Desktop Control

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description: Advanced desktop automation with mouse, keyboard, and screen control

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Desktop Control Skill

The most advanced desktop automation skill for OpenClaw. Provides pixel-perfect mouse control, lightning-fast keyboard input, screen capture, window management, and clipboard operations.

🎯 Features

Mouse Control

✅ Absolute positioning - Move to exact coordinates

✅ Relative movement - Move from current position

✅ Smooth movement - Natural, human-like mouse paths

✅ Click types - Left, right, middle, double, triple clicks

✅ Drag & drop - Drag from point A to point B

✅ Scroll - Vertical and horizontal scrolling

✅ Position tracking - Get current mouse coordinates

Keyboard Control

✅ Text typing - Fast, accurate text input

✅ Hotkeys - Execute keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+C, Win+R, etc.)

✅ Special keys - Enter, Tab, Escape, Arrow keys, F-keys

✅ Key combinations - Multi-key press combinations

✅ Hold & release - Manual key state control

✅ Typing speed - Configurable WPM (instant to human-like)

Screen Operations

✅ Screenshot - Capture entire screen or regions

✅ Image recognition - Find elements on screen (via OpenCV)

✅ Color detection - Get pixel colors at coordinates

✅ Multi-monitor - Support for multiple displays

Window Management

✅ Window list - Get all open windows

✅ Activate window - Bring window to front

✅ Window info - Get position, size, title

✅ Minimize/Maximize - Control window states

Safety Features

✅ Failsafe - Move mouse to corner to abort

✅ Pause control - Emergency stop mechanism

✅ Approval mode - Require confirmation for actions

✅ Bounds checking - Prevent out-of-screen operations

✅ Logging - Track all automation actions

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🚀 Quick Start

Installation

First, install required dependencies:

pip install pyautogui pillow opencv-python pygetwindow

Basic Usage

from skills.desktop_control import DesktopController
Initialize controller
dc = DesktopController(failsafe=True)
Mouse operations
dc.move_mouse(500, 300)  # Move to coordinates
dc.click()  # Left click at current position
dc.click(100, 200, button="right")  # Right click at position
Keyboard operations
dc.type_text("Hello from OpenClaw!")
dc.hotkey("ctrl", "c")  # Copy
dc.press("enter")
Screen operations
screenshot = dc.screenshot()
position = dc.get_mouse_position()

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📋 Complete API Reference

Mouse Functions

#### move_mouse(x, y, duration=0, smooth=True) Move mouse to absolute screen coordinates.

Parameters:

x (int): X coordinate (pixels from left)

y (int): Y coordinate (pixels from top)

duration (float): Movement time in seconds (0 = instant, 0.5 = smooth)

smooth (bool): Use bezier curve for natural movement

Example:

# Instant movement
dc.move_mouse(1000, 500)
Smooth 1-second movement
dc.move_mouse(1000, 500, duration=1.0)

#### move_relative(x_offset, y_offset, duration=0) Move mouse relative to current position.

Parameters:

x_offset (int): Pixels to move horizontally (positive = right)

y_offset (int): Pixels to move vertically (positive = down)

duration (float): Movement time in seconds

Example:

# Move 100px right, 50px down
dc.move_relative(100, 50, duration=0.3)

#### click(x=None, y=None, button='left', clicks=1, interval=0.1) Perform mouse click.

Parameters:

x, y (int, optional): Coordinates to click (None = current position)

button (str): 'left', 'right', 'middle'

clicks (int): Number of clicks (1 = single, 2 = double)

interval (float): Delay between multiple clicks

Example:

# Simple left click
dc.click()
Double-click at specific position
dc.click(500, 300, clicks=2)
Right-click
dc.click(button='right')

#### drag(start_x, start_y, end_x, end_y, duration=0.5, button='left') Drag and drop operation.

Parameters:

start_x, start_y (int): Starting coordinates

end_x, end_y (int): Ending coordinates

duration (float): Drag duration

button (str): Mouse button to use

Example:

# Drag file from desktop to folder
dc.drag(100, 100, 500, 500, duration=1.0)

#### scroll(clicks, direction='vertical', x=None, y=None) Scroll mouse wheel.

Parameters:

clicks (int): Scroll amount (positive = up/left, negative = down/right)

direction (str): 'vertical' or 'horizontal'

x, y (int, optional): Position to scroll at

Example:

# Scroll down 5 clicks
dc.scroll(-5)
Scroll up 10 clicks
dc.scroll(10)
Horizontal scroll
dc.scroll(5, direction='horizontal')

#### get_mouse_position() Get current mouse coordinates.

Returns: (x, y) tuple

Example:

x, y = dc.get_mouse_position()
print(f"Mouse is at: {x}, {y}")

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Keyboard Functions

#### type_text(text, interval=0, wpm=None) Type text with configurable speed.

Parameters:

text (str): Text to type

interval (float): Delay between keystrokes (0 = instant)

wpm (int, optional): Words per minute (overrides interval)

Example:

# Instant typing
dc.type_text("Hello World")
Human-like typing at 60 WPM
dc.type_text("Hello World", wpm=60)
Slow typing with 0.1s between keys
dc.type_text("Hello World", interval=0.1)

#### press(key, presses=1, interval=0.1) Press and release a key.

Parameters:

key (str): Key name (see Key Names section)

presses (int): Number of times to press

interval (float): Delay between presses

Example:

# Press Enter
dc.press('enter')
Press Space 3 times
dc.press('space', presses=3)
Press Down arrow
dc.press('down')

#### hotkey(*keys, interval=0.05) Execute keyboard shortcut.

Parameters:

*keys (str): Keys to press together

interval (float): Delay between key presses

Example:

# Copy (Ctrl+C)
dc.hotkey('ctrl', 'c')
Paste (Ctrl+V)
dc.hotkey('ctrl', 'v')
Open Run dialog (Win+R)
dc.hotkey('win', 'r')
Save (Ctrl+S)
dc.hotkey('ctrl', 's')
Select All (Ctrl+A)
dc.hotkey('ctrl', 'a')

#### key_down(key) / key_up(key) Manually control key state.

Example:

# Hold Shift
dc.key_down('shift')
dc.type_text("hello")  # Types "HELLO"
dc.key_up('shift')
Hold Ctrl and click (for multi-select)
dc.key_down('ctrl')
dc.click(100, 100)
dc.click(200, 100)
dc.key_up('ctrl')

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Screen Functions

#### screenshot(region=None, filename=None) Capture screen or region.

Parameters:

region (tuple, optional): (left, top, width, height) for partial capture

filename (str, optional): Path to save image

Returns: PIL Image object

Example:

# Full screen
img = dc.screenshot()
Save to file
dc.screenshot(filename="screenshot.png")
Capture specific region
img = dc.screenshot(region=(100, 100, 500, 300))

#### get_pixel_color(x, y) Get color of pixel at coordinates.

Returns: RGB tuple (r, g, b)

Example:

r, g, b = dc.get_pixel_color(500, 300)
print(f"Color at (500, 300): RGB({r}, {g}, {b})")

#### find_on_screen(image_path, confidence=0.8) Find image on screen (requires OpenCV).

Parameters:

image_path (str): Path to template image

confidence (float): Match threshold (0-1)

Returns: (x, y, width, height) or None

Example:

# Find button on screen
location = dc.find_on_screen("button.png")
if location:
    x, y, w, h = location
    # Click center of found image
    dc.click(x + w//2, y + h//2)

#### get_screen_size() Get screen resolution.

Returns: (width, height) tuple

Example:

width, height = dc.get_screen_size()
print(f"Screen: {width}x{height}")

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Window Functions

#### get_all_windows() List all open windows.

Returns: List of window titles

Example:

windows = dc.get_all_windows()
for title in windows:
    print(f"Window: {title}")

#### activate_window(title_substring) Bring window to front by title.

Parameters:

title_substring (str): Part of window title to match

Example:

# Activate Chrome
dc.activate_window("Chrome")
Activate VS Code
dc.activate_window("Visual Studio Code")

#### get_active_window() Get currently focused window.

Returns: Window title (str)

Example:

active = dc.get_active_window()
print(f"Active window: {active}")

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Clipboard Functions

#### copy_to_clipboard(text) Copy text to clipboard.

Example:

dc.copy_to_clipboard("Hello from OpenClaw!")

#### get_from_clipboard() Get text from clipboard.

Returns: str

Example:

text = dc.get_from_clipboard()
print(f"Clipboard: {text}")

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⌨️ Key Names Reference

Alphabet Keys

'a' through 'z'

Number Keys

'0' through '9'

Function Keys

'f1' through 'f24'

Special Keys

'enter' / 'return'

'esc' / 'escape'

'space' / 'spacebar'

'tab'

'backspace'

'delete' / 'del'

'insert'

'home'

'end'

'pageup' / 'pgup'

'pagedown' / 'pgdn'

Arrow Keys

'up' / 'down' / 'left' / 'right'

Modifier Keys

'ctrl' / 'control'

'shift'

'alt'

'win' / 'winleft' / 'winright'

'cmd' / 'command' (Mac)

Lock Keys

'capslock'

'numlock'

'scrolllock'

Punctuation

'.' / ',' / '?' / '!' / ';' / ':'

'[' / ']' / '{' / '}'

'(' / ')'

'+' / '-' / '*' / '/' / '='

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🛡️ Safety Features

Failsafe Mode

Move mouse to any corner of the screen to abort all automation.

# Enable failsafe (enabled by default)
dc = DesktopController(failsafe=True)

Pause Control

# Pause all automation for 2 seconds
dc.pause(2.0)
Check if automation is safe to proceed
if dc.is_safe():
    dc.click(500, 500)

Approval Mode

Require user confirmation before actions:

dc = DesktopController(require_approval=True)
This will ask for confirmation
dc.click(500, 500)  # Prompt: "Allow click at (500, 500)? [y/n]"

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🎨 Advanced Examples

Example 1: Automated Form Filling

dc = DesktopController()
Click name field
dc.click(300, 200)
dc.type_text("John Doe", wpm=80)
Tab to next field
dc.press('tab')
dc.type_text("john@example.com", wpm=80)
Tab to password
dc.press('tab')
dc.type_text("SecurePassword123", wpm=60)
Submit form
dc.press('enter')

Example 2: Screenshot Region and Save

# Capture specific area
region = (100, 100, 800, 600)  # left, top, width, height
img = dc.screenshot(region=region)
Save with timestamp
import datetime
timestamp = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
img.save(f"capture_{timestamp}.png")

Example 3: Multi-File Selection

# Hold Ctrl and click multiple files
dc.key_down('ctrl')
dc.click(100, 200)  # First file
dc.click(100, 250)  # Second file
dc.click(100, 300)  # Third file
dc.key_up('ctrl')
Copy selected files
dc.hotkey('ctrl', 'c')

Example 4: Window Automation

# Activate Calculator
dc.activate_window("Calculator")
time.sleep(0.5)
Type calculation
dc.type_text("5+3=", interval=0.2)
time.sleep(0.5)
Take screenshot of result
dc.screenshot(filename="calculation_result.png")

Example 5: Drag & Drop File

# Drag file from source to destination
dc.drag(
    start_x=200, start_y=300,  # File location
    end_x=800, end_y=500,       # Folder location
    duration=1.0                 # Smooth 1-second drag
)

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⚡ Performance Tips

1. Use instant movements for speed: duration=0 2. Batch operations instead of individual calls 3. Cache screen positions instead of recalculating 4. Disable failsafe for maximum performance (use with caution) 5. Use hotkeys instead of menu navigation

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⚠️ Important Notes

Screen coordinates start at (0, 0) in top-left corner

Multi-monitor setups may have negative coordinates for secondary displays

Windows DPI scaling may affect coordinate accuracy

Failsafe corners are: (0,0), (width-1, 0), (0, height-1), (width-1, height-1)

Some applications may block simulated input (games, secure apps)

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🔧 Troubleshooting

Mouse not moving to correct position

Check DPI scaling settings

Verify screen resolution matches expectations

Use get_screen_size() to confirm dimensions

Keyboard input not working

Ensure target application has focus

Some apps require admin privileges

Try increasing interval for reliability

Failsafe triggering accidentally

Increase screen border tolerance

Move mouse away from corners during normal use

Disable if needed: DesktopController(failsafe=False)

Permission errors

Run Python with administrator privileges for some operations

Some secure applications block automation

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📦 Dependencies

PyAutoGUI - Core automation engine

Pillow - Image processing

OpenCV (optional) - Image recognition

PyGetWindow - Window management

Install all:

pip install pyautogui pillow opencv-python pygetwindow

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Built for OpenClaw - The ultimate desktop automation companion 🦞