block
Computer Controller not running shell commands/scripts
Describe the bug computercontroller extension unable to run shell commands or scripts
To Reproduce
From Goose:
( O)> run pwd using computercontroller and show output
─── computer_control | computercontroller ────────────────────────── script: pwd
The computercontroller ran the pwd command, but there was no output returned. This is unexpected—pwd should display the current directory.
I tried a lot of variations and even asked Goose to help troubleshoot (attached file). The developer extension is able to run shell commands and create files, etc.
Expected behavior Magic computer controller stuff. ;-)
Please provide following information:
- OS & Arch: PopOS 22.04 LTS x86
- Interface: CLI
- Version: 1.0.24
- Extensions enabled: computercontroller, developer, tutorial, memory, Context7
- Provider & Model: GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1.mini, o4-mini
Can confirm I've been having this issue with 1.0.24, reverting to 1.0.21 fixed the issue.
Generally i use the developer extension for command line stuff, not computer controller which is to manipulate browser and windows etc
I still do not understand why you want support for shell commands in computer controller and not use the developer mcp. Given that the shell environments are different for the different OS used and supported by Goose, allowing duplicate functionality in computer controller that is covered by the developer tool , it only makes the system prompt much longer and more confusing for the llms. I actually am voting against this bug report. I understand it is different from earlier versions, but i do not think this would make the system better or more reliable. Please convince me otherwise if I am missing a use case here.
Totally get your point of view, and for my personal use case it actually does make more sense to just use the Developer MCP. Maybe my use of pwd was not a good example, I was just using it for an easily reproducible test. But for the Computer Controller MCP to do something like change the volume on a Linux system, that is a shell command.
If the function is to execute arbitrary commands, yes it is duplicate. But my point in submitting the bug was that the Computer Controller MCP is fundamentally broken on Linux without shell commands. I also think it's interesting that one built-in MCP can run commands and another can't, and it varies by Goose version, which could point to some underlying design issues.
I'm going to go here with @cbruyndoncx - computercontroller is meant to directly control applications and as such is a very blunt weapon. you are right that on linux the shell is the way to do these sort of things and so you I think letting goose use the shell is the way out. the computer controller could do something like open a web browser with news.bbc.co.uk on it or some such. tbh even that you might be better off doing with the developer tools. let me know if you want to get further into this or have a more concrete example of the computer controller being broken
