRequest { action, policy }. The default InteractionPolicy forbids focus stealing and cursor movement. macOS is the reference adapter:

• Semantic AX steps run first.
• Physical fallbacks are explicit and policy-gated.
• Raw cursor commands (hover, drag, mouse-*) require --headed; other commands must not silently focus apps or move the cursor.
• Expected OS denials return specific error codes such as PERM_DENIED, SNAPSHOT_NOT_FOUND, or POLICY_DENIED, not generic INTERNAL.

Windows and Linux should implement the same signatures rather than copying macOS-specific fallback decisions.

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Phase 1 — Foundation + macOS MVP

Status: Completed — shipped incrementally across v0.1.0 – v0.1.14.

Phase 1 is the load-bearing phase. It establishes the shared command path, trait boundaries, output contract, error types, permission model, ref lifecycle, and full workspace structure. All subsequent platform phases build on top of this foundation without duplicating command semantics.

Objectives

ID	Objective	Success Metric
P1-O1	Working macOS snapshot CLI	snapshot --app Finder returns valid JSON with refs for all interactive elements
P1-O2	Platform adapter trait	Trait compiles with mock adapter; macOS adapter satisfies all trait methods
P1-O3	Ref-based interaction	click @e3 successfully invokes AXPress on the resolved element
P1-O4	Context efficiency	Typical Finder snapshot < 500 tokens (measured via tiktoken)
P1-O5	Typed JSON contract	Output envelope carries version: "2.0". Partial: dedicated standalone JSON-Schema files were never delivered — deferred to later quality gates.
P1-O6	Permission detection	Permission report covers Accessibility, Screen Recording, and Automation with recovery suggestions
P1-O7	Command extensibility	Adding a new command follows the current shared path: commands/{name}.rs + commands/mod.rs + src/cli_args/ + src/cli/mod.rs + src/dispatch/mod.rs + src/command_policy/mod.rs
P1-O8	54 working commands	All commands pass integration tests
P1-O9	CI pipeline	GitHub Actions macOS runner executes full test suite on every PR
P1-O10	Progressive skeleton traversal	Skeleton + drill-down workflow achieves 78%+ token savings on Electron apps

Workspace Structure

agent-desktop/
├── Cargo.toml              # workspace: members, shared deps
├── rust-toolchain.toml     # pinned Rust version
├── clippy.toml             # project-wide lint config
├── LICENSE                 # Apache-2.0 (shipped in every release tarball)
├── crates/
│   ├── core/               # agent-desktop-core (platform-agnostic)
│   │   └── src/
│   │       ├── lib.rs          # public re-exports only
│   │       ├── node.rs         # AccessibilityNode, Rect, WindowInfo
│   │       ├── adapter.rs      # PlatformAdapter trait
│   │       ├── action.rs       # Action enum
│   │       ├── action_request.rs / action_result.rs / action_step*.rs
│   │       ├── actionability/  # Live actionability checks and reports
│   │       ├── refs.rs         # RefMap and RefEntry
│   │       ├── refs_store.rs   # Snapshot/session-scoped ref persistence
│   │       ├── refs_lock.rs    # RefStore write lock
│   │       ├── ref_alloc.rs    # INTERACTIVE_ROLES, allocate_refs, is_collapsible, transform_tree
│   │       ├── snapshot_ref.rs # Ref-rooted drill-down (run_from_ref)
│   │       ├── snapshot.rs     # SnapshotEngine (filter, allocate, serialize)
│   │       ├── trace.rs        # JSONL reliability trace support
│   │       ├── error.rs        # ErrorCode enum, AdapterError, AppError
│   │       ├── notification.rs # NotificationInfo, NotificationFilter, NotificationIdentity
│   │       └── commands/       # one file per command (direct match, no Command trait)
│   ├── macos/              # agent-desktop-macos (Phase 1, shipped)
│   ├── windows/            # agent-desktop-windows (stub → Phase 2)
│   ├── linux/              # agent-desktop-linux (stub → Phase 3)
│   └── ffi/                # agent-desktop-ffi (cdylib, shipped v0.1.13; see Phase 1.5)
├── src/                    # agent-desktop binary (entry point)
│   ├── main.rs
│   ├── batch/               # JSON batch -> typed Commands
│   ├── cli/                 # Clap enum, help text, contract tests
│   ├── cli_args/            # Command argument structs by domain
│   ├── command_policy/      # Permission/ref/side-effect policy
│   ├── dispatch/            # Command dispatcher and parse helpers
│   └── tests/               # Binary-level conformance tests
└── tests/
    ├── fixtures/
    └── integration/

PlatformAdapter Trait

The single most important abstraction. Every platform-specific operation goes through this trait. Core never imports platform crates. The canonical definition is crates/core/src/adapter.rs; this roadmap lists representative method groups only, because the trait grows additively as reliability and platform parity work lands.

pub trait PlatformAdapter: Send + Sync {
    // Core observation
    fn list_windows(&self, filter: &WindowFilter) -> Result<Vec<WindowInfo>, AdapterError>;
    fn list_apps(&self) -> Result<Vec<AppInfo>, AdapterError>;
    fn focused_window(&self) -> Result<Option<WindowInfo>, AdapterError>;
    fn get_tree(&self, win: &WindowInfo, opts: &TreeOptions) -> Result<AccessibilityNode, AdapterError>;
    fn get_subtree(&self, handle: &NativeHandle, opts: &TreeOptions) -> Result<AccessibilityNode, AdapterError>;
    fn list_surfaces(&self, pid: i32) -> Result<Vec<SurfaceInfo>, AdapterError>;

    // Interaction
    fn execute_action(&self, handle: &NativeHandle, request: ActionRequest) -> Result<ActionResult, AdapterError>;
    fn resolve_element_strict(&self, entry: &RefEntry) -> Result<NativeHandle, AdapterError>;
    fn resolve_element_strict_with_timeout(&self, entry: &RefEntry, timeout: Duration) -> Result<NativeHandle, AdapterError>;
    fn release_handle(&self, handle: &NativeHandle) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn mouse_event(&self, event: MouseEvent) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn drag(&self, params: DragParams) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn key_event(&self, combo: &KeyCombo, down: bool) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn press_key_for_app(&self, app_name: &str, combo: &KeyCombo) -> Result<ActionResult, AdapterError>;

    // Lifecycle + windowing
    fn permission_report(&self) -> PermissionReport;
    fn request_permissions(&self) -> PermissionReport;
    fn focus_window(&self, win: &WindowInfo) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn focus_app(&self, pid: i32) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn launch_app(&self, id: &str, timeout_ms: u64) -> Result<WindowInfo, AdapterError>;
    fn close_app(&self, id: &str, force: bool) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn is_protected_process(&self, identifier: &str) -> bool;
    fn window_op(&self, win: &WindowInfo, op: WindowOp) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;

    // Capture + clipboard
    fn screenshot(&self, target: ScreenshotTarget) -> Result<ImageBuffer, AdapterError>;
    fn get_clipboard(&self) -> Result<String, AdapterError>;
    fn set_clipboard(&self, text: &str) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn clear_clipboard(&self) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;

    // Notifications (macOS shipped; Windows/Linux planned)
    fn list_notifications(&self, filter: &NotificationFilter) -> Result<Vec<NotificationInfo>, AdapterError>;
    fn dismiss_notification(&self, index: usize, app_filter: Option<&str>) -> Result<NotificationInfo, AdapterError>;
    fn dismiss_all_notifications(&self, app_filter: Option<&str>) -> Result<(Vec<NotificationInfo>, Vec<String>), AdapterError>;
    fn notification_action(&self, index: usize, identity: Option<&NotificationIdentity>, action_name: &str) -> Result<ActionResult, AdapterError>;

    // Live evidence and wait probes
    fn get_live_value(&self, handle: &NativeHandle) -> Result<Option<String>, AdapterError>;
    fn get_live_state(&self, handle: &NativeHandle) -> Result<Option<ElementState>, AdapterError>;
    fn get_live_actions(&self, handle: &NativeHandle) -> Result<Option<Vec<String>>, AdapterError>;
    fn get_live_element(&self, handle: &NativeHandle) -> Result<LiveElement, AdapterError>;
    fn get_element_bounds(&self, handle: &NativeHandle) -> Result<Option<Rect>, AdapterError>;
    fn wait_for_menu(&self, pid: i32, open: bool, timeout_ms: u64) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
}

Key Supporting Types

• Action — closed core enum whose platform dispatch arms must stay exhaustive. Current variants: Click, DoubleClick, TripleClick, RightClick, SetValue(String), SetFocus, Expand, Collapse, Select(String), Toggle, Check, Uncheck, Scroll(Direction, Amount), ScrollTo, PressKey(KeyCombo), KeyDown(KeyCombo), KeyUp(KeyCombo), TypeText(String), Clear, Hover, Drag(DragParams)
• ActionRequest — { action, policy }; default policy forbids focus stealing and cursor movement
• PermissionReport — { accessibility, screen_recording, automation }, each { "state": "granted" }, { "state": "denied", "suggestion": "..." }, { "state": "not_required" }, or { "state": "unknown" }
• MouseEvent, DragParams, KeyCombo — dedicated types (not unified under an InputEvent enum)
• WindowOp — Resize{w,h}, Move{x,y}, Minimize, Maximize, Restore, Close
• ScreenshotTarget — Screen(usize), Window(pid), FullScreen
• NotificationInfo — index, app_name, title, body, actions: Vec
• NotificationIdentity — expected_app, expected_title (used for NC-reorder-safe notification_action)
• SurfaceInfo — kind, label, bounds (for list-surfaces command)
• TreeOptions — max_depth, include_bounds, interactive_only, compact, surface, skeleton (root is CLI-only via SnapshotArgs.root_ref, not plumbed into TreeOptions)

macOS Adapter Implementation

Located in crates/macos/src/ following the platform crate folder structure:

crates/macos/src/
├── lib.rs              # mod declarations + re-exports only
├── adapter.rs          # MacOSAdapter: PlatformAdapter impl
├── tree/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── ax_element.rs   # AXElement ownership wrapper
│   ├── attributes.rs   # Batched AX attribute reads
│   ├── capabilities.rs # AX-supported actions and settable attributes
│   ├── builder.rs      # build_subtree, tree traversal
│   ├── node_attrs.rs   # Node metadata extraction
│   ├── roles.rs        # AXRole string -> unified role enum mapping
│   ├── resolve*.rs     # Element re-identification for ref resolution
│   └── surfaces.rs     # Surface detection (menu, sheet, alert, popover)
├── actions/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── dispatch.rs     # perform_action match arms
│   ├── chain*.rs       # policy-aware AX-first activation chain
│   ├── discovery.rs    # Live capability discovery
│   ├── extras.rs       # select_value helpers
│   ├── post_state.rs   # Post-action state reads
│   ├── scroll.rs       # scroll semantics and explicit physical policy paths
│   └── type_text.rs    # focus-fallback text insertion and physical typing
├── input/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── keyboard.rs     # CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent, key synthesis, text typing
│   ├── keyboard_map.rs # Key name mapping
│   ├── mouse.rs        # CGEventCreateMouseEvent, mouse events
│   └── clipboard.rs    # NSPasteboard.generalPasteboard read/write
├── notifications/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── list.rs         # List notifications via Notification Center AX tree
│   ├── dismiss.rs      # Dismiss individual or all notifications via AXPress
│   └── actions.rs      # Click notification action buttons (identity-verified)
└── system/
    ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
    ├── app_ops.rs      # launch, close, focus via NSWorkspace
    ├── app_list.rs     # Running app inventory
    ├── window_list.rs  # Window inventory
    ├── window_ops.rs   # window resize, move, minimize, maximize, restore
    ├── key_dispatch.rs # app-targeted key press
    ├── permissions.rs  # PermissionReport probe/request
    ├── screenshot.rs   # ScreenshotBackend + secure screencapture path
    └── wait.rs         # wait utilities

Tree traversal:

• Entry: AXUIElementCreateApplication(pid) for app root
• Children: kAXChildrenAttribute recursively with ancestor-path set (not global visited set — macOS reuses AXUIElementRef pointers across sibling branches)
• Batch fetch: AXUIElementCopyMultipleAttributeValues for 3-5x faster attribute reads
• Role mapping: AXRole strings → unified role enum in tree/roles.rs
• Max depth default: 10, configurable via --max-depth
• Name: kAXTitleAttribute / kAXDescriptionAttribute. Value: kAXValueAttribute
• Bounds: kAXPositionAttribute + kAXSizeAttribute combined to Rect

Action execution:

• Ref actions take ActionRequest, not bare Action
• Default policy forbids focus stealing and cursor movement
• Click/right-click/scroll chains run semantic AX steps first and return structured errors instead of silently using physical/headed paths
• Type uses the focus-fallback policy floor; SetValue/Clear are the pure headless AX value-mutation paths
• SetValue/Clear: AXUIElementSetAttributeValue(kAXValueAttribute, value)
• SetFocus/Press/Hover/Drag/Mouse: explicit focus/cursor/physical commands
• Keyboard/Mouse: CGEventCreateKeyboardEvent / CGEventCreateMouseEvent via CoreGraphics
• Clipboard: NSPasteboard.generalPasteboard read/write via Cocoa FFI
• Screenshot: ScreenshotBackend boundary with secure temporary files; Screen Recording denial maps to PERM_DENIED

Permission detection:

• Probe once per CLI process into PermissionReport
• Accessibility: AXIsProcessTrusted() / AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions(prompt: true)
• Screen Recording: platform screen-capture preflight/request path
• Automation: currently { "state": "not_required" } because the shipped command set does not use Apple Events; future Apple Event paths must report a real granted/denied probe
• status, permissions, preflight, and batch share the same report; permissions --request invokes the request path

Notification management:

• Open Notification Center via AX: target the NotificationCenter process (bundleId: com.apple.notificationcenterui)
• List notifications: traverse the Notification Center AX tree — each notification is an AXGroup with title, subtitle, and action buttons
• Dismiss: perform AXPress on the notification's close button, or AXRemoveFromParent if supported
• Interact: resolve action buttons within a notification group and perform AXPress
• Dismiss all: AXPress the "Clear All" button at the group level
• Do Not Disturb detection: read Focus/DND state via NSDoNotDisturbEnabled user defaults or CoreFoundation preferences

System tray / Menu bar extras:

• Menu bar extras (status items) live under the SystemUIServer process AX tree
• Current support is through surface discovery/snapshotting (menubar / menu) where the AX tree exposes those items
• Dedicated list-tray-items, click-tray-item, and open-tray-menu commands are not shipped
• Control Center items: accessible via the ControlCenter process (bundleId: com.apple.controlcenter)

AXElement safety:

• Inner field: pub(crate) not pub (prevents double-free via raw pointer extraction)
• Clone impl must call CFRetain
• Drop impl must call CFRelease

Snapshot Engine and Ref Allocator

Platform-agnostic, lives in agent-desktop-core:

1. Raw tree: Call adapter.get_tree(window, opts)
2. Filter: Remove invisible/offscreen. Remove empty groups with no interactive descendants. Prune beyond max_depth
3. Allocate refs: Depth-first. Interactive roles get @e1, @e2, etc. Store in RefMap
4. Serialize: Omit null fields. Omit empty arrays. Omit bounds in compact mode
5. Estimate tokens: Optionally warn if exceeding threshold

Snapshot refs persist through RefStore. The default namespace stores snapshots under ~/.agent-desktop/snapshots/{snapshot_id}/refmap.json; --session <id> stores the same shape under ~/.agent-desktop/sessions/{id}/snapshots/{snapshot_id}/refmap.json. Each namespace owns one latest_snapshot_id pointer for commands that omit --snapshot. Explicit --snapshot <id> is a direct snapshot handle and can be used without repeating --session; if the same snapshot ID appears in multiple sessions, callers pass the matching session to disambiguate. ~/.agent-desktop/last_refmap.json remains only as a latest-snapshot inspection artifact. Action commands resolve through RefStore and use ResolvedElement RAII so native handles are released after ref-consuming commands. Return STALE_REF on live re-identification mismatch and SNAPSHOT_NOT_FOUND when the requested snapshot does not exist.

Progressive Skeleton Traversal:

• --skeleton flag clamps depth to min(max_depth, 3), annotates truncated containers with children_count for agent discovery
• --root <REF> flag starts traversal from a previously-discovered ref instead of window root; --snapshot <snapshot_id> selects the ref namespace
• Named or described containers at skeleton boundary receive refs as drill-down targets (with empty available_actions)
• Scoped invalidation: re-drilling a ref replaces only that ref's subtree refs, preserving all others
• Core modules: ref_alloc.rs (canonical allocate_refs + RefAllocConfig), snapshot_ref.rs (drill-down flow that delegates allocation to ref_alloc)
• macOS: count_children() uses raw CFArrayGetCount without materializing AXElement wrappers for performance
• RefMap write-side size check prevents >1MB files
• Token savings: 78-96% reduction for dense Electron apps (Slack skeleton: ~3.6KB vs ~17.3KB full)

New Commands — Notification & System Tray (Post Phase 1)

Note: Notification management and system tray interaction were not part of the original Phase 1 delivery. These are new features to be implemented across all platforms as each platform adapter is built. The macOS implementations were added as a follow-up to Phase 1. Windows (Phase 2) and Linux (Phase 3) implementations follow the same pattern.

Notification Commands (macOS — Completed)

Command	Description	Flags	Status
list-notifications	List current notifications with app, title, body, and available actions	--app (filter by app), --text (filter by text), --limit (max results)	Completed
dismiss-notification	Dismiss a specific notification by 1-based index	<index>, --app (filter by app)	Completed
dismiss-all-notifications	Clear all notifications, optionally filtered by app (single NC session, reports failures)	--app (filter by app)	Completed
notification-action	Click an action button on a specific notification	<index> <action-name>	Completed

System Tray / Status Area Commands (New — Not Yet Implemented)

Command	Description	Flags
list-tray-items	List all system tray / menu bar extra items with app name and tooltip	—
click-tray-item	Click a system tray item by ID or app name	<tray-item-id>
open-tray-menu	Click a tray item and snapshot its resulting menu for ref-based interaction	<tray-item-id>

Wait Command Update (Notification — Completed, Menu — Completed)

The wait command has been extended with notification and menu support:

• wait --notification — Wait for any new notification to appear (index-diff based detection)
• wait --notification --app Safari — Wait for a notification from a specific app
• wait --notification --text "Download complete" — Wait for a notification containing specific text
• wait --menu / wait --menu-closed — Wait for context menu open/close

Commands Shipped (54)

Category	Commands	Count
App / Window	launch, close-app, list-windows, list-apps, focus-window, resize-window, move-window, minimize, maximize, restore	10
Observation	snapshot, screenshot, find, get (text, value, title, bounds, role, states, tree-stats), is (visible, enabled, checked, focused, expanded), list-surfaces	6
Interaction	click, double-click, triple-click, right-click, type, set-value, clear, focus, select, toggle, check, uncheck, expand, collapse	14
Scroll	scroll, scroll-to	2
Keyboard	press, key-down, key-up	3
Mouse	hover, drag, mouse-move, mouse-click, mouse-down, mouse-up	6
Clipboard	clipboard-get, clipboard-set, clipboard-clear	3
Notification (macOS)	list-notifications, dismiss-notification, dismiss-all-notifications, notification-action	4
Wait	wait (with --element, --window, --text, --menu, --notification flags)	1
System	status, permissions, version, skills	4
Batch	batch	1

System Tray / Menu Bar Extras commands are listed under "Not Yet Implemented" above — they never shipped in Phase 1.

JSON Output Contract

All commands produce a response envelope with version: "2.0". Standalone schema files are still deferred; the current contract is enforced by Rust serde types, CLI conformance tests, and documented examples.

Success:

{
  "version": "2.0",
  "ok": true,
  "command": "snapshot",
  "data": {
    "app": "Finder",
    "window": { "id": "w-4521", "title": "Documents" },
    "ref_count": 14,
    "tree": { ... }
  }
}

Error:

{
  "version": "2.0",
  "ok": false,
  "command": "click",
  "error": {
    "code": "STALE_REF",
    "message": "Element could not be resolved from the requested snapshot",
    "suggestion": "Run 'snapshot' to refresh, then retry with updated ref"
  }
}

Serialization rules: omit null/None fields (skip_serializing_if), omit empty arrays, omit bounds in compact mode, ref_count and tree inside data.

Error Taxonomy

The ErrorCode enum in crates/core/src/error.rs exposes these machine-readable variants:

Code	Category	Example	Recovery Suggestion
PERM_DENIED	Permission	Accessibility not granted	Open System Settings > Privacy > Accessibility and add the app that launches agent-desktop
ELEMENT_NOT_FOUND	Ref	@e12 could not be resolved	Run 'snapshot' to refresh, then retry with updated ref
APP_NOT_FOUND	Application	--app 'Photoshop' not running	Launch the application first
ACTION_FAILED	Execution	AXPress returned error on disabled button	Element may be disabled. Check states before acting
ACTION_NOT_SUPPORTED	Execution	Expand on a button	This element does not support the requested action
STALE_REF	Ref	Element could not be re-identified from the requested snapshot	Run 'snapshot' (or snapshot --skeleton) to refresh
AMBIGUOUS_TARGET	Ref	Ref identity maps to more than one live candidate	Run 'snapshot' to refresh, then retry with a more specific ref
WINDOW_NOT_FOUND	Window	--window w-999 does not exist	Run 'list-windows' to see available windows
PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED	Platform	Windows/Linux adapter not yet shipped	This platform ships in Phase 2/3
TIMEOUT	Wait / Traversal	wait --element exceeded timeout	Increase --timeout or check app state
INVALID_ARGS	Input	Bad CLI argument or unknown ref format	Fix the argument per CLI help
NOTIFICATION_NOT_FOUND	Notification	Notification ID not found / NC reordered	Run 'list-notifications' to see current notifications
SNAPSHOT_NOT_FOUND	Ref	Requested snapshot ID is missing	Run 'snapshot' again and use the returned snapshot_id
POLICY_DENIED	Action policy	Physical input blocked by headless policy	Retry with --headed for explicit cursor movement, or use a semantic AX action when available
INTERNAL	Internal	Unexpected error or caught panic	Re-run with verbose logging

Exit codes: 0 success, 1 structured error (JSON on stdout), 2 argument/parse error.

Codes the earlier draft listed but that do not exist in the codebase: TREE_TIMEOUT (use TIMEOUT), CLIPBOARD_EMPTY (no special code; empty clipboard returns empty string), NOTIFICATION_UNSUPPORTED (use PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED), TRAY_NOT_FOUND / TRAY_UNSUPPORTED (tray commands never shipped). Deferred-work additions (see Gap Analysis at bottom): PERMISSION_REVOKED, RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED, AX_MESSAGING_TIMEOUT, AUTOMATION_PERMISSION_DENIED.

Testing

Unit tests (core):

• AccessibilityNode ser/de roundtrips
• Ref allocator only assigns interactive roles
• SnapshotEngine filtering
• Error serialization
• JSON contract / output conformance coverage
• MockAdapter: in-memory PlatformAdapter returning hardcoded trees

Unit tests (macos):

• Role mapping coverage
• Permission check with mocks
• Tree traversal cycle detection

Integration tests (macOS CI):

• Snapshot Finder, TextEdit, System Settings — non-empty trees with refs
• Click button in test app — verify action succeeded
• Type text into TextEdit via ref — verify content changed
• Clipboard get/set roundtrip
• Wait for window
• Launch + close app lifecycle
• Permission denied scenario — correct error code and guidance
• Large tree (Xcode) snapshot in under 2 seconds
• List notifications — returns non-empty list when Notification Center has entries
• Dismiss notification — verify notification removed from Notification Center AX tree
• Menu/menu-bar surface snapshot and wait behavior where the host exposes AX menu surfaces

Golden fixtures (tests/fixtures/):

• Real snapshots from Finder, TextEdit, etc. checked into repo
• Regression-test serialization format changes

CI

Current .github/workflows/ci.yml on every PR:

• fmt job on ubuntu-latest: cargo fmt --all -- --check
• test job on macos-latest:
  • cargo tree -p agent-desktop-core must contain zero platform crate names (dependency isolation)
  • cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
  • cargo test --lib --workspace
  • cargo test -p agent-desktop-ffi --tests (c_abi_harness + c_header_compile + error_lifetime integration suites)
  • cargo build --profile ci (fast CLI binary) + 15 MB size check
  • cargo build --profile release-ffi -p agent-desktop-ffi (the shipped cdylib profile)
  • FFI header contract check — compiles crates/ffi/include/agent_desktop.h from C tests and keeps header regeneration out of the default build graph

Dependencies

Crate	Version	Purpose
clap	4.6	CLI parsing with derive macros
serde + serde_json	1.x	JSON serialization
thiserror	2.0	Error derive macros
tracing	0.1+	Structured logging
tracing-subscriber	0.3	env-filter log formatter
rustc-hash	2.1	Faster hashing for ref maps and visited sets
smallvec	1.13	Small fixed-size vectors in hot paths
base64	0.22+	Screenshot encoding
accessibility-sys	0.2.0	macOS AXUIElement FFI
core-foundation	0.10.1	macOS CF types
core-foundation-sys	0.8.7	macOS CF FFI
core-graphics	0.25.0	macOS CG types

Documentation Delivered

• README with installation (npm + source), core workflow, command reference, JSON output, ref system, platform support table
• Architecture diagram
• Agent skills: skills/agent-desktop/ (core + macOS references) and skills/agent-desktop-ffi/

---

Phase 1.5 — FFI Distribution (C-ABI cdylib)

Status: Completed — v0.1.13 (2026-04-17).

Phase 1.5 ships crates/ffi/ as a first-class distribution target. The CLI stays the primary surface; the cdylib lets Python (ctypes), Swift, Node (ffi-napi), Go (cgo), Ruby (fiddle), and C consumers call PlatformAdapter directly without spawning agent-desktop per call.

Objectives

ID	Objective	Metric
P1.5-O1	Stable C-ABI surface	crates/ffi/include/agent_desktop.h compiled in CI as the committed ABI contract
P1.5-O2	5-platform release	Tarballs for aarch64/x86_64 apple-darwin, aarch64/x86_64 unknown-linux-gnu, and x86_64 pc-windows-msvc on every tagged release
P1.5-O3	Panic safety	Dedicated release-ffi profile overrides panic = "abort" → "unwind"; catch_unwind wraps every extern "C" boundary via trap_panic / trap_panic_ptr / trap_panic_const_ptr / trap_panic_void
P1.5-O4	Main-thread safety (macOS)	require_main_thread() guard in every build profile; worker-thread call returns AD_RESULT_ERR_INTERNAL with a static 'static CStr message
P1.5-O5	Enum UB immunity	Public ABI struct fields store raw i32; every entry validates discriminants at the boundary via try_from_c_enum!
P1.5-O6	Out-param zeroing before any guard	Every fallible entry zeroes *out before pointer / UTF-8 / main-thread checks, so a worker-thread early return never leaves a stale caller buffer
P1.5-O7	Sigstore build-provenance	actions/attest-build-provenance@v4.1.0 signs every release artifact; consumers verify with gh attestation verify <file> --repo <owner>/agent-desktop
P1.5-O8	Skill documentation	skills/agent-desktop-ffi/SKILL.md + references: build-and-link.md, ownership.md, threading.md, error-handling.md
P1.5-O9	README surface	"Language bindings (FFI)" section on the project README with platform→artifact table, Python dlopen snippet, and Sigstore verify one-liner

Crate Layout

crates/ffi/
├── Cargo.toml           # crate-type = ["cdylib", "rlib"]
├── cbindgen.toml        # maintainer-only header regeneration config
├── build.rs             # bakes install_name = @rpath/libagent_desktop_ffi.dylib on macOS
├── include/
│   └── agent_desktop.h  # committed, drift-checked against the OUT_DIR output
├── src/                 # ad_* extern "C" entrypoints, organized by domain
│   ├── types/           # 34 one-type-per-file modules (AdAction, AdRect, AdWindowList, ...)
│   ├── convert/         # string / rect / window / app / surface / notification helpers
│   ├── tree/            # BFS flat-tree layout (flatten.rs, get.rs, free.rs)
│   ├── actions/         # conversion, resolve, execute, result, native_handle
│   ├── apps/ windows/ input/ screenshot/ surfaces/ notifications/ observation/
│   ├── error.rs         # AdResult, errno-style TLS last-error (message/suggestion/platform_detail)
│   ├── ffi_try.rs       # panic boundary helpers (trap_panic_*)
│   ├── enum_validation.rs # try_from_c_enum! macro, fuzz tests
│   └── main_thread.rs   # require_main_thread() guard
├── tests/
│   ├── c_abi_harness.rs    # raw extern "C" decls, enum fuzzing, out-param zeroing, null tolerance
│   ├── c_header_compile.rs # shells out to `cc` to verify every AD_* constant is usable from C
│   └── error_lifetime.rs   # last-error pointer stability across successful follow-up calls
└── examples/
    └── panic_spike.rs   # demonstrates panic boundary on the release-ffi profile

Release Artifacts

Shipped via .github/workflows/release.yml build-ffi matrix job:

Target	Runner	Archive	Library
aarch64-apple-darwin	macos-latest	.tar.gz	libagent_desktop_ffi.dylib
x86_64-apple-darwin	macos-latest	.tar.gz	libagent_desktop_ffi.dylib
x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu	ubuntu-22.04	.tar.gz	libagent_desktop_ffi.so
aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu	ubuntu-22.04-arm	.tar.gz	libagent_desktop_ffi.so
x86_64-pc-windows-msvc	windows-latest	.zip	agent_desktop_ffi.dll

Each archive contains lib/, include/agent_desktop.h, LICENSE, and a short README.md. macOS tarballs have their install_name verified @rpath/libagent_desktop_ffi.dylib via otool -D before upload. Linux binaries use ubuntu-22.04 (glibc 2.35) as the baseline for maximum distro coverage.

Build Profile

[profile.release-ffi]
inherits = "release"
panic    = "unwind"   # allow catch_unwind at the extern "C" boundary

Regular release profile keeps panic = "abort" for the CLI binary, so a panic there aborts the process rather than cascading through the FFI layer.

CI Hooks Added

• cargo build --profile release-ffi -p agent-desktop-ffi on every PR
• cargo test -p agent-desktop-ffi --tests runs the 3 integration suites
• FFI header contract check compiles the committed header from C tests. Header regeneration is an explicit maintainer action via scripts/update-ffi-header.sh, not part of ordinary builds.

New Dependencies

Crate	Version	Scope	Purpose
cbindgen	maintainer-installed tool, denied in Cargo graph	scripts/update-ffi-header.sh only	C header regeneration
libc	0.2+	crates/ffi macOS target	pthread_main_np for main-thread check

Forward Compatibility

• Pre-1.0 the ABI is explicitly unstable; consumers pin the artifact version alongside the cdylib version.
• Any new PlatformAdapter method that lands in Phase 2/3 must add a matching ad_* FFI wrapper in the same PR that adds the adapter method.
• MCP server mode (Phase 4) is a parallel transport, not an FFI consumer — it calls PlatformAdapter directly.

Known Gaps (surfaced by 2026-04-17 research)

• ad_abi_version() export is still missing (consumers have no runtime compat check)
• CLI-flagship primitives (snapshot with refs + refmap, batch, wait, version, status) are not wired through FFI — consumers today cannot replay the click @e5 idiom without shelling out to the CLI
• No tracing:: log callback — in-process consumers lose debug output
• No pyo3 / maturin wheel or cffi wrapper ships with the repo

These items are tracked under P2-O16 below: registry migration via build.rs filesystem enumeration, ad_set_log_callback with redaction, and ad_execute_by_ref + descriptor confirms.

---

Phase 2 — Windows Adapter + Cross-Platform Feature Parity

Status: Planned — this section is the public objective catalogue and implementation contract.

Core invariants (research-driven — from Phase 2 plan §Headless-First Invariant)

1. Headless-first inside the active desktop session. Every command — existing and Phase 2 — must run without an agent-desktop GUI, foreground activation, focus steal, or physical cursor movement unless --headed explicitly opts into cursor input. Windows, macOS, and Linux still require the target app to exist in the current user's interactive desktop/display session for accessibility and capture APIs. Session 0, Server Core, secure desktops, locked desktops, and other-user sessions return PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED, PERM_DENIED, or WINDOW_NOT_FOUND with platform_detail, not silent best effort. The invariant is enforced by integration tests: target window is NOT focused at test entry; list-windows --focused-only returns the same window before/after; cursor position unchanged for headless commands.
2. Skeleton traversal is platform-agnostic. The novel progressive skeleton pattern (depth-3 clamp + children_count annotation + drill-down via --root @ref + scoped invalidation via RefMap::remove_by_root_ref) lives entirely in crates/core/src/snapshot_ref.rs. Windows adapter contributes ~50 LOC glue: ControlViewWalker (NOT RawViewWalker or ContentViewWalker) + FindAll(TreeScope_Children, TrueCondition) for children_count + fresh UICacheRequest per drill-down.
3. Asymmetric event threading. watch_element uses main-thread AXObserver on macOS (research-confirmed: Apple DTS says all AX is main-thread-only; AXSwift / Hammerspoon / Phoenix all do this); worker-thread MTA IUIAutomation event handler on Windows (Microsoft 2025 threading doc: UIA supports cross-thread event delivery).
4. No inventory / linkme command registry. Research confirmed neither survives link-GC reliably across ld64, ld-prime, GNU ld, lld, MSVC for cdylib consumers. Phase 2 uses build.rs filesystem enumeration of crates/core/src/commands/*.rs — deterministic, cdylib-safe, zero linker magic. The repository's "one command per file" rule becomes the codegen contract.
5. FFI compatibility gates. v0.1.14 adds explicit FFI result codes for snapshot-not-found and policy-denied paths. Phase 2 still owns ad_abi_version(), ad_init(expected_major), and any broader ABI-version handshake before new cross-platform ABI surface ships.
6. DeliverFiles replaces FileDrop. Headless-first forbids NSDraggingSession on macOS; the new action uses a 4-tier fallback (URL scheme → NSWorkspace.open with activates: false → pasteboard + Cmd-V → AppleScript). Windows primary delivery is app/shell delivery (ShellExecuteEx, app URI handlers, IFileOperation for filesystem destinations, and CF_HDROP clipboard paste where accepted). IDataObject + DoDragDrop is an explicit policy-gated fallback/spike for targets that require drag semantics; it is never the default headless path.

Windows Engineering Invariants (from Phase 2 plan Unit 3)

1. SetProcessDpiAwarenessContext(DPI_AWARENESS_CONTEXT_PER_MONITOR_AWARE_V2) at startup.
2. CoInitializeEx(NULL, COINIT_MULTITHREADED) on main thread and on every dedicated UIA worker thread (UIA prefers MTA).
3. Never cache IUIAutomationElement across apartments. Event handlers are created, registered, removed, and drained on the same dedicated MTA thread; worker code re-resolves from RefEntry instead of moving elements across apartments.
4. UIA-first, SendInput-fallback (UIA patterns are focus-independent; SendInput is focus-dependent + UIPI-blocked for elevated targets).
5. PostMessage WM_KEYDOWN is DEAD for Chromium/UWP/games — not a viable alternative.
6. UIPI elevation detection via GetTokenInformation(TokenIntegrityLevel). Ship uiAccess=true as optional signed release, not default.
7. RemoveAutomationEventHandler with post-remove-barrier pattern (Arc outlives final callback dispatch).
8. HRESULT format in platform_detail: COM HRESULT 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED: Access is denied).
9. PrintWindow(hwnd, hdc, PW_RENDERFULLCONTENT) for legacy screenshot (mitigates DWM black frames). windows-capture (modern) handles composition correctly.
10. ElementFromHandle(hwnd) is headless-safe for same-user, same-session visible/minimized windows at an accessible integrity level — the foundation of observation headlessness.
11. Windows.Graphics.Capture requires DWM (Windows 10 1903+) in an active interactive session; returns PlatformNotSupported in Session 0, Server Core, secure desktop, or locked/remote sessions where capture is unavailable.
12. Session isolation: cannot drive windows in other user sessions.
13. SetForegroundWindow / SetWindowPos(HWND_TOP) is allowed only for explicit focus/window commands whose InteractionPolicy permits focus steal. It is never a fallback for semantic ref actions.

Phase 2 brings agent-desktop to Windows. It is also the phase that closes the cross-platform feature-parity gaps surfaced after the v0.1.13 FFI ship — shipping Windows meaningfully requires new core abstractions (stable identifiers, event subscriptions, text-range primitives, shell surfaces, and Windows-specific tray/taskbar affordances) that Windows UIA exposes natively and the macOS adapter currently does not surface. Every new trait method added here is implemented on both platforms in the same PR pair when there is a real cross-platform analogue. True Windows shell concepts return PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED on other adapters through the same core command path, never through side-channel code. Linux (Phase 3) mirrors the portable parts against AT-SPI2.

Core engine, CLI parser, JSON contract invariants, and command-registration pattern are preserved. What Phase 2 legitimately changes: AccessibilityNode field set, Action enum variants, ErrorCode variants, PlatformAdapter trait size. Every new Action variant must update core actionability, capability maps, platform dispatch, CLI/FFI conversion, and contract tests in the same change; exhaustive compiler checks are the guard against adapter drift. Every macOS backfill lands atomically with the Windows implementation so the two platforms never drift.

Per the Command Surface Architecture invariant, every new command added in Phase 2 (watch, text select-range, text get-selection, text insert-at-caret, etc.) lives in exactly one file under crates/core/src/commands/ and is wired through the shared typed command path. If Phase 2 adds codegen, it uses deterministic build.rs filesystem enumeration, not linker registries. The per-platform work is the three PlatformAdapter method implementations (one each in crates/macos/, crates/windows/, crates/linux/) — nothing repeats across transports.

P2-O16 (FFI parity expansion) also migrates the FFI wrappers from hand-written to codegen: a build.rs step in crates/ffi/ walks the registry and emits one ad_<name> extern "C" function per CommandDescriptor, using the per-type marshaling helpers in crates/ffi/src/convert/. After this migration, the FFI crate holds marshaling primitives, not command wrappers. The crates/mcp/ crate follows the same walk-the-registry pattern with rmcp's #[tool] shape — so Phase 4 can ship its MCP server without hand-maintaining the tool list.

Objectives

Core + Windows parity (original scope):

ID	Objective	Metric
P2-O1	Windows adapter	snapshot on Windows returns valid tree for Explorer, Notepad, Settings
P2-O2	All existing commands cross-platform	Identical JSON contract output on macOS and Windows for every command
P2-O3	Windows input synthesis	click, type, press, all mouse commands working via UIA + SendInput
P2-O4	Windows screenshot	screenshot produces PNG via Windows.Graphics.Capture API
P2-O5	Windows clipboard	clipboard-get / clipboard-set / clipboard-clear working via Win32 Clipboard API
P2-O6	Windows CI	GitHub Actions Windows runner executes build, clippy, unit, contract, and non-interactive tests on every PR. UIA/shell integration tests that require Explorer, Start, Action Center, or an unlocked desktop run on a labeled interactive/self-hosted Windows job or are skipped with explicit PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED assertions
P2-O7	Windows binary release	Prebuilt .exe published via GitHub Releases and npm; Phase 1.5 FFI cdylib for Windows already ships

Cross-platform core extensions (new, landed alongside Windows):

ID	Objective	Metric
P2-O8	AccessibilityNode stable-selector fields	Nodes may carry identifier, subrole, role_description, placeholder, dom_id, dom_classes (all Option<String> / Vec<String> with skip_serializing_if). Populated where the platform/app exposes stable selectors: Windows UIA AutomationId / LocalizedControlType / HelpText; macOS kAXIdentifierAttribute / kAXSubroleAttribute / kAXRoleDescriptionAttribute / kAXPlaceholderValueAttribute / kAXDOMIdentifierAttribute / kAXDOMClassListAttribute. Resolver prefers stable selectors when present and falls back to the existing fingerprint; tests require known controls with explicit IDs to preserve them across re-drills, not every real-app node
P2-O9	Action enum expansion for 2026 agent workloads	New variants: LongPress { duration_ms }, ForceClick, ShowMenu, DeliverFiles(Vec<PathBuf>) (renamed from FileDrop — the original name implied NSDraggingSession which is not headless-compatible on macOS; see Phase 2 plan §Headless-First Invariant and Unit 12), WindowRaise, Cancel, SelectRange { start, len }, InsertAtCaret(String). watch_element is an adapter method, not an Action variant (plan §KD8 + origin brainstorm §D8). Each has a macOS AX API mapping (all AX calls on main thread per plan §KD9), a Windows UIA pattern mapping, a new CLI subcommand, FFI conversion coverage where applicable, and exhaustive platform-dispatch tests in the same change.
P2-O10	ErrorCode expansion	Add PermissionRevoked (distinct from PermDenied — TCC yanked mid-session), ResourceExhausted (refmap >1 MB, tree node-count cap), AxMessagingTimeout (AX-specific timeout separate from orchestration Timeout), AutomationPermissionDenied (macOS osascript grant). Tri-state permission probe at startup distinguishes "never granted" from "revoked"
P2-O11	Event-subscription primitive (push, not poll)	New trait method watch_element(handle, events: &[EventKind], timeout_ms: u64) -> Result<Vec<ElementEvent>>. macOS: AXObserverCreate + AXObserverAddNotification + CFRunLoopSource (no more polling in system/wait.rs). Windows: IUIAutomation.AddAutomationEventHandler + AddFocusChangedEventHandler + AddPropertyChangedEventHandler. New wait --event value-changed --ref @e5 --timeout 3000 CLI flag. Linux mirrors in Phase 3 via AT-SPI2 D-Bus signals
P2-O12	Text range primitives	Read caret, read selection, select a range by offsets, read text at range, insert at caret. macOS: kAXSelectedTextRangeAttribute (settable), AXStringForRangeParameterizedAttribute, AXBoundsForRangeParameterizedAttribute, AXRangeForLineParameterizedAttribute, AXValueCreate(kAXValueCFRangeType, …). Windows: TextPattern.GetSelection, TextPattern.DocumentRange, TextRange.Select, TextRange.Move, TextRange.GetText, TextRange.GetBoundingRectangles. Commands: text get-selection, text select-range <ref> <start> <len>, text insert-at-caret <ref> <string>, text at-offset <ref> <start> <len>
P2-O13	Modern per-window screenshot APIs	macOS: replace /usr/sbin/screencapture subprocess with SCScreenshotManager.captureImage(contentFilter:config:) filtered to a specific CGWindowID from SCShareableContent.windows. Windows: Windows.Graphics.Capture via GraphicsCaptureItem.CreateFromWindowHandle(HWND) + Direct3D11CaptureFramePool when supported by the OS/session. No subprocess on the modern path, explicit fallback to legacy capture when unavailable, and permission/support failures map to structured PERM_DENIED / PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED with platform_detail
P2-O14	Toolbar and missing surfaces	Both platforms add SnapshotSurface::Toolbar. macOS additionally adds Spotlight (pid of /System/Library/CoreServices/Spotlight.app), Dock (pid of /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app), and MenuBarExtras (enumerates SystemUIServer, ControlCenter, and per-app AXExtrasMenuBar). Windows adds structured shell surfaces for Taskbar, SystemTray, SystemTrayOverflow, StartMenu, ActionCenter, and QuickSettings where the current Windows build/session exposes them
P2-O15	Electron / WebView2 deep-tree toggles	macOS: build_subtree writes AXEnhancedUserInterface = YES on app root for known Electron bundle IDs (VS Code, Cursor, Slack post-Sept-2024, Teams, Discord, Figma Desktop, Notion). Windows: detect Edge WebView2 via UIA ClassName = "Chrome_WidgetWin_1" and the equivalent flag; apply same web-wrapper depth-skip. Both: new --force-electron-a11y CLI override
P2-O16	FFI registry migration + parity expansion	Migrate crates/ffi/ from hand-written ad_* wrappers to a build.rs codegen step that walks the compile-time CommandDescriptor registry and emits one wrapper per command. After this, adding a CLI command automatically produces the FFI entry and the same descriptor metadata can feed JSON Schema / MCP generation in Phase 4. Marshaling helpers stay in crates/ffi/src/convert/ — these are per-type, not per-command. In the same migration: backfill ad_snapshot (full refmap pipeline), ad_execute_by_ref(adapter, "@e5", action, out), ad_wait(…), ad_version, ad_abi_version() -> u32 with AD_ABI_VERSION_MAJOR cbindgen [defines] export, ad_status, ad_set_log_callback(fn(level, msg)) installing a tracing_subscriber layer so dlopen consumers see debug output
P2-O17	Screen Recording / Automation permission detection	macOS Phase 1 already exposes PermissionReport { accessibility, screen_recording, automation }. Phase 2 decides whether a distinct AutomationPermissionDenied code is still needed once Apple Event automation paths exist
P2-O18	Windows shell surface coverage	Add explicit shell coverage for Start menu/search, taskbar, system tray/overflow, Action Center/notification center, Quick Settings, multi-monitor/DPI, virtual desktop detection, UAC/elevated targets, RDP/locked-session behavior, and Explorer-specific file destinations. New commands are added only where a ref-based snapshot --surface … loop cannot expose the surface first; Windows-only behavior still routes through core command files and adapter trait defaults

Cross-Platform Trait Extensions

All methods land as #[non_exhaustive] additions in crates/core/src/adapter.rs with default implementations returning AdapterError::not_supported(method). Windows implements them natively. macOS backfills in the same PR pair. Linux (Phase 3) adds the AT-SPI2 implementations.

impl PlatformAdapter for … {
    // P2-O11 — event subscription
    fn watch_element(
        &self,
        handle: &NativeHandle,
        events: &[EventKind],
        timeout: Duration,
    ) -> Result<Vec<ElementEvent>, AdapterError> { /* default: not_supported */ }

    // P2-O12 — text ranges
    fn get_text_selection(&self, handle: &NativeHandle) -> Result<TextSelection, AdapterError>;
    fn set_text_selection(&self, handle: &NativeHandle, range: TextRange) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;
    fn get_text_at(&self, handle: &NativeHandle, range: TextRange) -> Result<String, AdapterError>;
    fn insert_text_at_caret(&self, handle: &NativeHandle, text: &str) -> Result<(), AdapterError>;

    // P2-O13 — modern screenshot
    // (screenshot() gains a new `ScreenshotBackend::Modern` variant; platforms pick the
    //  native modern API; a `Legacy` fallback preserves the Phase 1 subprocess path.)

    // P2-O14 — new surfaces
    fn list_surfaces(&self, pid: i32) -> Result<Vec<SurfaceInfo>, AdapterError> // extended kinds
}

New supporting types (land in crates/core/src/):

• EventKind — FocusChanged, ValueChanged, SelectionChanged, ChildrenChanged, WindowOpened, WindowClosed, MenuOpened, MenuClosed, NotificationPosted, ElementDestroyed
• ElementEvent — { kind, handle_ref_id: Option<String>, timestamp, attr_snapshot: Option<AccessibilityNode> }
• TextRange — { start: u32, length: u32 } (UTF-16 code units to match both AX CFRange and UIA TextRange conventions)
• TextSelection — { range: TextRange, caret_offset: u32, lines_in_view: Vec<TextRange> }
• ScreenshotBackend — Modern (ScreenCaptureKit / Windows.Graphics.Capture / PipeWire) or Legacy (preserves Phase 1 subprocess path as fallback for restricted environments)
• PermissionReport is { accessibility, screen_recording, automation } where each field is { "state": "granted" }, { "state": "denied", "suggestion": "..." }, { "state": "not_required" }, or { "state": "unknown" }

Cross-platform capability map (P2-O8 through O17)

Capability	macOS API	Windows API	Linux API (Phase 3)
Stable identifier	kAXIdentifierAttribute	UIA AutomationId	AT-SPI2 accessible-id + GTK gtk-id
subrole	kAXSubroleAttribute	UIA LocalizedControlType + pattern-based heuristic	AT-SPI2 role-name + state-set
role_description	kAXRoleDescriptionAttribute	UIA LocalizedControlType	AT-SPI2 role-description
placeholder	kAXPlaceholderValueAttribute	UIA HelpText + IsTextEditPatternAvailable placeholder	AT-SPI2 description + HTML placeholder via object-attributes
dom_id / dom_classes	kAXDOMIdentifierAttribute / kAXDOMClassListAttribute	Edge WebView2 UIA HtmlId / HtmlClass properties	AT-SPI2 object-attributes HTML keys
Event subscription	AXObserverCreate + AXObserverAddNotification on CFRunLoop	IUIAutomation.AddAutomationEventHandler + AddFocusChangedEventHandler + AddPropertyChangedEventHandler	AT-SPI2 D-Bus signals via zbus::StreamFactory
Text range read	AXStringForRangeParameterizedAttribute + AXSelectedTextRangeAttribute	TextPattern.GetSelection, TextPattern.DocumentRange.GetText	AT-SPI2 Text.GetText(start, end) + Text.GetCaretOffset
Text range write	AXSelectedTextRange = AXValueCreate(kAXValueCFRangeType, …)	TextRange.Select + TextRange.Move	AT-SPI2 EditableText.InsertText + Text.SetCaretOffset
Modern per-window screenshot	SCScreenshotManager.captureImage(contentFilter:config:)	GraphicsCaptureItem.CreateFromWindowHandle + Direct3D11CaptureFramePool	PipeWire org.freedesktop.portal.ScreenCast
Toolbar surface	AXRole == AXToolbar or AXUnifiedTitleAndToolbar	UIA ControlType.ToolBar	AT-SPI2 Role::ToolBar
Menu-bar extras surface	SystemUIServer + ControlCenter pid walk	UIA Shell_TrayWnd + NotifyIconOverflowWindow	AT-SPI2 StatusNotifierWatcher D-Bus
Dock / taskbar surface	Dock.app pid walk	UIA Shell_TrayWnd TaskListButton children	AT-SPI2 per-DE panel walk
LongPress	CGEventCreateMouseEvent(…Down…) + sleep + …Up	SendInput hold + release	Coordinate via ydotool/xdotool
ForceClick	CGEventSetIntegerValueField(kCGMouseEventPressure, …) + kCGEventMouseSubtypeTabletPoint	Pen input SendInput with PEN_FLAGS_BARREL	Not natively supported — return ActionNotSupported
ShowMenu action	AXPerformAction(kAXShowMenuAction)	ExpandCollapsePattern.Expand + UIA right-click fallback	AT-SPI2 Action.DoAction("popup")
WindowRaise	AXUIElementSetAttributeValue(kAXRaiseAction)	SetForegroundWindow + SetWindowPos(HWND_TOP) only under explicit focus/window policy	wmctrl -a / xdotool windowactivate only under explicit focus/window policy
Cancel	AXPerformAction(kAXCancelAction)	UIA WindowPattern.Close on dialog or InvokePattern on cancel button	AT-SPI2 Action.DoAction("cancel") or synthesize Escape
DeliverFiles(Vec<PathBuf>)	4-tier headless fallback: (1) app-native URL scheme, (2) NSWorkspace.open(urls:withApplicationAt:configuration:) with activates: false, (3) NSPasteboard.public.file-url + CGEventPostToPid(cmd+v), (4) osascript open. NEVER NSDraggingSession (not headless-compatible — Phase 2 plan Unit 12 research)	App/shell delivery first: app URI handlers, ShellExecuteEx, IFileOperation for filesystem destinations, and CF_HDROP clipboard paste where accepted. IDataObject + DoDragDrop is policy-gated fallback/spike only	Portal/native file-transfer path where available; XDND is Phase 3 research, not default
Screen Recording permission	CGPreflightScreenCaptureAccess / CGRequestScreenCaptureAccess	No macOS-style TCC field. Use GraphicsCaptureSession::IsSupported / capture API failures to report not_required, unknown, PERM_DENIED, or PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED with platform_detail	PipeWire portal permission dialog
Automation permission	AEDeterminePermissionToAutomateTarget	N/A (no equivalent restriction)	N/A

Windows Adapter Implementation

Full WindowsAdapter in crates/windows/src/ following the identical platform crate folder structure:

crates/windows/src/
├── lib.rs              # mod declarations + re-exports only
├── adapter.rs          # WindowsAdapter: PlatformAdapter impl
├── tree/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── element.rs      # UIA element wrapper + attribute readers
│   ├── builder.rs      # IUIAutomationTreeWalker traversal with CacheRequest
│   ├── roles.rs        # UIA ControlType → unified role enum mapping
│   ├── resolve.rs      # Element re-identification for ref resolution
│   └── surfaces.rs     # Surface detection (menus, dialogs, flyouts)
├── actions/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── dispatch.rs     # perform_action match arms via UIA patterns
│   ├── activate.rs     # Smart activation chain (InvokePattern → Toggle → coordinate)
│   └── extras.rs       # SelectionPattern, ScrollPattern helpers
├── input/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── keyboard.rs     # SendInput keyboard synthesis
│   ├── mouse.rs        # SendInput mouse events
│   └── clipboard.rs    # OpenClipboard / GetClipboardData / SetClipboardData Win32 APIs
├── notifications/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── list.rs         # List toast/Action Center notifications via UIA
│   ├── dismiss.rs      # Dismiss individual or all notifications
│   └── interact.rs     # Click notification action buttons
├── tray/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── list.rs         # List system tray items via Shell_TrayWnd UIA tree
│   └── interact.rs     # Click tray items, open tray menus
└── system/
    ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
    ├── app_ops.rs      # Process launch via CreateProcess, close via TerminateProcess
    ├── window_ops.rs   # SetWindowPos, ShowWindow for resize/move/minimize/maximize/restore
    ├── key_dispatch.rs # Explicit focus-policy key press via SetForegroundWindow + SendInput
    ├── permissions.rs  # COM security check, UAC elevation detection
    ├── screenshot.rs   # Windows.Graphics.Capture modern backend + PrintWindow legacy
    ├── shell_surfaces.rs # Start, taskbar, Action Center, Quick Settings
    └── wait.rs         # wait utilities (polling UIA element existence)

Windows API Mapping

Capability	Technology	Details
Tree root	IUIAutomation.ElementFromHandle()	Via uiautomation crate (v0.24+) wrapping UIA COM APIs via windows crate
Children	IUIAutomationTreeWalker.GetFirstChild / GetNextSibling	With CacheRequest for batch attribute retrieval (3-5x faster)
Role mapping	UIA ControlType integers	Map to unified role enum in tree/roles.rs — e.g. UIA_ButtonControlTypeId → button
Click	InvokePattern.Invoke()	Pattern-based; coordinate click via SendInput only under explicit physical policy
Set text	ValuePattern.SetValue()	Headless value write by default; SendInput only under explicit focus/physical policy
Expand/Collapse	ExpandCollapsePattern.Expand() / .Collapse()	Native UIA pattern
Select	SelectionItemPattern.Select()	For combobox, listbox, tab items
Toggle	TogglePattern.Toggle()	For checkboxes, switches
Scroll	ScrollPattern.Scroll() / ScrollPattern.SetScrollPercent()	Native UIA scroll; mouse wheel only under explicit physical policy
Keyboard	SendInput API	INPUT_KEYBOARD structs with virtual key codes and scan codes
Mouse	SendInput API	INPUT_MOUSE structs with MOUSEEVENTF_* flags
Clipboard	OpenClipboard / GetClipboardData / SetClipboardData	Win32 APIs, handle CF_UNICODETEXT format
Screenshot	Windows.Graphics.Capture	Modern per-window capture via GraphicsCaptureItem.CreateFromWindowHandle + Direct3D11CaptureFramePool when WGC is supported by the OS/session. No subprocess, respects DWM compositing. BitBlt / PrintWindow retained as ScreenshotBackend::Legacy fallback for pre-Windows-10 1903 or unavailable WGC environments
App launch	CreateProcess / ShellExecuteEx	Launch by name or path, wait for main window
App close	WM_CLOSE / TerminateProcess	Graceful close first, force kill with --force
Window ops	SetWindowPos / ShowWindow	Resize, move, minimize (SW_MINIMIZE), maximize (SW_MAXIMIZE), restore (SW_RESTORE)
Permissions	COM security / UAC	Detect elevation requirements; return PERM_DENIED if UIA access blocked
Notifications	UserNotificationListener + UIA Action Center fallback	Prefer UserNotificationListener where app identity/capability and explicit user permission are available. Otherwise Action Center UIA traversal is best-effort fallback: list/dismiss/interact only when the shell exposes stable UIA elements. Do Not Disturb (Focus Assist) state via supported shell APIs or documented registry fallback
System tray	UIA + Shell_TrayWnd	System tray items accessible via UIA tree of Shell_TrayWnd class. Overflow items in NotifyIconOverflowWindow. List via IUIAutomationTreeWalker on tray area. Click via InvokePattern or coordinate-based SendInput. Expand overflow via click on chevron button
Start menu / search	UIA + explicit shell open command	open-system-surface --surface start-menu opens the Start surface under explicit shell-surface policy, then agents use snapshot --surface start-menu + refs. App launching remains launch; Start is for shell workflows and search results
Taskbar	UIA + Shell_TrayWnd task list	snapshot --surface taskbar exposes pinned/running app buttons as refs. Taskbar button invocation uses InvokePattern when available; focus-changing activation is allowed only for explicit focus-window / WindowRaise policy
Quick Settings	UIA shell flyout	open-system-surface --surface quick-settings exposes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio, display, and accessibility toggles as refs when the shell exports them. Unsupported Windows builds return PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED
Virtual desktops	IVirtualDesktopManager detection	Use public COM detection for "current desktop" filtering and diagnostics. Moving windows between virtual desktops is deferred unless a stable public API path is validated
Multi-monitor / DPI	Per-monitor DPI + Win32 monitor APIs	All bounds are physical pixels normalized by the same DPI-aware process mode; tests cover mixed-DPI monitor layouts before any coordinate fallback ships

Windows-specific command surface (P2-O18)

Windows-specific commands are allowed when the operating-system concept has no portable equivalent, but they still follow the repository rules: one core command file, typed CLI/batch dispatch, adapter trait default returning PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED, skill docs, and tests. The preferred path remains generic: expose shell UI as a surface, then let agents interact with refs.

Planned Windows shell commands:

Command	Purpose	Platform behavior
open-system-surface --surface <kind>	Opens an OS shell surface so agents can immediately call snapshot --surface <kind> and act by refs	Windows kinds: start-menu, taskbar, system-tray, system-tray-overflow, action-center, quick-settings. macOS may support spotlight, dock, menu-bar-extras, notification-center. Unsupported kinds return PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED
list-tray-items / click-tray-item / open-tray-menu	Structured tray workflows where the shell surface is not attached to a normal app window	Windows implementation uses Shell_TrayWnd / NotifyIconOverflowWindow; macOS maps to menu bar extras. Linux maps to StatusNotifier in Phase 3

No Windows-specific command bypasses refs for ordinary app controls. If a Windows workflow can be represented as snapshot --app, snapshot --surface, find, click, type, press, or wait, it uses the existing command surface.

Notification Management (New Feature — Windows Implementation)

Windows notification management must be implemented from scratch as part of Phase 2. The macOS notification implementation (completed as a follow-up to Phase 1) serves as the reference pattern — same PlatformAdapter trait methods (list_notifications, dismiss_notification, dismiss_all_notifications, notification_action), same JSON output contract, same 1-based indexing. Full notification parity is gated on a spike because Windows has two materially different surfaces: notification-listener APIs that require user permission/app identity, and shell UIA traversal that is best effort.

Implementation approach:

• Primary list path: Use UserNotificationListener when package identity/capability and explicit user permission are available. If permission is denied, return PERM_DENIED with a permission-specific suggestion.
• Fallback list path: Open Action Center with open-system-surface --surface action-center; traverse exposed shell UIA elements only when they provide stable names/descriptions/action buttons.
• Dismiss: Prefer notification-listener APIs where supported; otherwise invoke the notification's dismiss/close button through UIA. For "dismiss all", invoke the shell's "Clear all" control only when present.
• Interact with actions: Resolve action buttons within the notification tree and invoke via the primary API or InvokePattern.
• Focus Assist / Do Not Disturb: Query through supported shell APIs first. Registry/WNF probes are best-effort diagnostics, not the sole source of truth.
• Edge case: Some notifications may be transient (disappear after timeout). The wait --notification command should monitor for new toasts via event subscription where supported; otherwise it polls the notification-listener or Action Center fallback within the normal wait deadline.

System Tray (New Feature — Windows Implementation)

System tray interaction must be implemented from scratch as part of Phase 2.

Implementation approach:

• List items: Access the system tray via UIA tree of Shell_TrayWnd window class. Tray items are children of the notification area. Overflow items live in NotifyIconOverflowWindow
• Click: InvokePattern on tray items, falling back to coordinate-based SendInput for items that don't expose UIA patterns
• Open menu: After clicking a tray item, detect the resulting popup menu via UIA focus-changed events and expose it for ref-based interaction

Web/Electron App Compatibility

Chromium-based apps (Electron, Chrome, Edge, VS Code) expose deep, noisy accessibility trees where every HTML <div> becomes a UIA Group element. The macOS adapter solved this with three patterns that must be replicated identically on Windows.

Chromium detection:

• Detect Chromium-based windows via UIA process name or Chrome_WidgetWin_1 window class matching
• If tree is empty or minimal for a Chromium window, warn: "This appears to be a Chromium app. Run the app with --force-renderer-accessibility to expose the accessibility tree"
• Include this guidance in the platform_detail field of the error response

Web-aware tree traversal (depth-skip):

• Non-semantic wrapper elements (UIA_GroupControlTypeId / UIA_CustomControlTypeId) with empty Name AND empty Value properties do NOT consume depth budget during tree traversal
• This matches the macOS pattern where AXGroup/AXGenericElement wrappers are skipped
• Without this, default --max-depth 10 finds ~3 refs in Slack; with it, finds 100+ refs
• Implement in crates/windows/src/tree/builder.rs with the same is_web_wrapper logic

Resolver depth:

• Element re-identification must search up to ABSOLUTE_MAX_DEPTH (50), not a lower hardcoded limit
• Electron elements commonly sit at depth 25+ in the raw tree; a shallow resolver cap causes STALE_REF errors
• Implement in crates/windows/src/tree/resolve.rs matching the macOS pattern

Surface detection for Electron:

• When an Electron app opens a modal (file picker, dialog), UIA may report the dialog as the focused window itself rather than a child of the parent window
• Surface detection (list-surfaces, --surface sheet/alert) must check if the focused window IS the target surface, not only search its children
• Check both ControlType and LocalizedControlType / UIA patterns (analogous to macOS checking both AXRole and AXSubrole)
• Implement in crates/windows/src/tree/surfaces.rs

Progressive skeleton traversal works identically on Windows — --skeleton and --root flags are platform-agnostic, handled entirely by core. The Windows adapter only needs to implement get_subtree() (which delegates to the same build_subtree() as get_tree()). Token savings for Electron apps (VS Code, Slack) apply equally.

Minimum OS Requirements

• Windows 10 1809+ for the baseline UIA adapter, app/window operations, clipboard, and legacy screenshot fallback
• Windows 10 1903+ for Windows.Graphics.Capture per-window modern screenshot
• Newer Windows 10/11 builds may expose richer Quick Settings / notification / shell UIA trees; commands report PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED or degrade to the documented fallback when a shell surface is absent
• UIA COM interfaces are available before Windows 10, but Phase 2 does not support pre-1809 as a release target
• Session 0, Server Core, secure desktop, locked desktop, and other-user sessions are explicitly unsupported for observation/action/capture

New Dependencies

Crate	Version	Scope	Purpose
uiautomation	0.24+	Windows	UIA client wrapper, tree walker, patterns
windows	0.62.2	Windows	Raw Win32 / WinRT bindings for SendInput, clipboard, Windows.Graphics.Capture, D3D11 frame pool. Pinned to 0.62.2 to match windows-capture 1.5.x's own pin.
windows-capture	1.5.4	Windows	Modern per-window screenshot via Windows.Graphics.Capture in supported interactive sessions. Replaces PrintWindow + PW_RENDERFULLCONTENT as default, keeps legacy fallback.
screencapturekit	1.5 (crates.io)	macOS	Published crates.io canonical crate — the doom-fish fork is the maintained successor, NOT a git-SHA pin.
objc2	0.6	macOS (new for P2-O13 / O17)	Safe bridging to SCScreenshotManager, CGPreflightScreenCaptureAccess, and AppKit/Foundation calls scoped to screenshot/permissions code

Added as target-gated dependencies in the owning platform crates. The binary crate only depends on the platform crate for the current target.

# src/Cargo.toml
[target.'cfg(target_os = "windows")'.dependencies]
agent-desktop-windows = { path = "crates/windows" }

[target.'cfg(target_os = "macos")'.dependencies]
agent-desktop-macos = { path = "crates/macos" }

# crates/windows/Cargo.toml
[target.'cfg(target_os = "windows")'.dependencies]
uiautomation = "0.24"
windows = { version = "0.62.2", features = ["Win32_UI_Input", "Win32_UI_Input_KeyboardAndMouse", "Win32_System_Com", "Win32_System_DataExchange", "Win32_UI_WindowsAndMessaging", "Win32_Graphics_Gdi", "Graphics_Capture", "Win32_Graphics_Direct3D11"] }
windows-capture = "1.5.4"

# crates/macos/Cargo.toml
[target.'cfg(target_os = "macos")'.dependencies]
objc2 = { version = "0.6", features = ["Foundation", "AppKit"] }
screencapturekit = "1.5"

Testing

Unit tests (windows):

• UIA ControlType → role mapping coverage for all control types
• Permission check with mocks (COM security state)
• CacheRequest attribute batching correctness
• Element resolution round-trip (pid, role, name, bounds_hash)

Integration tests (Windows CI):

• Snapshot Explorer — non-empty tree with refs, buttons, text fields
• Snapshot Notepad — text area with value, menu items
• Snapshot Settings — modern WinUI controls
• Snapshot Taskbar / Start / Quick Settings / Action Center surfaces where the runner exposes an interactive Explorer shell; otherwise assert PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED with a clear platform_detail
• Click button in test app — verify action succeeded
• Type text into Notepad via ref — verify content changed
• Set-value on a text field — verify value set via UIA
• Clipboard get/set/clear roundtrip
• Wait for window title pattern
• Launch + close app lifecycle (Notepad: launch, type, close)
• Resize, move, minimize, maximize, restore window operations
• Screenshot produces valid PNG
• Large tree snapshot performance validation
• Chromium detection — verify warning when tree is empty
• Electron app snapshot (VS Code) — default depth finds 50+ refs via web-aware depth-skip
• Electron surface detection — file picker dialog detected as sheet surface
• List notifications — primary listener path when permission/app identity is available; Action Center UIA fallback otherwise
• Dismiss notification — verify removal through listener or Action Center fallback; skip with PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED on unsupported shell builds
• Notification action — click action button on a test toast notification when the platform exposes one
• List tray items — returns known system tray entries (volume, network, clock)
• Click tray item — verify tray menu opens

Cross-platform validation:

• Same snapshot of a cross-platform app (e.g., VS Code) produces structurally identical JSON on macOS and Windows
• All error codes produce identical JSON envelope format

Cross-platform extension tests (P2-O8 through O17):

• Stable-selector fields: known interactive controls emit identifier on both platforms when the app exposes one (UIA AutomationId on Windows, AXIdentifier on macOS); controls without stable IDs omit the field and still resolve through the fingerprint fallback
• Event subscription: watch --event value-changed --ref @e3 --timeout 2000 receives an event within 500 ms of a programmatic value change on both platforms
• Text ranges: text select-range @e1 5 10 + text get-selection @e1 round-trips to {start:5, length:10} on both platforms for a multi-line text editor (TextEdit / Notepad)
• Text insert-at-caret: text insert-at-caret @e1 "hello" produces matching value on both platforms with the caret advanced correctly
• Modern screenshot: screenshot --window <id> PNG matches a reference capture within SSIM threshold on supported OS/session combinations; cold latency <50 ms on both platforms where modern capture is available (vs ~300 ms macOS subprocess baseline)
• Toolbar surface: snapshot --surface toolbar on Safari (macOS) and Edge (Windows) returns the toolbar's children with refs
• Electron deep-tree: VS Code snapshot with --force-electron-a11y exposes ≥100 refs at default depth on both platforms
• Screen Recording permission: on a macOS runner without Screen Recording, screenshot --window returns PermDenied with the Screen Recording suggestion (distinct from AX denial)
• Automation permission: on a macOS runner without Automation for a target app, close-app returns AutomationPermissionDenied rather than squeezing into ActionFailed

FFI parity tests (P2-O16):

• ad_abi_version() returns a packed u32 matching the Cargo version; consumer built against 0.2.0 refuses to load 0.3.0
• ad_snapshot writes a refmap and the same @e5 resolves via ad_execute_by_ref without a prior CLI snapshot on disk
• ad_execute_by_ref(adapter, "@e5", AD_ACTION_KIND_CLICK, &out) produces identical AdActionResult to ad_resolve_element + ad_execute_action
• ad_set_log_callback receives at least one tracing::debug! event during a ad_get_tree call
• Every new Action variant round-trips through the AdAction.kind i32 → Rust enum conversion without UB on arbitrary bit patterns (extends the existing fuzz_arbitrary_bit_patterns_never_panic_across_all_enums suite)

CI

• Add GitHub Actions Windows runner alongside existing macOS runner
• Both runners execute: cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings, cargo test --workspace
• cargo tree -p agent-desktop-core continues to contain zero platform crate names
• Binary size check: Windows .exe must be under 15MB

Release

• Prebuilt Windows .exe binary added to the existing .github/workflows/release.yml build matrix (alongside the macOS CLI targets). Uses the same tarball + sha256 + attestation pipeline shipped in Phase 1.5.
• npm postinstall.js gains a win32-x64 / win32-arm64 branch so npm install -g agent-desktop works on Windows without changes to package shape.
• The Phase 1.5 FFI cdylib for Windows (x86_64-pc-windows-msvc) is already shipping; Phase 2 adds aarch64-pc-windows-msvc for ARM64 parity.
• Every new ad_* FFI entrypoint (P2-O16) is included in the release-ffi build and CI header drift check.
• GitHub Release notes document Windows support and installation.

Skill Update

Skill docs are part of the release surface and must stay in sync with command behavior.

• Create skills/agent-desktop-windows/SKILL.md:
  • UIA permission model and UAC handling
  • Windows-specific behaviors (UIA patterns, WinUI3 quirks, COM initialization, Start/taskbar/Action Center/Quick Settings shell surfaces, virtual desktop detection, mixed-DPI coordinates)
  • Chromium/Electron compatibility: depth-skip, resolver depth, surface detection patterns
  • --force-renderer-accessibility guidance for empty trees
  • Windows error codes and platform_detail examples (HRESULT codes)
  • Troubleshooting guide (empty trees, COM errors, elevation failures)
• Update core SKILL.md:
  • Add Windows platform skill to skill graph table
  • Update platform support section
• Update workflows.md:
  • Add cross-platform patterns noting Windows-specific differences
  • Add Windows-specific workflow examples (e.g., navigating UWP apps)

README Update

• Update Platform Support table: Windows column → Yes
• Add Windows installation instructions:
  • npm (same command, auto-detects platform)
  • Direct .exe download from GitHub Releases
  • From source: cargo build --release on Windows (note: requires MSVC toolchain)
• Add Windows permissions section:
  • UIA works without special permissions for most apps
  • UAC elevation may be required for elevated processes
  • Chromium apps need --force-renderer-accessibility
• Update "From source" section with Windows build requirements (Rust + MSVC)

---

Phase 3 — Linux Adapter + Cross-Platform Parity Completion

Status: Planned

Phase 3 completes the three-platform story. The Linux adapter implements the original adapter surface plus every cross-platform extension landed in Phase 2 (event subscriptions, text ranges, modern screenshot, stable-selector fields, Toolbar surface, new Action variants, new ErrorCode variants). Each has a canonical AT-SPI2 / D-Bus / Wayland-portal implementation. Core engine, trait contract, command-registry, CLI dispatch, FFI wrappers, and MCP transport are all untouched — per the Command Surface Architecture invariant, Phase 3 is pure PlatformAdapter trait implementation code, nothing else. No new command files, no CLI dispatch changes, no FFI wrappers, no MCP tool registrations.

Objectives

Linux parity (original scope):

ID	Objective	Metric
P3-O1	Linux adapter	snapshot on Ubuntu GNOME returns valid tree for Files, Terminal, Settings
P3-O2	All commands cross-platform	Identical JSON contract output on all 3 platforms for every command
P3-O3	Linux input synthesis	click, type, press, all mouse commands via AT-SPI actions + xdotool/ydotool
P3-O4	Linux screenshot	screenshot produces PNG via PipeWire ScreenCast portal (Wayland) / XGetImage (X11)
P3-O5	Linux clipboard	clipboard-get / clipboard-set / clipboard-clear via wl-clipboard (Wayland) / xclip (X11)
P3-O6	Cross-platform CI	GitHub Actions matrix: macOS + Windows + Ubuntu
P3-O7	Linux binary release	Prebuilt CLI binary added to the release pipeline (Phase 1.5 already ships the Linux FFI cdylib)

Cross-platform extensions (Linux implementations of Phase 2 primitives):

ID	Objective	Metric
P3-O8	Stable-selector fields on Linux	AccessibilityNode.identifier populated from AT-SPI2 accessible-id attribute (standard since AT-SPI 2.18) with GTK gtk-id / Qt objectName fallback; dom_id / dom_classes populated from AT-SPI2 object-attributes HTML keys (id, class) on WebKitGTK / Chromium-Content embeds
P3-O9	AT-SPI2 event subscriptions (P2-O11 parity)	watch_element implemented via zbus::Proxy::receive_signal on AT-SPI2 signals: org.a11y.atspi.Event.Object.PropertyChange, ChildrenChanged, StateChanged:focused, Window:Create, Window:Destroy. Same wait --event CLI shape as macOS/Windows. Replaces polling in crates/linux/src/system/wait.rs before it's even written
P3-O10	AT-SPI2 Text interface (P2-O12 parity)	Text range primitives via org.a11y.atspi.Text D-Bus methods: GetText(start, end), GetCaretOffset, SetCaretOffset, GetNSelections, GetSelection(n), AddSelection(start, end), RemoveSelection(n). InsertAtCaret uses org.a11y.atspi.EditableText.InsertText(position, text, length)
P3-O11	PipeWire modern screenshot (P2-O13 parity)	screenshot --window <id> via org.freedesktop.portal.ScreenCast (Wayland) + org.freedesktop.portal.RemoteDesktop for capture permission flow. XDG desktop portal handles the user consent dialog exactly like SCScreenshotManager does on macOS. X11 fallback uses XGetImage for the lowest-permission path
P3-O12	Toolbar + surfaces (P2-O14 parity)	SnapshotSurface::Toolbar via AT-SPI2 Role::ToolBar. Dock / taskbar surface via per-DE panel process walk (GNOME Shell process for gnome-shell extensions, Plasma plasmashell for KDE). StatusNotifierWatcher already scoped in the original Phase 3 tray spec
P3-O13	Action variants on Linux (P2-O9 parity)	Action::LongPress via timed xdotool/ydotool button-hold; Action::ShowMenu via org.a11y.atspi.Action.DoAction("popup"); Action::Cancel via Action.DoAction("cancel") or Escape synthesis; Action::DeliverFiles via portal/native file-transfer where available with XDND as a researched fallback; Action::ForceClick returns ActionNotSupported on Linux (no pressure input primitive)
P3-O14	FFI cdylib continues to ship	Phase 1.5 already publishes Linux FFI for x86_64 + aarch64; Phase 3 adds each new ad_* entrypoint's Linux implementation and extends the header drift check. No new FFI bindings to design — just implementations for the platform-specific methods under the existing trait
P3-O15	Flatpak / Snap compatibility note	AT-SPI2 requires --talk-name=org.a11y.Bus permission inside sandboxed runtimes. Skill docs include the exact Flatpak override and Snap plug grants, so sandboxed consumers aren't silently empty-tree

Linux Adapter Implementation

Full LinuxAdapter in crates/linux/src/ following the identical platform crate folder structure:

crates/linux/src/
├── lib.rs              # mod declarations + re-exports only
├── adapter.rs          # LinuxAdapter: PlatformAdapter impl
├── tree/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── element.rs      # AT-SPI Accessible wrapper + attribute readers
│   ├── builder.rs      # D-Bus tree traversal via GetChildren
│   ├── roles.rs        # AT-SPI Role enum → unified role enum mapping
│   ├── resolve.rs      # Element re-identification for ref resolution
│   └── surfaces.rs     # Surface detection (menus, dialogs, popovers)
├── actions/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── dispatch.rs     # perform_action via AT-SPI Action interface
│   ├── activate.rs     # Smart activation chain (DoAction → coordinate fallback)
│   └── extras.rs       # Text.InsertText, Selection helpers
├── input/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── keyboard.rs     # xdotool (X11) / ydotool (Wayland) keyboard synthesis
│   ├── mouse.rs        # xdotool (X11) / ydotool (Wayland) mouse events
│   └── clipboard.rs    # wl-clipboard (Wayland) / xclip (X11) clipboard ops
├── notifications/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── list.rs         # List notifications via D-Bus org.freedesktop.Notifications or daemon-specific API
│   ├── dismiss.rs      # Dismiss/close notifications via CloseNotification D-Bus method
│   └── interact.rs     # Invoke notification actions via ActionInvoked D-Bus signal
├── tray/
│   ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
│   ├── list.rs         # List tray items via StatusNotifierItem D-Bus interface or AT-SPI
│   └── interact.rs     # Activate/context-menu tray items via D-Bus methods
└── system/
    ├── mod.rs          # re-exports
    ├── app_ops.rs      # App launch via xdg-open / process spawn, close via SIGTERM/SIGKILL
    ├── window_ops.rs   # xdotool / wmctrl for resize/move/minimize/maximize/restore
    ├── key_dispatch.rs # App-targeted key press via window focus + input synthesis
    ├── permissions.rs  # AT-SPI2 bus availability check, DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS detection
    ├── screenshot.rs   # PipeWire ScreenCast portal (Wayland) / XGetImage (X11) / xcap crate
    └── wait.rs         # wait utilities (polling AT-SPI element existence)

Linux API Mapping

Capability	Technology	Details
Tree root	atspi Accessible on bus	Via atspi crate (v0.28+) + zbus (5.x) — pure Rust, no libatspi/GLib dependency
Children	org.a11y.atspi.Accessible.GetChildren	Async D-Bus calls to AT-SPI2 registry daemon
Role mapping	AT-SPI Role enum	Map to unified role enum in tree/roles.rs — e.g. Role::PushButton → button
Click	org.a11y.atspi.Action.DoAction(0)	AT-SPI actions preferred over coordinate-based input
Set text	org.a11y.atspi.Text.InsertText	AT-SPI text interface; falls back to clipboard paste
Expand/Collapse	Action.DoAction("expand") / Action.DoAction("collapse")	Action name-based dispatch
Select	org.a11y.atspi.Selection.SelectChild	For combobox, listbox, tab items
Toggle	Action.DoAction("toggle") or Action.DoAction("click")	For checkboxes, switches
Scroll	Coordinate-based scroll events via xdotool/ydotool	AT-SPI has no native scroll pattern
Keyboard	xdotool key (X11) / ydotool key (Wayland)	Shelling out for input synthesis
Mouse	xdotool mousemove/click (X11) / ydotool mousemove/click (Wayland)	Display server detected at runtime
Clipboard	wl-copy / wl-paste (Wayland) / xclip (X11)	Shelling out; display server detected at runtime
Screenshot	PipeWire ScreenCast portal (Wayland) / XGetImage (X11)	Or xcap crate for consistency
App launch	xdg-open / direct process spawn	Launch by .desktop file or command name
App close	SIGTERM / SIGKILL	Graceful close first, force with --force
Window ops	xdotool / wmctrl	Window resize, move, minimize, maximize, restore
Permissions	AT-SPI2 bus availability	Check for org.a11y.Bus on D-Bus session bus. Return PLATFORM_UNSUPPORTED with enable instructions if missing
Notifications	D-Bus org.freedesktop.Notifications	List via GetServerInformation + monitoring Notify signals. History varies by daemon: GNOME uses org.gnome.Shell.Notifications, KDE uses org.freedesktop.Notifications with GetNotifications. Dismiss via CloseNotification(id). Interact via ActionInvoked signal. Do Not Disturb: GNOME org.gnome.desktop.notifications.show-banners, KDE org.kde.notificationmanager
System tray	D-Bus org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher	SNI (StatusNotifierItem) protocol for modern tray items. Legacy XEmbed tray items via AT-SPI tree of the tray window. List via RegisteredStatusNotifierItems property. Activate via Activate(x, y) method. Context menu via ContextMenu(x, y) method. Fallback: coordinate-based click for XEmbed items

Notification Management (New Feature — Linux Implementation)

Linux notification management must be implemented from scratch as part of Phase 3. The macOS implementation (completed) and Windows implementation (Phase 2) serve as reference patterns — same trait methods, same JSON output contract, same 1-based indexing.

Implementation approach:

• List notifications: The standard org.freedesktop.Notifications D-Bus interface does NOT provide a "list current notifications" method. Approach varies by desktop environment:
  • GNOME: org.gnome.Shell exposes org.gnome.Shell.Notifications interface with GetNotifications() method (returns array of notification dicts)
  • KDE Plasma: org.freedesktop.Notifications with GetNotifications() extension, or org.kde.notificationmanager D-Bus interface
  • Other DEs: Monitor Notify D-Bus signals to maintain an in-memory notification history within the daemon session
• Dismiss: org.freedesktop.Notifications.CloseNotification(id) D-Bus method call. Works across all notification daemons
• Interact with actions: Listen for user-triggered actions or programmatically invoke via ActionInvoked signal. Note: the D-Bus spec does not define a method to programmatically trigger actions — coordinate-based click on the notification popup via AT-SPI may be needed as a fallback
• Do Not Disturb:
  • GNOME: gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.notifications show-banners (boolean)
  • KDE: org.kde.notificationmanager D-Bus interface, inhibited property
• Edge case: Notification daemon varies by DE — detect via GetServerInformation() D-Bus method. Return PLATFORM_UNSUPPORTED with daemon-specific guidance if the notification interface is unreachable

System Tray (New Feature — Linux Implementation)

System tray interaction must be implemented from scratch as part of Phase 3.

Implementation approach:

• Modern tray (SNI): Most modern Linux apps use the StatusNotifierItem (SNI) D-Bus protocol. Discover items via org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher.RegisteredStatusNotifierItems property
• Legacy tray (XEmbed): Older apps use XEmbed protocol. Access via AT-SPI tree of the tray window, or coordinate-based interaction
• List items: Query StatusNotifierWatcher for registered items. Each item exposes Title, IconName, ToolTip, Menu (D-Bus menu path) properties
• Activate: Call Activate(x, y) method on the StatusNotifierItem D-Bus interface
• Context menu: Call ContextMenu(x, y) method, or read the Menu property to get the com.canonical.dbusmenu path and traverse the menu tree
• Edge case: GNOME does not natively support SNI (requires AppIndicator extension). Detect and report via error suggestion if no tray is available

Display Server Detection

Runtime detection required for input, clipboard, and screenshot since Linux runs either X11 or Wayland:

• Check $WAYLAND_DISPLAY environment variable — if set, use Wayland path
• Check $DISPLAY environment variable — if set and no Wayland, use X11 path
• If neither, return PLATFORM_UNSUPPORTED with guidance to check display server configuration
• Input tools: verify xdotool (X11) or ydotool (Wayland) is installed; error with install instructions if missing
• Clipboard tools: verify xclip (X11) or wl-clipboard (Wayland) is installed; error with install instructions if missing

Web/Electron App Compatibility

Same Chromium/Electron compatibility patterns as Phase 2 (Windows), adapted for AT-SPI2. These patterns ensure default --max-depth 10 works with Electron apps like Slack, VS Code, and Chrome.

Web-aware tree traversal (depth-skip):

• Non-semantic wrapper elements with AT-SPI roles ROLE_PANEL, ROLE_SECTION, or ROLE_FILLER that have empty Name AND empty Value do NOT consume depth budget during tree traversal
• This is the AT-SPI equivalent of macOS AXGroup/AXGenericElement and Windows UIA_GroupControlTypeId skipping
• Implement in crates/linux/src/tree/builder.rs with the same is_web_wrapper logic

Resolver depth:

• Element re-identification must search up to ABSOLUTE_MAX_DEPTH (50), not a lower hardcoded limit
• Electron elements commonly sit at depth 25+ in the raw AT-SPI tree
• Implement in crates/linux/src/tree/resolve.rs matching the macOS/Windows pattern

Surface detection for Electron:

• When an Electron app opens a modal (file picker, dialog), AT-SPI may report the dialog as the active window itself rather than a child of the parent window
• Surface detection must check if the focused window IS the target surface, not only search its children
• Check both Role and RelationSet / RELATION_EMBEDS for dialog detection (analogous to macOS AXRole + AXSubrole)
• Implement in crates/linux/src/tree/surfaces.rs

Chromium detection:

• Detect Chromium-based apps via process name matching (electron, chrome, chromium, code)
• If AT-SPI tree is empty for a Chromium app, warn about --force-renderer-accessibility
• On Linux, Chromium respects ACCESSIBILITY_ENABLED=1 environment variable as an alternative

Progressive skeleton traversal works identically on Linux — --skeleton and --root flags are platform-agnostic, handled entirely by core. The Linux adapter only needs to implement get_subtree() (which delegates to the same async tree walker). Token savings for Electron apps apply equally.

AT-SPI2 Bus Detection

• Check for org.a11y.Bus presence on the D-Bus session bus
• If bus is not running, return PLATFORM_UNSUPPORTED with instructions:
  • GNOME: "AT-SPI2 should be enabled by default. Check gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface toolkit-accessibility"
  • Other DEs: "Install at-spi2-core and ensure at-spi-bus-launcher is running"
  • Flatpak/Snap: "Ensure the app has --talk-name=org.a11y.Bus permission"

Minimum OS Requirements

• Ubuntu 22.04+ / Fedora 38+
• GNOME 42+ (primary target), KDE Plasma 5.24+ (secondary)
• at-spi2-core package installed (default on GNOME)
• X11: xdotool installed. Wayland: ydotool installed

Key Risks and Mitigations

Risk	Mitigation
Wayland a11y gaps	Focus on GNOME (best AT-SPI2 support). Prefer AT-SPI actions over coordinate input. Document known gaps clearly in skill and README.
AT-SPI2 bus not running	Detect on first command. Return clear enable instructions specific to the detected distro/DE.
Display server fragmentation	Runtime detection (X11 vs Wayland). Separate code paths for input/clipboard/screenshot. Test both.
Rust a11y crate maintenance stalls	Pin atspi and zbus versions. atspi crate backed by Odilia accessibility project. Maintain patches if upstream stalls.
Input tool availability	Check for xdotool/ydotool on first use. Provide package manager install commands in error suggestion.

New Dependencies

Crate	Version	Purpose	License
atspi	0.28+	Linux AT-SPI2 client	MIT/Apache-2.0
zbus	5.x	D-Bus connection	MIT/Apache-2.0
tokio	1.x	Async runtime (required by atspi/zbus for async D-Bus)	MIT

Added to Cargo.toml as target-gated dependency:

[target.'cfg(target_os = "linux")'.dependencies]
agent-desktop-linux = { path = "crates/linux" }

Note: tokio is introduced here for the first time. Phases 1-2 are fully synchronous. The Linux adapter requires async D-Bus calls via zbus.

Testing

Unit tests (linux):

• AT-SPI Role → role mapping coverage for all role types
• Bus availability detection (mock D-Bus responses)
• Display server detection logic (Wayland vs X11 env vars)
• Element resolution round-trip (pid, role, name, bounds_hash)

Integration tests (Ubuntu CI):

• Snapshot GNOME Files — non-empty tree with refs, buttons, text fields
• Snapshot GNOME Terminal — text area, menu items
• Snapshot GNOME Settings — modern GTK4 controls
• Click button in test app — verify action succeeded
• Type text into GNOME Text Editor via ref — verify content changed
• Clipboard get/set/clear roundtrip (test both X11 and Wayland if CI supports)
• Wait for window title pattern
• Launch + close app lifecycle
• Resize, move, minimize, maximize, restore window operations
• Screenshot produces valid PNG
• AT-SPI2 bus not running — correct error code and guidance
• Electron app snapshot (VS Code) — default depth finds 50+ refs via web-aware depth-skip
• Electron surface detection — file picker dialog detected as sheet surface
• List notifications — returns non-empty list when notifications exist (GNOME)
• Dismiss notification — verify notification dismissed via D-Bus CloseNotification
• List tray items — returns known SNI items (if running under KDE or with AppIndicator extension)
• Click tray item — verify tray menu opens via Activate D-Bus method
• Notification daemon detection — correct GetServerInformation result

Cross-platform validation:

• Same snapshot of a cross-platform app (e.g., VS Code) produces structurally identical JSON on all 3 platforms
• All error codes produce identical JSON envelope format on all 3 platforms
• Notification commands return identical JSON envelope structure across all 3 platforms (list, dismiss, action)
• Tray / StatusNotifierItem commands return identical JSON envelope structure across all 3 platforms

Extension tests for P3-O8 through O15 (Linux-specific parity):

• AT-SPI accessible-id populated for every interactive node in GNOME Calculator, GNOME Files, Firefox (with ACCESSIBILITY_ENABLED=1)
• watch --event value-changed via zbus signal subscription delivers an event within 500 ms for a programmatic value change in a test harness app (GTK4 + pygobject)
• text select-range / get-selection / insert-at-caret round-trips correctly in GNOME Text Editor via org.a11y.atspi.Text + EditableText
• PipeWire portal screenshot flow: user approves via XDG portal dialog, subsequent calls bypass the dialog within the session grant window; screenshot matches reference
• Toolbar surface: Firefox toolbar + GNOME Files toolbar both enumerate via Role::ToolBar
• Flatpak compatibility: a Flatpak-packaged GNOME Text Editor snapshot is non-empty when --talk-name=org.a11y.Bus is granted; returns clear diagnostic otherwise

CI

• GitHub Actions matrix: macOS + Windows + Ubuntu (all three on every PR)
• All runners execute: cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings, cargo test --workspace
• cargo tree -p agent-desktop-core continues to contain zero platform crate names
• Binary size check: all platform binaries must be under 15MB

Release

• Prebuilt Linux CLI binary added to .github/workflows/release.yml matrix for x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu and aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu (Phase 1.5 already builds the FFI cdylib for both triples on the same runners — Phase 3 reuses those runners)
• npm postinstall.js gains linux-x64 / linux-arm64 branches
• Every new ad_* Linux implementation from P3-O9 / O10 / O11 is covered by the existing FFI drift check + Sigstore attestation pipeline
• GitHub Release notes document Linux support, minimum glibc (2.35, Ubuntu 22.04 baseline), display-server requirements, and Flatpak/Snap compatibility

Skill Update

Skill docs are part of the release surface and must stay in sync with command behavior.

• Create skills/agent-desktop-linux/SKILL.md:
  • AT-SPI2/D-Bus setup and bus detection
  • Wayland vs X11 differences (input via xdotool/ydotool, clipboard via wl-clipboard/xclip, screenshot via PipeWire/XGetImage)
  • Required system tools: xdotool or ydotool, xclip or wl-clipboard
  • Linux error codes and platform_detail examples (D-Bus errors, bus not found)
  • Troubleshooting guide (bus not running, empty trees, missing tools, Flatpak/Snap permissions)
• Update core SKILL.md:
  • Add Linux platform skill to skill graph table
  • Update platform support section to show all 3 platforms
• Update workflows.md:
  • Add cross-platform patterns noting Linux-specific differences
  • Add Linux-specific workflow examples (e.g., GNOME app automation)
  • Document display server detection behavior

README Update

• Update Platform Support table: Linux column → Yes
• Add Linux installation instructions:
  • npm (same command, auto-detects platform)
  • Direct binary download from GitHub Releases
  • From source: cargo build --release on Linux (note: requires pkg-config, libdbus-1-dev)
• Add Linux permissions section:
  • AT-SPI2 bus must be running (default on GNOME, may need enabling on other DEs)
  • Required tools: xdotool (X11) or ydotool (Wayland) for input synthesis
  • Required tools: xclip (X11) or wl-clipboard (Wayland) for clipboard
  • How to check: busctl --user list | grep a11y
• Update minimum OS versions: Ubuntu 22.04+ / Fedora 38+
• Update "From source" section with Linux build requirements

---

Phase 4 — MCP Server Mode

Status: Planned

Phase 4 adds a new I/O layer. Core engine and all three platform adapters are unchanged. The MCP server wraps existing command logic in JSON-RPC tool definitions, enabling agent-desktop to work as an MCP-native desktop automation server for Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, Gemini CLI, Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0, and any other MCP-compatible host.

By Phase 4 the CLI already covers the shared command surface on three platforms, the FFI ships as a shared library for in-process consumers, and the cross-platform event / text-range / stable-selector primitives from Phase 2 / 3 are in place. MCP mode is a transport + discovery layer, nothing more. Per the Command Surface Architecture invariant at the top of this document, the MCP crate contains zero per-tool and zero per-platform code — it walks the same deterministic command descriptor registry the CLI and FFI use, and dispatches to the same execute(args, adapter) functions. New commands added in Phase 2 or Phase 5 (e.g. watch_element, text select-range, find --visual) become MCP tools automatically with no changes to crates/mcp/.

Objectives

ID	Objective	Metric
P4-O1	MCP server mode via --mcp	Responds to MCP initialize handshake, reports capabilities, per-host hello-world passes
P4-O2	All commands as MCP tools	tools/list returns 54+ tools with JSON Schemas generated from the CLI arg structs via schemars; tool names prefixed desktop_
P4-O3	Claude Desktop + Cursor + VS Code + Gemini CLI + MS Agent Framework validated	Each host invokes tools to control a desktop app end-to-end on all three platforms; repo ships mcp.json / claude_desktop_config.json / .cursor/mcp.json examples per host
P4-O4	Tool annotations	readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint on every tool; Claude Desktop surfaces destructive tools with a confirmation prompt
P4-O5	Ref-based MCP tool shape (Playwright-MCP idiom)	Tools take {ref: "e5"} not raw element_handle, matching Playwright MCP so agents can swap between the two without relearning selectors. Tree snapshots return as MCP resources with refs inline
P4-O6	MCP resource types	agent-desktop://refmap/current, agent-desktop://snapshot/latest, agent-desktop://audit/{trace_id} (audit log under Phase 5). resources/list + resources/read expose the current RefMap and last snapshot without re-running the command
P4-O7	Tree-diff notifications	watch_element events (Phase 2 P2-O11) stream as MCP notifications/message during a long-running wait, so the host sees value-changed / focus-changed events as they happen rather than polling
P4-O8	Progress notifications	notifications/progress for wait, snapshot --skeleton → --root drill-down chains, and large-tree traversals. Agents surface progress to users instead of hanging
P4-O9	Tool-level permission tiers	Observation tools (desktop_snapshot, desktop_find, desktop_get, desktop_is, desktop_list_*) are freely callable. Interaction tools (desktop_click, desktop_type_text, desktop_set_value, desktop_drag) are gated behind an interactive capability negotiated at initialize. Destructive tools (desktop_close_app, desktop_dismiss_all_notifications) require the destructive capability plus the Phase 5 audit log
P4-O10	Session-scoped RefMap	Each MCP session has its own in-memory RefMap keyed by session_id — no conflict with the on-disk CLI RefMap, no cross-session leakage when a host runs multiple agent-desktop-mcp instances
P4-O11	MCP initialize returns tri-platform capability matrix	The initialize response declares platform (macOS / Windows / Linux), permission status (AX + Screen Recording + Automation tri-state from Phase 2 P2-O17), display-server (Linux), and the set of actually-supported tools given current permissions. A host can decide whether to prompt for missing permissions before the first tool call
P4-O12	SSE + Streamable HTTP transports	Stdio remains primary. SSE (pre-March-2025 spec) and Streamable HTTP (post-March-2025 replacement) are implemented for remote scenarios — MS Agent Framework and future MCP hosts prefer the HTTP transport

Entry Point

The binary crate's main.rs detects mode:

• If invoked with --mcp or stdin is a pipe: enter MCP server mode
• Otherwise: parse CLI arguments, execute command, print JSON to stdout

This is the invariant: every MCP tool maps 1:1 to a CLI command. agent-desktop snapshot --app Finder is identical to invoking the MCP desktop_snapshot tool. Testing, debugging, and documentation are never fragmented.

New Crate: agent-desktop-mcp (platform-agnostic, no per-command code)

The MCP crate is small and generic by design. It contains zero per-tool files and zero per-platform code. Per the Command Surface Architecture invariant at the top of this document, every CLI command is described through deterministic command metadata; the MCP server iterates those descriptors at startup and exposes each entry as an MCP tool.

crates/mcp/src/
├── lib.rs              # mod declarations + re-exports
├── server.rs           # rmcp server bootstrap, initialize handler, walks the command registry
├── transport.rs        # stdio (primary), Streamable HTTP (P4-O12), SSE (legacy)
├── capability.rs       # P4-O9 tier gating (observation / interactive / destructive)
├── resources.rs        # P4-O6 resource types (refmap / snapshot / permissions / events / audit)
├── notifications.rs    # P4-O7 watch event forwarder, P4-O8 progress forwarder
└── schema.rs           # Translates CommandDescriptor → rmcp tool definition

That's the whole crate. It doesn't know what desktop_click does — it reads generated command descriptors and forwards invocations through the same command execution function the CLI uses. Adding a command in Phase 2 (text select-range, watch_element) or Phase 5 (find --visual, audit tail) should mean zero lines of MCP-specific behavior — only shared command metadata and adapter methods change.

MCP tool registration — the one-time rewrite

// crates/mcp/src/server.rs  (illustrative, ~80 lines total for the crate)

pub async fn serve(adapter: Box<dyn PlatformAdapter>) -> Result<()> {
    let mut server = rmcp::ServerBuilder::new("agent-desktop", env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION"));

    // Walk generated descriptors. No hand-maintained tool list.
    for cmd in command_descriptors() {
        // Skip tools disallowed by current permission set (P4-O11).
        if !cmd.available_under(&adapter.permission_report()) { continue; }

        server.tool(rmcp::Tool {
            name: cmd.mcp_name,
            description: cmd.description,
            input_schema: (cmd.args_schema)(),       // schemars-derived
            annotations: cmd.annotations.into(),     // ReadOnlyHint etc.
        }, {
            let adapter = Arc::clone(&adapter);
            move |args: Value| async move {
                // Capability tier check (P4-O9).
                capability::gate(cmd, &session)?;
                // Invoke the same execute() the CLI uses.
                let value = (cmd.invoke)(args, adapter.as_ref())?;
                // Audit log entry (Phase 5 P5-O5).
                audit::record(cmd.mcp_name, &args, &value, session.trace_id);
                Ok(value)
            }
        });
    }

    server.run(stdio_transport()).await
}

Tool Surface (what the registry produces)

Each MCP tool maps 1:1 to a CLI command via CommandDescriptor. Tool names are prefixed desktop_ to avoid collision with other MCP servers. The tables below are a snapshot of what the registry emits, not hand-written entries. Adding a tool means adding a command file in crates/core/src/commands/; the tables refresh on regen.

Observation tools (always available):

MCP Tool	CLI	Returns
desktop_snapshot	snapshot	Tree + refmap in response; also published as agent-desktop://snapshot/latest resource
desktop_find	find <query>	Matching refs (array)
desktop_get	get <prop> <ref>	Property value
desktop_is	is <state> <ref>	Boolean
desktop_list_windows	list-windows	Array of windows
desktop_list_apps	list-apps	Array of apps
desktop_list_surfaces	list-surfaces	Array of surfaces (incl. Toolbar / Spotlight / Dock / MenuBarExtras and Windows shell surfaces from P2-O14/P2-O18)
desktop_list_notifications	list-notifications	Array of notifications
desktop_screenshot	screenshot	Base64 PNG (or MCP resource link)
desktop_clipboard_get	clipboard-get	Clipboard text
desktop_permissions	permissions	Tri-state permission report (AX + Screen Recording + Automation)
desktop_status	status	Daemon + adapter status
desktop_version	version	Version + ABI version

Interaction tools (gated by interactive capability):

MCP Tool	CLI	Shape
desktop_click / desktop_double_click / desktop_triple_click / desktop_right_click	click @e5 (and variants)	{ref: "e5"}
desktop_type_text	type @e5 "hello"	{ref: "e5", text: "hello"}
desktop_set_value	set-value @e5 "hello"	{ref: "e5", value: "hello"}
desktop_clear	clear @e5	{ref: "e5"}
desktop_focus	focus @e5	{ref: "e5"}
desktop_select / desktop_toggle / desktop_check / desktop_uncheck / desktop_expand / desktop_collapse	—	{ref: "e5"} (+ value for select)
desktop_scroll / desktop_scroll_to	scroll <dir>	{ref: "e5", direction, amount}
desktop_press_key / desktop_key_down / desktop_key_up	press <keys>	{key, modifiers}
desktop_hover / desktop_drag	hover/drag	{ref: "e5"} or {from, to}
desktop_mouse_move / desktop_mouse_click / desktop_mouse_down / desktop_mouse_up	—	{x, y, button}
desktop_wait	wait --element / --window / --text / --menu / --notification	{condition, timeout_ms}
desktop_watch_element (P2-O11)	watch --event …	{ref: "e5", events: [EventKind], timeout_ms} — streams via notifications/message
desktop_launch_app / desktop_focus_window / desktop_resize_window / desktop_move_window / desktop_minimize / desktop_maximize / desktop_restore	app / window ops	App / window args
desktop_clipboard_set / desktop_clipboard_clear	—	{text} / {}
desktop_notification_action	notification-action <idx> <action>	{index, expected_app?, expected_title?, action} (NC-reorder safe)
desktop_text_select_range / desktop_text_get_selection / desktop_text_insert_at_caret / desktop_text_at_offset (P2-O12)	text … subcommands	{ref, start, length, text?}

Destructive tools (gated by both interactive and destructive capabilities; always write to the Phase 5 audit log):

MCP Tool	CLI
desktop_close_app	close-app <app> [--force]
desktop_dismiss_notification	dismiss-notification <idx>
desktop_dismiss_all_notifications	dismiss-all-notifications
desktop_batch	batch — accepts destructive sub-commands, each evaluated against its own annotation

MCP Resource Types

Resources let hosts pull structured state without re-issuing a tool call:

URI	Content	Update model
agent-desktop://refmap/current	JSON RefMap for the current MCP session (not the on-disk CLI refmap)	Replaced on every desktop_snapshot invocation; subscribable via notifications/resources/updated
agent-desktop://snapshot/latest	Last desktop_snapshot response as JSON (tree + refmap + metadata)	Same update model
agent-desktop://permissions/current	Tri-state permission report (AX, Screen Recording, Automation, display-server)	Refreshed on request; subscribable when Phase 2 P2-O17 permission observer is available
agent-desktop://events/stream	Merged watch_element event stream for the session	Real-time, subscribable
agent-desktop://audit/{trace_id}	Phase 5 append-only audit log entries for a trace	Growable; new entries as notifications/resources/updated

Framework Integration Targets

Every major 2026 MCP host gets a validated config example committed to examples/mcp-hosts/:

Host	Config file	Transport	Notes
Claude Desktop	claude_desktop_config.json	stdio	Already widespread; our reference host
Cursor	.cursor/mcp.json	stdio	Per-workspace config
VS Code (Copilot)	.vscode/mcp.json + settings.json	stdio	Copilot Chat 2026 adds MCP tool discovery
Gemini CLI	~/.config/gemini-cli/mcp.json	stdio	Google's first-party MCP integration
Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0	agentframework.yaml MCP section	Streamable HTTP	Cloud-first host, requires HTTP transport (P4-O12)
Zed editor	~/.config/zed/settings.json	stdio	Desktop IDE with MCP-native agents
Continue.dev	config.json MCP section	stdio	OSS agent framework

Each host gets a ~30-line config + a 60-second "hello agent" demo (launch Calculator → compute something → verify result) in the examples/ directory as a runnable acceptance test.

Transport

• Stdio (primary): MCP host spawns agent-desktop --mcp as a child process. JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout. Required; validated against all hosts in the Framework Integration table.
• Streamable HTTP (P4-O12, required for MS Agent Framework): Single HTTP endpoint at POST /mcp with chunked response streaming; replaces the pre-March-2025 SSE transport. Used when the host declares transport: http in its MCP config. Binds to 127.0.0.1 by default; --mcp-bind <addr:port> CLI flag overrides.
• SSE (legacy): Retained for hosts that haven't migrated to Streamable HTTP. Gated on --mcp-transport sse.
• Session: On initialize, detect platform, probe permissions (AX + Screen Recording + Automation tri-state), report tool capabilities given current permissions. The current CLI already supports --session <id> as an on-disk latest-snapshot namespace. MCP adds per-host in-memory session state keyed by session_id; it must not use the legacy ~/.agent-desktop/last_refmap.json artifact and should bridge to the same explicit snapshot semantics as the CLI.

Initialize Handler

On receiving MCP initialize:

1. Detect platform (macOS / Windows / Linux)
2. Check permissions (permission_report())
3. Report capabilities: list of available tools, platform, permission status
4. If permissions not granted, include guidance in capabilities response

New Dependencies

Crate	Version	Purpose	License
rmcp	0.15.0+	Official MCP Rust SDK — #[tool] macro, JSON-RPC handling, transport	MIT/Apache-2.0
schemars	1.2+	JSON Schema generation for tool parameter definitions	MIT/Apache-2.0
tokio	1.x	Async runtime (required by rmcp for MCP server event loop)	MIT

Note: If tokio was already introduced in Phase 3 (Linux), it is already available. Otherwise, it is introduced here.

Binary Crate Changes

• src/main.rs / src/cli/ — Add --mcp flag detection, route to MCP server mode
• Cargo.toml — Add agent-desktop-mcp dependency (non-platform-gated, available on all platforms)
• No changes to src/dispatch/ or command files — MCP tools call the same execute() functions

Testing

Unit tests (mcp):

• Tool definition schema validation — every tool's JSON Schema is valid
• Tool invocation round-trip — call tool, verify response matches CLI output
• Initialize handler — correct capabilities, platform detection, permission status

Integration tests:

• Full MCP protocol compliance — initialize, tools/list, tool invocation, error responses
• Claude Desktop end-to-end: launch app → snapshot → click button → verify action
• Cursor end-to-end: same workflow
• Session isolation: RefMap is session-scoped, not shared across sessions
• Protocol edge cases: malformed requests, unknown tools, invalid parameters

Cross-platform:

• MCP server works identically on macOS, Windows, and Linux
• Same tool invocations produce same JSON structure on all platforms

Framework host acceptance tests (one per row in the Framework Integration table):

• Claude Desktop: launch Calculator → snapshot → click buttons → verify result string via desktop_get
• Cursor: open a code file → snapshot editor → desktop_text_insert_at_caret a function → verify file content
• VS Code Copilot: same as Cursor on the VS Code host
• Gemini CLI: text-only interaction — list open windows, focus one, dismiss a notification
• Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 (Streamable HTTP): HTTP-based MCP client runs the same Calculator demo against http://127.0.0.1:<port>/mcp
• Zed: editor-focused scenario (open file → select range → replace)
• Continue.dev: Claude Opus 4.7 with our server runs a 3-step canvas test in TextEdit

Capability negotiation tests (P4-O9):

• Host that negotiates only observation cannot invoke desktop_click — MCP error with clear -32601 Method not found within capability set message
• Host that negotiates interactive but not destructive cannot invoke desktop_close_app
• initialize response's supported_tools list shrinks correctly when AX permission is denied (only desktop_permissions, desktop_version, desktop_status remain)

Event streaming tests (P4-O7):

• desktop_watch_element subscription receives notifications/message events for a programmatic value change within 500 ms of the change on all three platforms
• Two concurrent watches on different refs get their events routed to the correct subscription ID

MCP Config Examples

Provide ready-to-use config snippets for:

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-desktop": {
      "command": "agent-desktop",
      "args": ["--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-desktop": {
      "command": "agent-desktop",
      "args": ["--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Skill Update

Skill maintenance rules:

• Create skills/agent-desktop-mcp/SKILL.md:
  • MCP tool surface documentation (all tools, parameters, annotations)
  • Transport configuration (stdio setup, optional SSE)
  • Session management (RefMap scoping, initialize flow)
  • Tool-to-CLI mapping reference
  • MCP-specific error handling
• Update core SKILL.md:
  • Add MCP mode section
  • Add MCP skill to skill graph table
• Update workflows.md:
  • Add MCP workflow patterns (tool invocation from Claude Desktop, Cursor)
  • Add session lifecycle patterns

README Update

• Add "MCP Server" section:
  • How to start: agent-desktop --mcp
  • What it does: wraps all CLI commands as MCP tools
  • Session behavior: RefMap scoped per session
• Add Claude Desktop configuration snippet
• Add Cursor configuration snippet
• Document --mcp flag in CLI reference
• Add note: every MCP tool maps 1:1 to a CLI command

---

Phase 5 — Production Readiness

Status: Planned

Phase 5 transforms agent-desktop from functional to enterprise-grade. Persistent daemon process, in-memory session multiplexing for concurrent agents, the safety trio required for enterprise and regulated deployments (dry-run + confirm + audit log), an OCR/vision fallback for custom-rendered UIs where the accessibility tree is empty, OpenTelemetry-compatible trace export on top of the current JSONL reliability trace, and first-class distribution via native package managers.

Objectives

ID	Objective	Metric
P5-O1	Persistent daemon	Warm snapshot completes in <50ms (vs 200ms+ cold start)
P5-O2	Daemon session multiplexing	Two agents hold independent in-memory RefMaps without interference; CLI --session remains the on-disk latest-snapshot namespace for non-daemon use
P5-O3	Enterprise quality gates	All gates in quality gates table pass
P5-O4	Package manager distribution	Available via brew (macOS), winget/scoop (Windows), snap/apt (Linux) with Sigstore attestation verification on install
P5-O5	Safety trio: --dry-run / --confirm / append-only audit log	Every destructive command supports --dry-run (resolves ref, computes the action, emits the would-be JSON response, does not execute), --confirm (stderr prompt with configurable timeout), and ~/.agent-desktop/audit.jsonl append-only log with trace_id, actor, tool, args, decision (allowed / dry-run / denied / confirmed), exit code, timestamp. Covers EU AI Act Article 14 and OWASP Agentic Top-10 (2026) requirements
P5-O6	Policy allowlist / denylist	~/.agent-desktop/policy.yaml defines per-tool rules — e.g. "never call desktop_close_app for com.apple.finder", "require confirm for any action on bundle ID com.apple.mail". Loaded at daemon start, reload-on-SIGHUP. Policy decisions land in the audit log
P5-O7	OCR / vision fallback (find --visual)	When the AX tree is empty or the target isn't exposed (Canvas apps, Flutter-desktop, games, remote desktop, Figma plugins), find --visual "label" falls back to a per-window screenshot + OCR to locate text. macOS: Vision framework VNRecognizeTextRequest. Windows: Windows.Media.Ocr.OcrEngine. Linux: Tesseract via tesseract crate. Returns a synthetic ref that routes to coordinate events; clearly marked source: "visual" in output to signal reduced reliability
P5-O8	OpenTelemetry trace export	Current --trace <path> writes redacted JSONL reliability diagnostics. Phase 5 adds trace IDs, span structure, agent-desktop trace view <uuid>, and OTLP/HAR export without changing the existing stdout JSON contract
P5-O9	Screencast / screenshot-per-action receipt	--record-trace <path.mp4> on long-running MCP sessions or CLI batches. Uses Phase 2 P2-O13 modern screenshot APIs at 2 Hz by default. Parity with Playwright 1.59 page.screencast. Mutually exclusive with --dry-run (nothing to record)
P5-O10	Sigstore attestation verification at install time	brew install formula and winget manifest run cosign verify-blob / gh attestation verify against the downloaded tarball before installing. Prevents supply-chain tampering. apt/snap use distro-native signatures; the formula publishes both Sigstore bundle and the checksum

Daemon Architecture

The daemon is a long-running process that maintains state between CLI/MCP invocations, dramatically reducing startup latency.

Auto-start:

• CLI detects if daemon is running by checking for socket file (~/.agent-desktop/daemon.sock on Unix, named pipe on Windows)
• If not running, spawns daemon as background process
• Daemon listens on the socket for incoming commands

Auto-stop:

• Daemon exits after configurable idle timeout (default 5 minutes)
• No active sessions = idle timer starts
• Any new connection resets the idle timer

Session multiplexing:

• The current CLI --session <id> persists snapshots on disk and scopes only the latest-snapshot pointer.
• The daemon upgrades that model to warm, in-memory per-session RefMaps while preserving explicit snapshot IDs as deterministic handles.
• Sessions are isolated: agent A's latest pointer never collides with agent B's latest pointer.
• Session destroyed on disconnect or explicit session kill.

Health check:

• agent-desktop status returns: daemon PID, uptime, active session count, platform, permission status

New Commands

Command	Description
session list	List active daemon sessions with IDs, creation time, last activity
session kill <id>	Terminate a specific daemon session, release its RefMap
trace view <uuid>	Pretty-print a session trace from ~/.agent-desktop/traces/{uuid}.jsonl
trace export <uuid> [--otlp | --har]	Export a session trace as OpenTelemetry OTLP JSON or HAR for post-mortem inspection
audit tail [--follow]	Tail ~/.agent-desktop/audit.jsonl, optionally streaming new entries
audit verify <path>	Verify the append-only integrity of an audit log (hash-chain check)
policy check <command> <args…>	Evaluate the policy file against a would-be command without executing
find --visual "<label>"	OCR-based visual fallback when the AX tree has no match for label (P5-O7)
Every command gains --dry-run	Resolve ref, compute action, emit the would-be response, do not execute (P5-O5)
Every destructive command gains --confirm [--confirm-timeout <ms>]	Prompt on stderr before executing; defaults off for CLI, on for MCP destructive capability
Every command gains --trace-id <uuid>	Correlate the existing --trace JSONL events and future daemon/MCP spans; auto-generated when not provided (P5-O8)
Every command gains --record-trace <path.mp4>	Screencast while the command runs (P5-O9)

CLI-to-Daemon Migration

When daemon is running:

1. CLI command parses arguments as usual
2. Instead of directly calling the adapter, CLI connects to daemon socket
3. Sends serialized command to daemon
4. Daemon executes command in the caller's session context
5. Returns JSON response to CLI
6. CLI prints response to stdout

When daemon is not running, CLI falls back to direct execution (same as Phases 1-4). Daemon is purely an optimization, never a requirement.

Safety Trio: --dry-run / --confirm / Audit Log (P5-O5)

Every destructive operation — close-app, dismiss-all-notifications, set-value (writes), clear, drag, deliver-files, notification-action, batch containing any of the above — supports three layered safety primitives that compose:

1. --dry-run resolves refs, validates all inputs, evaluates the policy, computes the would-be data / error fields, and emits the normal JSON envelope with dry_run: true added. No adapter call happens. The ref stays valid for a subsequent non-dry-run invocation within the same snapshot.
2. --confirm prints a structured prompt to stderr:

   agent-desktop: destructive action requires confirmation
     command: close-app
     target:  Finder (bundle com.apple.finder)
     trace:   9f3c2a…
   Proceed? [y/N] (30s timeout)
   

   Defaults: CLI = off (opt-in), MCP destructive capability = on (opt-out via skipConfirm: true at init).
3. Append-only audit log at ~/.agent-desktop/audit.jsonl:

   {"ts":"2026-05-…","trace_id":"9f3c…","actor":"cli|mcp:claude-desktop","tool":"close-app","args":{"app":"Finder"},"policy_decision":"allowed","user_decision":"confirmed","exit":0,"prev_hash":"sha256:…","entry_hash":"sha256:…"}
   

   Hash-chained (Merkle-style) so agent-desktop audit verify detects tampering. File mode 0o600, directory 0o700. Rotated at 100 MB via audit.jsonl.{N}.gz.

Maps to real regulatory anchors: EU AI Act Article 14 (human oversight + traceability), OWASP Agentic Top-10 2026 AA-02 (human-in-the-loop) / AA-06 (audit trail). Shipping without the trio closes off enterprise adoption; shipping with it opens it.

Policy Engine (P5-O6)

~/.agent-desktop/policy.yaml, loaded at daemon start, reloaded on SIGHUP:

version: 1
rules:
  - match: { tool: close-app, bundle: com.apple.finder }
    decision: deny
    reason: "Finder is a system app — refusing."
  - match: { tool: set-value, bundle: com.apple.mail }
    decision: require-confirm
  - match: { trace_mcp_host: claude-desktop }
    decision: allow
  - default: allow

Matchers: tool (glob), bundle (exact or glob), pid, trace_mcp_host (cli / mcp:<name>), ref_role, ref_name (regex). Decisions: allow / deny / require-confirm / dry-run-only. Every evaluation writes to the audit log with the matched rule ID for post-mortem.

OCR / Vision Fallback (P5-O7)

find --visual "<label>" closes the gap on apps that don't expose an accessibility tree (Figma plugins, Unity/Unreal games, Flutter-desktop apps, remote desktop clients, Canvas-based whiteboarding).

1. Capture the focused window via P2-O13 modern screenshot API.
2. Run OCR (platform-native, no extra runtime dep on macOS/Windows):
     macOS:  Vision.VNRecognizeTextRequest
     Windows: Windows.Media.Ocr.OcrEngine
     Linux:  Tesseract via the `tesseract` crate (libtesseract bundled)
3. Fuzzy-match the label against recognized text spans (Levenshtein ≤ 2).
4. Pick the highest-confidence hit; return a synthetic ref (`@v1`, `@v2`)
   that routes any subsequent action through coordinate-based input.
5. Tag the ref `source: "visual"` and downgrade confidence in the
   response so the agent knows it's acting on OCR not AX.

STALE_REF semantics stay the same — a visual ref invalidates on the next snapshot. Visual refs never cache in the refmap persisted to disk.

Trace Export + OpenTelemetry (P5-O8)

Today, callers opt into a redacted reliability trace with --trace <path> and may add --trace-strict to fail on setup or pre-action trace write errors. Phase 5 layers trace IDs and span/export tooling on top of that existing JSONL event stream:

{"ts":"…","trace_id":"9f3c…","span_id":"…","parent_span_id":"…","name":"cli.snapshot","kind":"internal","attributes":{"app":"Finder","skeleton":true,"ref_count":14,"duration_ms":87}}
{"ts":"…","trace_id":"9f3c…","span_id":"…","parent_span_id":"<snapshot span>","name":"adapter.macos.get_tree","duration_ms":72,"attributes":{"surface":"window"}}

Phase 5 spans are OpenTelemetry-compliant so agent-desktop trace export <uuid> --otlp emits a valid OTLP JSON payload ingestable by Grafana Tempo / Jaeger / Honeycomb / Datadog. --har exports a HAR-like envelope for quick manual inspection. Screencasts from --record-trace attach as trace links.

Enterprise Quality Gates

Gate	Requirement
Security	No arbitrary code execution. No privilege escalation. All actions allowlisted via Action enum. Daemon socket scoped to user. Policy engine denies by default when the policy file is syntactically invalid.
Safety	Every destructive command supports --dry-run; every MCP destructive tool requires the destructive capability + audit log; the audit log is hash-chained and tamper-detectable; policy engine evaluated on every invocation.
Performance	Cold start <200ms. Warm snapshot <50ms via daemon. Tree traversal timeout 5s default, configurable. watch --event latency <500ms (push, not poll) per P2-O11.
Reliability	Zero panics in non-test code. Graceful daemon recovery on crash. Stale socket cleanup on startup. FFI panic boundary in release-ffi profile (already shipping).
Observability	Current commands can opt into redacted JSONL via --trace. Phase 5 adds daemon metrics, trace IDs, and OpenTelemetry OTLP export via trace export --otlp.
Compatibility	Tested against target app matrix: Finder, TextEdit, Xcode, VS Code, Chrome, Slack (macOS); Explorer, Notepad, Settings, VS Code, Edge (Windows); Nautilus, Terminal, Firefox, VS Code (Linux).
Distribution	Single binary per platform. No runtime dependencies for the CLI. FFI cdylib tarballs signed via Sigstore (already shipping as of Phase 1.5). Formula / manifest verify Sigstore attestation before installing (P5-O10).
Documentation	README, CLI reference, MCP reference, per-platform setup guides, troubleshooting, audit-log format reference, policy-file reference, OpenTelemetry trace schema.
FFI stability	Header drift check green on every PR. ABI version exported via ad_abi_version(). Pre-1.0: minor version bump for any public struct field add; major version bump for any removed or changed signature.

Performance Optimizations

Optimization	Platform	Details
CacheRequest batching	Windows	Batch UIA attribute fetches via CacheRequest — reduces COM round-trips
Async tree walking	Linux	Parallel D-Bus calls for tree traversal — concurrent child fetching
Cached subtrees	All (daemon)	Reuse unchanged subtrees between snapshots in same session — skip re-traversal of stable UI regions
Warm adapter	All (daemon)	Adapter stays initialized between commands — skip COM init (Win), D-Bus connect (Linux), AX bootstrap (macOS)
Progressive skeleton drill	All	Skeleton overview + targeted drill-down reduces token consumption 78-96% for dense apps — fewer tokens per snapshot means more budget for actions

Package Manager Distribution

Platform	Package Manager	Format	Install Command	Signing
macOS	Homebrew	Formula in <owner>/homebrew-tap	brew install <owner>/tap/agent-desktop	Sigstore cosign verify-blob against release tarball
Windows	winget	Manifest in microsoft/winget-pkgs	winget install agent-desktop	Sigstore attestation check via gh attestation verify
Windows	scoop	Manifest in scoop-extras bucket	scoop install agent-desktop	Sigstore attestation check
Linux	snap	Snap package on snapcraft.io	snap install agent-desktop	Snap-native signature (snapd-signed)
Linux	apt	.deb in custom PPA (ppa:<owner>/agent-desktop)	apt install agent-desktop	Debian-native Release.gpg signature
All	cargo install	crates.io (the CLI binary crate, not the workspace)	cargo install agent-desktop	Sigstore provenance on the crates.io release

Each package manager distribution includes:

• Prebuilt binary for the target platform (matches .github/workflows/release.yml matrix output)
• Matching FFI cdylib tarball for consumers who want both the CLI and the library (Phase 1.5 artifacts)
• SHA256 checksum verification (unchanged from Phase 1)
• Sigstore build-provenance verification at install time (P5-O10) — formulas / manifests run gh attestation verify / cosign verify-blob before extracting
• Automatic PATH setup
• First-run Accessibility permission walkthrough (macOS) / UIA check (Windows) / AT-SPI bus check (Linux)
• Uninstall support

Testing

Daemon tests:

• Daemon starts on first CLI command when not running
• Daemon stops after idle timeout with no active sessions
• Multiple concurrent sessions have isolated RefMaps
• Session list returns correct session metadata
• Session kill terminates session and releases resources
• Stale socket cleaned up on daemon restart
• Daemon crash recovery — CLI falls back to direct execution
• Warm snapshot performance: <50ms after initial cold start

Quality gate tests:

• Security: verify Action enum is exhaustive, no shell injection vectors
• Performance: benchmark cold start (<200ms) and warm snapshot (<50ms)
• Reliability: stress test with concurrent sessions, verify zero panics
• Compatibility: snapshot + click workflow on each app in target matrix

Package tests:

• brew formula installs and runs on macOS; brew reinstall --debug agent-desktop shows Sigstore verification log
• winget/scoop manifest installs and runs on Windows; manifest's InstallerSuccessExitCodes includes 0; Sigstore check in install script
• snap package installs and runs on Ubuntu; --talk-name=org.a11y.Bus permission requested
• apt .deb installs and runs on Ubuntu via PPA; debsign signature verified
• cargo install agent-desktop succeeds from crates.io with provenance attestation
• All packages produce correct version output including the ABI version
• All packages handle permissions correctly on their platform

Safety trio tests (P5-O5, P5-O6):

• close-app Finder --dry-run emits {"data": {"would_close": "com.apple.finder"}, "dry_run": true} and does not actually close
• close-app Finder --confirm --confirm-timeout 2000 times out with ErrorCode::Timeout + audit entry user_decision: timeout
• Policy deny rule against close-app on com.apple.finder returns PermDenied with the matched rule ID; audit entry policy_decision: deny
• audit verify on a hand-edited audit.jsonl reports the exact tampered line
• audit verify on a legitimate append-only log passes cleanly
• Concurrent audit writes serialize correctly under flock-protected append

OCR fallback tests (P5-O7):

• find --visual "Sign in" on a Figma-plugin-style Canvas app returns a @v1 synthetic ref; subsequent click @v1 invokes coordinate-based input at the OCR hit center
• find --visual on an app with an accessibility tree falls back only when the AX search returns zero hits (does not shadow AX)
• OCR confidence threshold: below 0.6, return ElementNotFound rather than a low-confidence synthetic ref
• Visual refs never persist to disk refmap
• On Linux without Tesseract installed, find --visual returns PlatformNotSupported with the install command

Trace export tests (P5-O8):

• Commands run with --trace <path> write at least one redacted JSONL reliability event
• trace export <uuid> --otlp produces a valid OpenTelemetry JSON payload that passes otel-cli validate
• A multi-command batch under a single --trace-id produces a single-rooted span tree (batch command is the parent)
• MCP sessions propagate the trace_id from the host's initialize params if provided; otherwise generate

Install-time Sigstore tests (P5-O10):

• Homebrew formula install step fails fast if the downloaded tarball's attestation fails verification
• Winget manifest includes a pre-install script that runs gh attestation verify
• Tampered tarball (bit-flip) reliably fails verification

Skill Update

Skill maintenance rules:

• Update commands-system.md:
  • Add session list command documentation
  • Add session kill <id> command documentation
  • Update status command to document daemon-specific fields (PID, uptime, sessions)
• Update workflows.md:
  • Add daemon lifecycle patterns (auto-start, idle timeout, health checks)
  • Add concurrent agent patterns (session isolation, multi-agent coordination)
  • Add performance optimization patterns (warm snapshot, cached subtrees)
• Update platform skills:
  • Document enterprise quality gates in each platform skill
  • Add daemon-specific troubleshooting (stale socket, port conflicts)

README Update

• Add "Daemon Mode" section:
  • How it works: auto-start, auto-stop, session isolation
  • Configuration: idle timeout, socket location
  • Health check: agent-desktop status
• Add package manager installation methods:
  • brew install agent-desktop (macOS)
  • winget install agent-desktop (Windows)
  • snap install agent-desktop (Linux)
• Add "Performance" section:
  • Cold start vs warm snapshot benchmarks
  • Daemon mode benefits
• Update installation section with all distribution channels (npm, brew, winget, scoop, snap, apt, source)
• Final polish:
  • Complete CLI reference for all commands including session list and session kill
  • Comprehensive troubleshooting guide covering all platforms
  • Per-platform setup guides linked from main README

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Cross-Phase Requirements

README Update Schedule

The README is updated at the end of each phase to reflect the current state:

Phase	README Changes
Phase 1	Initial README: npm + source installation, core workflow, all 54 commands, JSON output, ref system, error codes, platform support table (macOS only)
Phase 1.5	Add "Language bindings (FFI)" section: platform→artifact table, 5-line Python dlopen snippet, shasum -a 256 -c checksums.txt + gh attestation verify verification, link to skills/agent-desktop-ffi/
Phase 2	Add Windows: .exe installation, Windows permissions, update platform table, Windows build instructions
Phase 3	Add Linux: binary installation, AT-SPI2 setup, update platform table, Linux build instructions, minimum OS versions
Phase 4	Add MCP Server: --mcp usage, Claude Desktop config, Cursor config, tool-to-CLI mapping
Phase 5	Add daemon mode, package managers (brew/winget/snap), performance benchmarks, final troubleshooting guide

Skill Maintenance Rules

Skill maintenance rules:

1. Every new command must be added to the appropriate commands-*.md file
2. Every new platform gets its own skill directory under skills/agent-desktop-{platform}/
3. Every new mode (MCP, daemon) gets its own skill file
4. Breaking changes to JSON output or CLI flags must update all affected skill files
5. Skill files are reviewed as part of the PR checklist for any command-surface change

Command Surface DRYness (enforced across all phases)

See Command Surface Architecture for the full layering. Summary of the invariant enforced on every PR:

• A new command creates exactly one file under crates/core/src/commands/.
• CLI and batch must share the typed Commands enum, CommandPolicy, and dispatch() path.
• Any future registry/codegen must be deterministic build.rs filesystem enumeration, not inventory or linkme.
• Per-platform work is limited to the PlatformAdapter trait implementations in crates/{macos,windows,linux}/ — never per-transport, never per-command.
• PRs that add a command to a single transport without updating the shared registry fail review. If a task in this document sounds like it requires per-transport duplication, it's a wording bug — the actual implementation follows the registry pattern.

CI Matrix Evolution

Phase	CI Runners
Phase 1	macos-latest (tests + CLI build) + ubuntu-latest (fmt job)
Phase 1.5	Same as Phase 1 on PRs; release workflow fans out to macos-latest × 2 darwin arches + ubuntu-22.04 + ubuntu-22.04-arm + windows-latest for the FFI matrix
Phase 2	macOS + Windows (CLI tests on Windows)
Phase 3	macOS + Windows + Ubuntu
Phase 4	macOS + Windows + Ubuntu (+ MCP protocol tests)
Phase 5	macOS + Windows + Ubuntu (+ daemon tests, package build verification)

All runners enforce: cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings, cargo test --workspace, cargo tree -p agent-desktop-core contains zero platform crate names, binary size <15MB.

Dependency Introduction Schedule

Dependency	Introduced In	Purpose
clap 4.x, serde 1.x, thiserror 2.x, tracing 0.1+, base64 0.22+	Phase 1	Core: CLI, JSON, errors, logging, encoding
tracing-subscriber 0.3, rustc-hash 2.1	Phase 1	Log formatter + fast hashing
accessibility-sys 0.1+, core-foundation 0.10+, core-graphics 0.24+	Phase 1	macOS AX API FFI
cbindgen maintainer tool, libc 0.2+	Phase 1.5	explicit C header regeneration + macOS pthread_main_np for FFI main-thread guard
uiautomation 0.24+	Phase 2	Windows UIA wrapper
windows 0.62.2	Phase 2	Win32 / WinRT bindings (pinned to match windows-capture 1.5 pin)
windows-capture 1.5.4	Phase 2	Modern Windows.Graphics.Capture screenshot
objc2 0.6	Phase 2	macOS safe Objective-C bridging (scoped to system/screenshot.rs + system/permissions.rs; CI grep guard)
screencapturekit 1.5 (crates.io)	Phase 2	ScreenCaptureKit wrapper — published canonical crate, not git fork
atspi 0.28+ + zbus 5.x	Phase 3	Linux AT-SPI2 client via D-Bus
tokio 1.x	Phase 3	Async runtime (required by atspi/zbus)
rmcp 0.15.0+	Phase 4	Official MCP Rust SDK
schemars 1.2	Phase 4	JSON Schema generation for MCP tool parameters (deferred from Phase 2 per plan §KD15 — no Phase 2 consumer)

Explicitly NOT Added (research-rejected)

Crate	Rejected at	Reason
inventory 0.3	Phase 2 plan review	Link-GC unreliable across ld64, ld-prime, GNU ld, lld, MSVC for cdylib consumers. Research Topic B: inventory::submit! ctor sites are stripped when an rlib is linked into a binary that never references a symbol from that rlib. Replaced with build.rs filesystem enumeration.
linkme	Phase 2 plan review	Named linker sections have active Windows/lld-link edge cases (issues #70, #85, #114). Same reason as inventory rejection.
xtask workspace crate	Phase 2 plan review	Not needed once codegen is pure build.rs. Replaced with a tiny build-helpers/ workspace crate holding the shared filesystem-enumeration function.

Platform API Quick Reference

Capability	macOS	Windows	Linux
Tree root	AXUIElementCreateApp(pid)	IUIAutomation.ElementFromHandle()	atspi Accessible on bus
Children	kAXChildrenAttribute	TreeWalker.GetFirstChild	GetChildren D-Bus
Click	AXPress	InvokePattern.Invoke()	Action.DoAction(0)
Set text	AXValue = val	ValuePattern.SetValue()	Text.InsertText
Keyboard	CGEventCreateKeyboard	SendInput	xdotool / ydotool
Clipboard	NSPasteboard	Win32 Clipboard API	wl-clipboard / xclip
Screenshot	ScreenshotBackend over secure screencapture path today; ScreenCaptureKit planned	BitBlt / PrintWindow legacy, Windows.Graphics.Capture planned	PipeWire / XGetImage
Permissions	AXIsProcessTrusted()	COM security / UAC	Bus availability
Notifications	Notification Center AX tree (com.apple.notificationcenterui)	UIA tree of Action Center / Toast Manager	D-Bus org.freedesktop.Notifications + daemon-specific history
System tray	SystemUIServer AX tree + ControlCenter AX tree	UIA tree of Shell_TrayWnd + overflow window	D-Bus StatusNotifierWatcher + XEmbed fallback

---

Risk Register

ID	Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Mitigation
R1	macOS TCC friction deters adoption	High	High	Clear first-run guidance. Detect before any op. One-command setup: permissions --request.
R2	Electron/Chrome no a11y tree by default	High	Medium	Detect Chromium windows. Print --force-renderer-accessibility guidance in error response.
R3	Custom-rendered UIs invisible to a11y	Medium	High	Phase 5 stretch: vision fallback. Short-term: document limitation in README and skills.
R4	Wayland a11y gaps	Medium	Medium	Focus on GNOME (best AT-SPI2 support). Prefer AT-SPI actions over coordinate input. Document gaps.
R5	Rust a11y crate maintenance stalls	Low	High	Pin versions, maintain patches. atspi backed by Odilia project. Fork-ready.
R6	MCP spec changes break compat	Low	Medium	Pin rmcp version. Monitor spec under Linux Foundation governance.
R7	Tree traversal too slow (>5s)	Medium	Medium	Depth limiting via --max-depth. Focused-window-only. Cached subtrees in Phase 5 daemon. Progressive skeleton traversal (--skeleton + --root) reduces token consumption 78-96% for dense apps.
R8	Ref instability confuses agents	Medium	High	Clear docs: refs are snapshot-scoped. STALE_REF error with recovery hint. Stable hashing in Phase 5. Progressive skeleton traversal with scoped invalidation provides a stable drill-down workflow for navigating complex UIs. Phase 2: stable-selector fields (identifier, subrole, role_description, placeholder, dom_id, dom_classes via StableSelectors flatten) + identifier-preferred resolver drop STALE_REF rate on Electron / localized apps.
R9	Headless operation requirement	High	Critical	Phase 1 introduced ActionRequest/InteractionPolicy, default no focus steal/cursor movement, and explicit physical/headed policy paths. Phase 2 must preserve the same contract for Windows/Linux.
R10	Command registry link-GC	Medium	High	Research Topic B confirmed inventory/linkme are unreliable across linkers for cdylib consumers. Resolved by pure build.rs filesystem enumeration — zero linker magic.
R11	Skeleton traversal cross-platform	Low	High	Core is already platform-agnostic (crates/core/src/snapshot_ref.rs); Windows needs ~50 LOC glue (ControlViewWalker + FindAll(TreeScope_Children, TrueCondition) + fresh UICacheRequest per drill-down). Research Topic 4 confirmed ElementFromHandle(hwnd) is headless-safe.