[BUG] Computer-use tool gets stuck in unproductive click-retry loop when unrelated background apps repeatedly steal frontmost status, burning excessive tokens

[rainermonnetsapcom-eng]

Preflight Checklist

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

What's Wrong?

Summary

During a long computer-use session (macOS), the computer_batch / left_click
tools repeatedly failed with:
"Click at these coordinates would land on '', which is not in the
allowed applications."

The blocking app was NOT something I had opened — it was macOS's own
Mitteilungszentrale (Notification Center), and at other times unrelated
background apps (System Preferences, Music, a printer utility, a window-
snapping utility) that briefly became frontmost on their own, seemingly
unrelated to any action I took.

Impact

Each occurrence required: open_application to re-front the target app →
screenshot → retry click → often blocked again. This cycle repeated many
times over a single task, consuming a large number of tokens for zero
forward progress. There was no way to grant access to the interfering
process proactively (e.g. request_access for "Mitteilungszentrale" /
"NotificationCenter" returned "doesn't match any installed or running
application" / was denied), and no way to just "wait it out" reliably —
even after explicit wait actions the same block recurred.

What would help

1. A documented, reliable way to dismiss/ignore transient system UI
   (Notification Center banners, menu-bar dropdowns) without needing to
   add them to the allowlist by name.
2. Surfacing earlier/louder that keyboard input (Tab/Return/type) still
   routes to the focused app even when the click-gate blocks mouse clicks
   — I discovered this workaround myself partway through, but it wasn't
   documented as a fallback.
3. A cheaper failure mode: after N consecutive frontmost-gate blocks in a
   short window, the tool could suggest pausing/asking the user to check
   their system rather than silently allowing indefinite retries.

Environment

• macOS, Claude Code computer-use MCP tools (screenshot, left_click,
  open_application, request_access)
• Target app: a third-party macOS tax software with multiple background
  helper processes/editions running simultaneously

What Should Happen?

1. A documented, reliable way to dismiss/ignore transient system UI
   (Notification Center banners, menu-bar dropdowns) without needing to
   add them to the allowlist by name.
2. Surfacing earlier/louder that keyboard input (Tab/Return/type) still
   routes to the focused app even when the click-gate blocks mouse clicks
   — I discovered this workaround myself partway through, but it wasn't
   documented as a fallback.
3. A cheaper failure mode: after N consecutive frontmost-gate blocks in a
   short window, the tool could suggest pausing/asking the user to check
   their system rather than silently allowing indefinite retries.

token gutschrift für 2 Tage

Error Messages/Logs

?

Steps to Reproduce

Claude 1.24012.9 (03c61d) 2026-07-24T04:59:17.000Z

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

03c61d

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.24012.9 (03c61d) 2026-07-24T04:59:17.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

No response