From 16d710a495faa81d26a866b14fec6ce456a63e44 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: gambit36 <35210554+gambit36@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2026 02:16:18 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] Fix app PID selection to avoid helper processes

---
 examples/print_app_tree.py    | 16 +++++-----
 mlx_use/controller/service.py | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 58 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

diff --git a/examples/print_app_tree.py b/examples/print_app_tree.py
index 1633ade..83ffe4e 100644
--- a/examples/print_app_tree.py
+++ b/examples/print_app_tree.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
 from mlx_use.mac.tree import MacUITreeBuilder
-from mlx_use.controller.service import Controller
+from mlx_use.controller.service import Controller, _find_best_running_app
 from mlx_use.controller.views import OpenAppAction
 from mlx_use.agent.views import ActionModel
 
@@ -38,13 +38,13 @@ async def print_app_tree(app_name: str):
 		
 		# Find the app's PID
 		app_pid = None
-		for app in workspace.runningApplications():
-			if app.bundleIdentifier() and bundle_id.lower() in app.bundleIdentifier().lower():
-				print(f'Found {formatted_app_name}!')
-				print(f'Bundle ID: {app.bundleIdentifier()}')
-				app_pid = app.processIdentifier()
-				print(f'PID: {app_pid}')
-				break
+		best_app = _find_best_running_app(workspace, formatted_app_name)
+		if best_app is not None:
+			print(f'Found {formatted_app_name}!')
+			print(f'Localized name: {best_app.localizedName()}')
+			print(f'Bundle ID: {best_app.bundleIdentifier()}')
+			app_pid = best_app.processIdentifier()
+			print(f'PID: {app_pid}')
 				
 		if not app_pid:
 			print(f'❌ Could not find {formatted_app_name} app')
diff --git a/mlx_use/controller/service.py b/mlx_use/controller/service.py
index 6c2f222..56c7329 100644
--- a/mlx_use/controller/service.py
+++ b/mlx_use/controller/service.py
@@ -7,6 +7,50 @@
 import Cocoa
 from playwright.async_api import Page
 
+
+def _score_running_app(app, app_name: str) -> int:
+	"""Prefer the real app process over helper/background processes."""
+	name = (str(app.localizedName() or '')).lower()
+	bundle_id = (str(app.bundleIdentifier() or '')).lower()
+	target = app_name.lower()
+	score = 0
+
+	if name == target:
+		score += 100
+	elif target in name:
+		score += 40
+
+	if bundle_id == f'com.apple.{target}':
+		score += 120
+	elif bundle_id.endswith(f'.{target}'):
+		score += 80
+	elif target in bundle_id:
+		score += 20
+
+	if 'helper' in name or 'helper' in bundle_id:
+		score -= 200
+	if 'platformsupport' in name or 'platformsupport' in bundle_id:
+		score -= 200
+	if 'web content' in name or 'webcontent' in bundle_id:
+		score -= 120
+
+	return score
+
+
+def _find_best_running_app(workspace, app_name: str):
+	apps = list(workspace.runningApplications())
+	scored = []
+	for app in apps:
+		try:
+			scored.append((_score_running_app(app, app_name), app))
+		except Exception:
+			continue
+	if not scored:
+		return None
+	scored.sort(key=lambda item: item[0], reverse=True)
+	best_score, best_app = scored[0]
+	return best_app if best_score > 0 else None
+
 from mlx_use.agent.views import ActionModel, ActionResult
 from mlx_use.controller.registry.service import Registry
 from mlx_use.controller.views import (
@@ -188,12 +232,12 @@ async def open_app(app_name: str):
 
 			await asyncio.sleep(1)  # Give it a moment to appear in running apps
 			pid = None
-			for app in workspace.runningApplications():
-				if app.bundleIdentifier() and app_name.lower() in app.bundleIdentifier().lower():
-					logging.debug(f'Bundle ID: {app.bundleIdentifier()}')
-					pid = app.processIdentifier()
-					logging.debug(f'PID: {pid}')
-					break
+			best_app = _find_best_running_app(workspace, app_name)
+			if best_app is not None:
+				logging.debug(f'Localized name: {best_app.localizedName()}')
+				logging.debug(f'Bundle ID: {best_app.bundleIdentifier()}')
+				pid = best_app.processIdentifier()
+				logging.debug(f'PID: {pid}')
 
 			# If no PID is found, try to find the app by name with pgrep -i 
 			if pid is None: