Actiona 4

Actiona is a desktop task automation tool. It automates tasks you would normally perform manually, such as transferring data between applications, running automated tests, or handling repetitive workflows. Actiona supports Windows 10 or later, and Ubuntu 22.04 or later (X11 preferred). Other Linux distributions should also work.

Currently, Actiona 4 provides a command-line tool (CLI) called Actiona Run that runs scripts written in JavaScript or TypeScript. An action editor called Actiona Editor, similar to the one in Actiona 3, is planned.

Actiona 4 is still considered unstable. Expect bugs, incomplete features, and API changes between releases.

This is a Rust rewrite of the tool. See the previous version (Actiona 3).

Join the Discord server for support, discussion, and development updates.

Examples

Visual automation — find a UI element by its image and click it:

// Load a reference image of a button, find it on screen, and click it.
const template = await Image.load("ok-button.png");
const match = await template.findOnScreen(SearchIn.desktop());

if (match) {
  await mouse.move(match);
  await mouse.click();
  println(`Clicked at ${match.position}`);
} else {
  println("Button not found on screen");
}

Keyboard events — react to hotkeys and expand text abbreviations while you type:

// Take a screenshot and save it to a file when Ctrl+Shift+S is pressed.
keyboard.onKeys([Key.Control, Key.Shift, "s"], async () => {
  const image = await screen.captureDesktop();
  await image.save(`screenshot-${Date.now()}.png`);
  println("Screenshot saved");
});

// Expand abbreviations as you type (also called "hotstrings").
keyboard.onText("addr", "123 Main Street, Springfield");
keyboard.onText("sig",  "Best regards,\nYour Name");
keyboard.onText("date", () => new Date().toLocaleDateString());

println("Active. Press Escape to stop.");
await keyboard.waitForKeys([Key.Escape]);

Installation

Windows

• Installer
• Archive

Linux

• AppImage

Quick Start

Initialize a script directory:

actiona-run init my-scripts
cd my-scripts

Run the starter script:

actiona-run script.ts

Usage

Initialize a directory — creates tsconfig.json, copies TypeScript definitions, and adds a starter script

actiona-run init

Run a script — evaluates the contents of a script

actiona-run myscript.ts

Run code — evaluates code

actiona-run eval "await mouse.move(45, 100)"

Record and play a macro — records mouse and keyboard actions for later replay

actiona-run macros record recording.amac
actiona-run macros play recording.amac

REPL — allows you to enter and evaluate code line by line

actiona-run repl

Compilation

Coming soon!

FAQ

Does it work under Wayland?

It does, but only a limited selection of features are available due to the Wayland security model. Features like mouse/keyboard simulation, automatic screenshots, window manipulation won't work at all.

If you need those features then the simplest option is to start an X11 session instead of Wayland, if your distribution allows you to. If that's not possible then another option is to set up a virtual machine with a Linux distribution that uses X11 instead of Wayland.

Actiona 3 has an editor app, where is the one for Actiona 4?

It's not done yet. To make development faster we decided to split the work in two: the command-line interface tool (CLI) and the editor itself. If you don't want to write JavaScript or TypeScript to automate your desktop, you can still use Actiona 3's editor in the meantime.

Will Actiona 3's scripts be compatible with Actiona 4?

No. Actiona 4 is a complete rewrite of the program and actions, so keeping a compatibility layer would be too complicated.