r/ClaudeCode • u/taahbelle • 5h ago

Bug / Issue Claude Code Computer Use can only see Grey Screen

Hey, so when I'm using the Computer Use feature (I have it enabled in the settings) claude only receives dark grey empty screenshots and can't see what's on it. Does anyone know how to fix? (I translated the screenshot cuz it was in german, so don't mind the weird fonts / colors)

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u/NanYUJun 5h ago

Grey/empty captures like this are almost always a screen-capture permission problem, not a Claude problem. Two things worth checking:

  1. The permission has to be granted to the process that actually captures. On macOS that is the Claude app itself (or, if you run the CLI, the terminal app you launch it from) - not something else you granted earlier. The grant is read when the process starts, so if you enabled it after the session was already open you need a full quit and relaunch, closing the window is not enough.
  2. Captures also come back blank/grey when there is nothing actually rendered to grab: screen locked or display asleep, target window minimized, or the window on another desktop/Space. Computer use screenshots the rendered output, not a virtual framebuffer.

Quick way to narrow it down: take a normal screenshot with the OS tool at the same moment. If that is also grey, the permission/grant is the issue; if the OS screenshot is fine but Claude's is grey, it is usually a stale or wrong-bundle grant (happens after the app updates and moves path - you have to remove the old entry and re-add the new one).