Measuring what Windows apps expose to computer-use agents
Frequent-Ad-836 · reddit · 2026-08-31
The author shares insights on using the Windows Accessibility Tree to gauge agent automation support. Measurements using Cua showed varying element counts across apps (Internal: 55, Browser: 84, Editor: 76, RDP: 5, Messenger: 3).
Key findings:
- The tree carries window content, not just controls, potentially leaking document text.
- Self-rendering surfaces (e.g., certain editors) don't appear in the tree.
- Strategy shift: Query the tree first to decide between name-based addressing and coordinates, rather than failing after the attempt.
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