[Cowork] Computer-use cannot discover Unity Editor — LSBackgroundOnly flag excludes it from app enumeration

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Summary

In Cowork mode, the computer-use request_access tool cannot discover Unity Editor. All name and bundle ID variations return "reason": "not_installed" despite the app being installed and actively running.

Root cause: Unity Editor's Info.plist sets LSBackgroundOnly to true. This macOS Launch Services flag tells the OS to treat it as a background-only app, which likely excludes it from whatever app enumeration the computer-use system uses to build its allowlist — even though Unity Editor clearly has a full GUI.

Plist location: /Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/<version>/Unity.app/Contents/Info.plist

<key>LSBackgroundOnly</key>
<true/>

What was tried (all failed)

1. request_access with names: "Unity", "Unity 6", "Unity Editor" — all not_installed
2. request_access with bundle ID: com.unity3d.UnityEditor5.x — not_installed
3. Launching via open Unity.app from CLI — no change
4. Launching the binary directly: Contents/MacOS/Unity -projectPath <path> — no change
5. Changing LSBackgroundOnly to false mid-session — still not discovered (app list appears cached at session start)
6. Re-registering with lsregister -f — no change mid-session
7. Creating a symlink at /Applications/Unity Editor.app — no change
8. Enabling macOS Screen Recording permissions for Node and Unity Hub — no change
9. Fresh Cowork session (without plist change) — no change

Contributing factors

• Nested install path: Unity Editor lives at /Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/<version>/Unity.app (4 levels deep) rather than directly in /Applications/. A shallow directory scan would miss it.
• Multiple versions: Unity Hub installs editor versions side by side, so multiple Unity.app bundles exist.
• The LSBackgroundOnly flag is set by Unity Technologies, likely for technical reasons related to how Unity Hub manages editor instances.

Environment

• macOS (Apple Silicon, Studio Display)
• Unity Editor 6000.3.7f1 (also 6000.3.0f1 and 2022.3.62f2 installed)
• Bundle ID: com.unity3d.UnityEditor5.x
• CFBundleName: Unity
• Cowork mode (Claude Desktop)

Impact

Unity is one of the most widely-used creative development tools in the world. This prevents Cowork's computer-use from assisting with game development, XR, and interactive media workflows — a high-value use case.

Suggested fix

The computer-use app discovery should handle apps that set LSBackgroundOnly=true but have visible windows. Options:

1. Fall back to checking running processes with visible windows
2. Deep-scan /Applications/ subdirectories beyond top-level
3. Explicitly add Unity Editor to a known-apps list given its popularity

What Should Happen?

The computer-use request_access tool should be able to discover and grant access to Unity Editor, allowing Cowork to take screenshots of and interact with the Unity Editor window — just like any other GUI application on the system.

Error Messages/Logs

request_access response for all attempted names/IDs:

{"granted":[],"denied":[{"bundleId":"Unity","reason":"not_installed"}],"screenshotFiltering":"native"}
{"granted":[],"denied":[{"bundleId":"Unity Editor","reason":"not_installed"}],"screenshotFiltering":"native"}
{"granted":[],"denied":[{"bundleId":"com.unity3d.UnityEditor5.x","reason":"not_installed"}],"screenshotFiltering":"native"}
{"granted":[],"denied":[{"bundleId":"Unity 6","reason":"not_installed"}],"screenshotFiltering":"native"}

Screenshots consistently reported: "Unity" was open and got hidden before this screenshot (not in the session allowlist).

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have Unity Editor installed via Unity Hub (installed at /Applications/Unity/Hub/Editor/<version>/Unity.app)
2. Open a Cowork session in Claude Desktop
3. Ask Claude to use computer-use to interact with Unity Editor
4. Claude calls request_access with "Unity", "Unity Editor", "Unity 6", or bundle ID com.unity3d.UnityEditor5.x
5. All variations return {"denied": [{"reason": "not_installed"}]}
6. Unity Editor windows are filtered out of all screenshots with the message: "Unity" was open and got hidden before this screenshot (not in the session allowlist)

Note: Unity Hub (com.unity3d.unityhub) IS discoverable and works fine. Only the Editor itself is affected.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Cowork mode (Claude Desktop) — March 2026

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_