--- license: apache-2.0 pretty_name: CherryTree computer-use environment from a one-line request (REA) tags: - computer-use - cua - gui-agent - rl-environment - agentenv - desktop - linux - rea - notes - hierarchical-notes - knowledge-base - from-request --- # CherryTree: a computer-use environment built from a one-line request ![An agent solving the task in CherryTree](media/hero.gif) **The real CherryTree 1.1 hierarchical note-taking app running on an Ubuntu 24.04 desktop, as an [agentenv](https://pypi.org/project/agentenv-framework/) computer environment. An agent completes the task only through screenshots, mouse and keyboard, and a verifier grades the saved files with no model.** Claude Code built this environment from a one-line request in about 27 minutes, with only REA's build skill and MCP tools; [How it was made](#how-it-was-made) has the request and the steps. CherryTree starts with no notebook open. Its notebook, `Documents/home-notebook.ctd`, holds three notes, Weekend chores, Groceries and Gift ideas, and Weekend chores lists four chores. The agent has to open the notebook, add a line saying Clean the gutters to Weekend chores, and save. It sees only the screen and acts only with the mouse and keyboard. ## Watch - Agent runs (Claude Code with Claude Sonnet 5.5): [run 1](media/solve-1.mp4), [run 2](media/solve-2.mp4), [run 3](media/solve-3.mp4) - Witness, which proves the task can be done through the computer: [witness.mp4](media/witness.mp4) Each video is the computer's own screen recording at 10 frames per second. ## The task > In CherryTree, add a line saying Clean the gutters to the Weekend chores note in my notebook Documents/home-notebook.ctd and save it. `bundle/artifacts/add-chore-line-check/verify.py` reads the app's files through the computer's `data/get` view and passes only if every check holds: | Check | Kind | File | | --- | --- | --- | | `new-line` | `text_contains` | `Documents/home-notebook.ctd` | | `kept-water` | `text_contains` | `Documents/home-notebook.ctd` | | `kept-sweep` | `text_contains` | `Documents/home-notebook.ctd` | | `kept-bulb` | `text_contains` | `Documents/home-notebook.ctd` | | `kept-library` | `text_contains` | `Documents/home-notebook.ctd` | | `three-notes` | `member_count` | `Documents/home-notebook.ctd` | A `.ctd` file is CherryTree's XML notebook, with one `node` element per note. The checks find the Weekend chores note by its `name` and read its whole text: it must contain "Clean the gutters" and still contain the four existing chores, and the notebook must still hold three notes (`member_count`). REA's draft suggested the new-line check and the four kept-chore guards, all kept exactly as written; Claude Code added the count. ## Results 3 of 3 runs passed, about $0.77 per run. | Run | Outcome | Turns | Cost | Video | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | passed | 14 | $0.84 | [video](media/solve-1.mp4) | | 2 | passed | 13 | $0.57 | [video](media/solve-2.mp4) | | 3 | passed | 15 | $0.90 | [video](media/solve-3.mp4) | ## Run it You need Docker. `agentenv-framework` builds the computer: Ubuntu 24.04 with the app installed from Ubuntu's archive (`cherrytree` 1.1.2, with `librsvg2-common`). ```bash pip install agentenv-framework==0.9.1431 hf download earakely-scale/CherryTreeFromRequestComputerEnv-REA --repo-type dataset --local-dir cherrytree-request agent-env run cherrytree-request/bundle --task add-chore-line --agent claude-code --model ``` The agent needs a model provider configured for agentenv. `--task smoke` only boots the computer, with no agent. `bundle/README.md` describes the bundle in detail. ## How it was made Claude Code built this environment from a one-line request, given only [REA](https://github.com/morluto/rea)'s build skill and REA's MCP tools: > Build me a CherryTree environment where the agent adds a line to a note in a small notebook and saves it. It asked only the skill's upfront questions, wrote no app-specific scripts, and finished in about 27 minutes. The steps were REA's usual ones: 1. **Capture.** REA launched CherryTree on a Linux desktop and recorded its package, windows and opened files while the edit was made. It also recorded the app's state folders before and after. 2. **Export.** REA turned the capture into an agentenv `computer_app`. It installs the app, seeds the starting files, starts the app, and waits for its main window. It also serves typed views of the app's files for verifiers. 3. **Task.** The task's checks were validated against the capture: they fail on the starting state and pass on the captured end state. 4. **Witness.** In a fresh computer, the line was added through computer actions alone, after opening the notebook, and the checks were read at four stages. They held on the first try: | Stage | Checks | | --- | --- | | `seed` | fail, as expected: Weekend chores has no gutters line; the kept checks pass | | `after_edit` | pass | | `near_miss` | fail, as expected: the line was changed to "Clean the guters" | | `after_reset` | fail, as expected: `data/reset` restored the seed | The agent runs came after the build: Claude Code with Claude Sonnet 5.5 (`--model anthropic/claude-sonnet-5-5 --no-emulate`, on an amd64 host) solved the task 3 times, each run recorded. ## What's inside ``` bundle/ the agentenv bundle: envs/ (app module, seed files), tasks/, artifacts/ (verifier), evals/ media/ witness and agent-run recordings (MP4) with short GIF previews results.json the runs above, with each check's result ``` ## Limits - CherryTree opens no notebook at launch. An REA bug gave the seed's `~/.cache/dconf/user` the document role, so the export saw two documents and opened neither. The agent has to open `Documents/home-notebook.ctd` itself; the solvers did it with Ctrl+O. - The checks look for the new text anywhere in the Weekend chores note, so it need not be a line of its own; the Groceries and Gift ideas notes' contents are not checked. - The seed also carries `Documents/.home-notebook.ctd~`, a backup CherryTree wrote of an earlier version of the notebook; the checks read only `home-notebook.ctd`. - This published copy leaves out one seed file, the 2-byte `~/.cache/dconf/user` (two zero bytes), because Hugging Face refuses files under a `.cache/` folder. `bundle/README.md` still counts it. `~/.cache/dconf` stays owned, so `data/reset` clears whatever the app writes there; nothing the task reads depends on it. - The bundle installs `librsvg2-common`, the SVG image loader CherryTree's icons need, beside the app as an extra package. - The computer installs whatever `cherrytree` Ubuntu 24.04's archive holds at build time (1.1.2 for these runs); it is not pinned. - Three runs is a small sample: the solve rate shows the task is solvable, not how hard it is. ## Licences The bundle code, the task and the synthetic seed files are Apache-2.0. CherryTree itself is not included: the computer installs it from Ubuntu's archive (`cherrytree` 1.1.2, with `librsvg2-common`) at build time, under its own licence (GPL-3.0-or-later).