Atlas Control (macOS)

Automate tab management, bookmark queries, and history search for the ChatGPT Atlas desktop app using a bundled Python CLI that drives AppleScript on macOS.

Overview

This skill wraps the ChatGPT Atlas desktop application with a Python CLI (atlas_cli.py) that communicates via osascript (AppleScript) for window/tab control and reads Chromium-style local storage for bookmarks and history.

What it automates:

• Tab listing, opening, closing, focusing, and reloading across Atlas windows
• Bookmark retrieval with folder hierarchy and text search
• Browsing history queries with date filtering and keyword search
• Atlas app detection and AppleScript capability probing

Prerequisites:

• macOS with osascript on PATH
• ChatGPT Atlas installed in /Applications or ~/Applications
• Automation permission granted in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation
• Python 3.12+ (invoked via uv run --python 3.12)

Triggers

When to Use

Invoke this skill when:

• The user asks to list, open, close, focus, or reload Atlas tabs
• The user wants to search or list Atlas bookmarks
• The user wants to query Atlas browsing history
• The user asks about Atlas app status or installed version

When Not to Use

Do not invoke when:

• The user refers to a standard web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox)
• The environment is not macOS (AppleScript is unavailable)
• The user asks about ChatGPT the web app (not the Atlas desktop client)

Process

Step 1: Set Up the CLI Path

Resolve the path to atlas_cli.py relative to the skill installation directory:

SKILL_DIR="${SKILL_DIR:-$HOME/.claude/skills/atlas}"
ATLAS_CLI="$SKILL_DIR/scripts/atlas_cli.py"

All CLI commands use uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" as the invocation prefix.

Step 2: Verify Atlas Is Installed

uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" app-name

This prints ChatGPT Atlas if the app bundle exists in /Applications or ~/Applications. If it fails, the user must install Atlas first.

Step 3: Execute the Requested Operation

Tab operations:

# List all open tabs (table format)
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" tabs

# List tabs as JSON (for programmatic processing)
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" tabs --json

# Open a new tab
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" open-tab "https://chatgpt.com/"

# Focus a specific tab (window_id and tab_index from tabs output)
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" focus-tab <window_id> <tab_index>

# Close a tab
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" close-tab <window_id> <tab_index>

# Reload a tab
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" reload-tab <window_id> <tab_index>

Bookmark operations:

# List bookmarks (default limit: 200)
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" bookmarks --limit 100

# Search bookmarks by text
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" bookmarks --search "docs"

# Output as JSON
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" bookmarks --search "openai" --json

History operations:

# Search history by keywords
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" history --search "openai docs" --limit 50

# History for today only (local time)
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" history --today --limit 200 --json

# Full history dump
uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" history --limit 500

Verification

Success Indicators

• app-name returns ChatGPT Atlas without error
• tabs produces a table with columns: A, window_id, tab, title, url
• bookmarks returns rows with: folder, name, url, date_added
• history returns rows with: last_visited_at, title, url
• Tab manipulation commands (open-tab, focus-tab, close-tab, reload-tab) print a confirmation message

Failure Handling

Data Paths

Atlas stores Chromium-style profile data under:

~/Library/Application Support/com.openai.atlas/browser-data/host/

Key locations:

• Local State: browser-data/host/Local State (JSON, contains profile.last_used)
• History: browser-data/host/<profile>/History (SQLite, table urls)
• Bookmarks: browser-data/host/<profile>/Bookmarks (JSON, Chromium format)

The active profile is resolved from profile.last_used in Local State, falling back to Default.

If history appears stale, check the beta data root as well:

~/Library/Application Support/com.openai.atlas.beta/browser-data/host/

The CLI copies the SQLite History database to a temporary location before querying to avoid lock contention with the running Atlas process.

Examples

Example 1: List Open Tabs and Find Duplicates

User: List all my Atlas tabs and call out duplicates.
Assistant: Let me list the open Atlas tabs.

[Runs: uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" tabs --json]

You have 12 tabs across 2 windows:

Window 1 (id: 4201):
  1. ChatGPT — https://chatgpt.com/
  2. OpenAI Docs — https://platform.openai.com/docs
  3. ChatGPT — https://chatgpt.com/  [DUPLICATE of tab 1]

Window 2 (id: 4205):
  1. GitHub — https://github.com/
  ...

Found 1 duplicate: "ChatGPT" appears in window 4201 tabs 1 and 3.

Example 2: Search History for Recent Visits

User: What OpenAI pages did I visit today?
Assistant: Searching today's Atlas history for "openai"...

[Runs: uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" history --today --search "openai" --limit 50]

Today's OpenAI visits (3 results):
  2026-02-04 09:12  OpenAI Platform Docs    https://platform.openai.com/docs
  2026-02-04 10:45  API Reference           https://platform.openai.com/docs/api-reference
  2026-02-04 14:30  Pricing                 https://openai.com/pricing

Example 3: Close a Specific Tab

User: Close the pricing tab.
Assistant: I'll find and close that tab.

[Runs: uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" tabs --json]
Found "Pricing" at window_id=4205, tab_index=3.

[Runs: uv run --python 3.12 python "$ATLAS_CLI" close-tab 4205 3]
Closed window id 4205, tab 3.

Safety

Idempotency

Tab listing, bookmark queries, and history searches are read-only and fully idempotent. Tab manipulation operations (open, close, focus, reload) are not idempotent:

• close-tab on an already-closed tab raises an AppleScript error
• open-tab creates a new tab each time it runs

Reversibility

• Closed tabs cannot be reopened to the same position (use open-tab with the URL)
• Bookmark and history queries are read-only and leave no side effects
• Tab focus changes are immediately reversible by focusing a different tab

Prerequisites Checklist

• Running on macOS
• ChatGPT Atlas installed in /Applications or ~/Applications
• Terminal has Automation permission for Atlas in System Settings
• Python 3.12+ available via uv

CLI Reference

Notes

• The window_id and tab_index values come from the tabs command output. Always list tabs first before operating on specific ones.
• History timestamps use Chrome's epoch (microseconds since 1601-01-01). The CLI converts them to local time automatically.
• The --json flag on tabs, bookmarks, and history outputs machine-readable JSON arrays for programmatic processing.