Case 05457

PyAutoGUI Skill

Desktop automation using PyAutoGUI for mouse, keyboard, and screen control.

When to Use

✅ USE this skill when:

• Automating repetitive mouse/keyboard tasks
• GUI testing and interaction
• Click/type sequences for desktop apps
• Taking screenshots for automation
• Simple image location on screen
• Moving mouse to specific coordinates
• Keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys
• Form filling automation

❌ DON'T use this skill when:

• Web browser automation → use Playwright or Selenium
• Mobile app automation → use Appium
• Complex image recognition → use OpenCV/ML models
• Accessibility automation → use platform-native APIs
• High-speed automation → PyAutoGUI has safety delays

Safety First

PyAutoGUI includes fail-safes. NEVER disable them:

# Fail-safe: Move mouse to (0,0) to abort
pyautogui.FAILSAFE = True  # Keep this!

# Add pauses for safety
pyautogui.PAUSE = 0.5  # Seconds between actions

Quick Start

import pyautogui

# Basic movement
pyautogui.moveTo(100, 100, duration=0.5)
pyautogui.click()

# Typing
pyautogui.write('Hello world!', interval=0.1)

# Keyboard shortcuts
pyautogui.hotkey('ctrl', 'c')  # Copy
pyautogui.hotkey('ctrl', 'v')  # Paste

Core Operations

Mouse Control

import pyautogui

# Get screen size
width, height = pyautogui.size()

# Current position
x, y = pyautogui.position()

# Move mouse (duration in seconds)
pyautogui.moveTo(100, 100, duration=0.5)
pyautogui.moveRel(0, 50, duration=0.3)  # Relative move

# Clicks
pyautogui.click()           # Left click at current position
pyautogui.click(x=100, y=100)
pyautogui.rightClick()
pyautogui.doubleClick()
pyautogui.dragTo(200, 200, duration=0.5)

# Button control
pyautogui.mouseDown()
pyautogui.mouseUp()

Keyboard Control

import pyautogui

# Type text
pyautogui.write('Hello!', interval=0.1)  # interval between chars

# Special keys
pyautogui.press('enter')
pyautogui.press(['up', 'up', 'down', 'down'])

# Key hold
pyautogui.keyDown('shift')
pyautogui.write('CAPS')
pyautogui.keyUp('shift')

# Hotkeys (shortcuts)
pyautogui.hotkey('ctrl', 's')      # Save
pyautogui.hotkey('ctrl', 'shift', 'n')  # New folder (Windows)
pyautogui.hotkey('command', 'space')    # Spotlight (Mac)

Special Key Names

# Modifiers
'ctrl', 'shift', 'alt', 'command' (Mac), 'win' (Windows)

# Navigation
'enter', 'tab', 'space', 'escape', 'backspace', 'delete'
'up', 'down', 'left', 'right'
'home', 'end', 'pageup', 'pagedown'

# Function keys
'f1' through 'f12'

# Other
'capslock', 'numlock', 'scrolllock'
'printscreen', 'pause'

Screenshots

import pyautogui

# Full screenshot
screenshot = pyautogui.screenshot()
screenshot.save('screen.png')

# Region screenshot
screenshot = pyautogui.screenshot(region=(0, 0, 300, 400))

# To file directly
pyautogui.screenshot('saved.png')

Image Location

import pyautogui

# Find image on screen
location = pyautogui.locateOnScreen('button.png', confidence=0.8)

if location:
    x, y = pyautogui.center(location)
    pyautogui.click(x, y)

# Find all occurrences
locations = pyautogui.locateAllOnScreen('icon.png', confidence=0.8)

# Get center point
center = pyautogui.center(location)  # Returns (x, y)

Note: confidence requires Pillow. Range 0-1, higher = more strict matching.

Common Workflows

Form Filling

import pyautogui
import time

pyautogui.PAUSE = 0.5

# Click first field
pyautogui.click(x=100, y=200)
pyautogui.write('John Doe')

# Tab to next field
pyautogui.press('tab')
pyautogui.write('[email protected]')

# Submit
pyautogui.press('enter')

Window Management (OS-dependent)

import pyautogui

# Minimize (Windows)
pyautogui.hotkey('win', 'down')

# Maximize
pyautogui.hotkey('win', 'up')

# Switch apps (Alt+Tab)
pyautogui.hotkey('alt', 'tab')

# Close window
pyautogui.hotkey('alt', 'f4')  # Windows
pyautogui.hotkey('command', 'w')  # Mac

Screenshot + Click Pattern

import pyautogui

# Locate and click a button
button = pyautogui.locateOnScreen('submit_btn.png', confidence=0.9)
if button:
    x, y = pyautogui.center(button)
    pyautogui.click(x, y)
else:
    print("Button not found!")

Configuration

Timing & Safety

import pyautogui

# Pause between ALL actions (seconds)
pyautogui.PAUSE = 0.5

# Fail-safe (move to corner to stop)
pyautogui.FAILSAFE = True

# Timeout for locateOnScreen (seconds)
pyautogui.locateOnScreen('img.png', timeout=10)

Platform Detection

import platform

system = platform.system()

if system == "Darwin":
    # macOS shortcuts
    cmd = 'command'
elif system == "Windows":
    cmd = 'win'
else:
    cmd = 'ctrl'

Scripts

See scripts/ for reusable automation scripts:

• scripts/click_image.py - Locate and click an image
• scripts/type_sequence.py - Type a text sequence
• scripts/take_screenshot.py - Capture screen region

Troubleshooting

"PyAutoGUI not working"

1. Permissions (macOS):

   • System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
   • Add Terminal/Python to allowed apps

2. Permissions (Windows):

   • Run as Administrator if needed

3. Linux:

   sudo apt-get install python3-dev python3-pip
   sudo apt-get install scrot python3-tk python3-dev
   pip3 install pyautogui
   

Image Not Found

• Check image path (use absolute paths)
• Adjust confidence (try 0.7-0.9)
• Ensure screenshot matches current screen resolution
• Image scale may differ (retina displays)

Too Slow

# Reduce pause (but keep safe!)
pyautogui.PAUSE = 0.1

# Remove duration for instant moves
pyautogui.moveTo(100, 100)  # No duration = instant

Too Fast / Unreliable

# Increase pause
pyautogui.PAUSE = 1.0

# Add explicit waits
import time
time.sleep(2)  # Wait for UI to load

Best Practices

1. Always test visually first - Watch the automation run
2. Use delays - Give UI time to respond
3. Add error handling - Check if elements exist
4. Log actions - Debug when things go wrong
5. Use images carefully - Resolution changes break image matching
6. Respect the fail-safe - Never disable it

Installation

pip install pyautogui pyscreeze pillow

macOS additional:

brew install python-tk

Linux additional:

sudo apt-get install python3-dev python3-pip scrot python3-tk

Notes

• PyAutoGUI coordinates start at top-left (0, 0)
• Movement is relative to primary monitor
• Multi-monitor setups use combined coordinate space
• Some apps may require elevated permissions
• Image matching is pixel-perfect by default (use confidence for fuzzy matching)