Ever wanted your Python script to move your mouse, type text, click buttons, or take screenshots — just like a human?

With PyAutoGUI, you can create your own desktop automation bot. Whether you’re filling out repetitive forms, auto-clicking buttons, or testing GUIs, this library saves time and effort.

In this post, we’ll build a simple bot that:

Moves the mouse
Clicks on screen elements
Types automatically
Takes screenshots
Adds delays and failsafes

🛠️ Step 1: Install PyAutoGUI

bashCopyEditpip install pyautogui

🧪 Step 2: Your First Automation Script

pythonCopyEditimport pyautogui
import time

# Wait 3 seconds so you can switch windows
time.sleep(3)

pyautogui.moveTo(500, 400, duration=1)
pyautogui.click()
pyautogui.typewrite("Hello, world!", interval=0.1)
pyautogui.press("enter")

This will move your mouse to a position, click, type some text, and press Enter.

📸 Step 3: Take a Screenshot

pythonCopyEditscreenshot = pyautogui.screenshot()
screenshot.save("screenshot.png")

You can even detect on-screen elements:

pythonCopyEditlocation = pyautogui.locateOnScreen("button.png", confidence=0.8)
if location:
    pyautogui.click(location)

🧯 Safety First!

Always include this line to prevent runaway scripts:

pythonCopyEditpyautogui.FAILSAFE = True  # Move your mouse to a corner to stop

🧰 Useful Features

Feature	Code Snippet
Move mouse	`pyautogui.moveTo(x, y, duration=1)`
Click	`pyautogui.click()`
Type text	`pyautogui.write("text")`
Press key	`pyautogui.press("enter")`
Hotkey combo	`pyautogui.hotkey("ctrl", "c")`
Take screenshot	`pyautogui.screenshot()`
Find image on screen	`pyautogui.locateOnScreen("img.png")`

💡 Real Use Cases

Auto-fill forms from Excel/CSV
GUI testing and QA automation
Auto-login to websites
Creating keyboard macros
Repetitive software actions (data entry, exporting reports)

⚠️ Limitations

It’s pixel-based — screen resolution and DPI affect results
It doesn't "see" inside apps like Selenium does with browsers
Dynamic UI elements can break image recognition

Automate Your Desktop with Python and PyAutoGUI