# Understudy

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Understudy and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Teaches a desktop agent a task from one demonstration, and falls back to AppleScript when GUI control fails. Caveat: macOS only.

## What people warn about

- macOS only (2 comments): "disappointed that it's macOS only" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47359478)) "One more tool targeting OSX only." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47355105))
- Weaker on third-party apps (1 comments): "it works much better on native macOS surfaces than on arbitrary third-party apps" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47355122))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Claude Cowork](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-cowork.md): 163 recommend
- [Codex Computer Use](https://hackerapproved.com/p/codex-computer-use.md): 8 recommend
- [Coasty](https://hackerapproved.com/p/coasty.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Understudy", https://hackerapproved.com/p/understudy/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).