# AutoHotkey (slim)

> AutoHotkey is a free, open-source scripting language and interpreter for Windows that sends keystrokes and mouse input, manages windows and controls, and defines hotkeys. Agents run scripts through the AutoHotkey64.exe command line, including from standard input.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/autohotkey.md (~4,850 tokens) · this version ~1,180 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/autohotkey.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/autohotkey
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-14

**D · 52.8/100 · rank #771 of 1076 · #4 in Desktop & mobile app control · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: An agent can write a script and run it through the command line, with a script read from standard input, `/Validate` and `/ErrorStdOut` for clean failures, and a function reference of 356 pages. It runs on Windows only with the user's full rights, and the repository has no CI or test suite.

## Facts

- Kind: SDK + MCP · vendor: AutoHotkey Foundation · category: Desktop & mobile app control · legal entity: AutoHotkey Foundation LLC · provenance 73/100
- Auth: None · pricing: Free · x402: no · licence: GPL-2.0
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Surface: An interpreter executable with command-line switches (`/force`, `/restart`, `/ErrorStdOut`, `/Debug`, `/CPn`, `/Validate`, `/include`). Scripts reach stdout with `FileAppend` to `*`. An experimental DLL build hosts the interpreter. No MCP server, HTTP API or official package registry entry
- What scripts control: Keystrokes and mouse input, windows and controls by title, class or process, the clipboard, GUI creation, COM objects, DLL calls and processes
- Platforms: Windows only. 32-bit and 64-bit builds, with experimental ARM64 support proposed in an open pull request (#360)
- Versions: 2.0.30 (stable, 9 October 2026) and 2.1-alpha.35 (11 October 2026). v1 is unmaintained
- Releases: 2.0.27 on 28 August, 2.0.28 on 12 September, 2.0.29 on 3 October and 2.0.30 on 9 October 2026, as a zip and a setup executable on GitHub
- Telemetry: No network code found in the interpreter source. Dash's update check is off by default
- Support: Community forum for help and bug reports. GitHub Issues was opened in October 2026 after being disabled since 2017

- Scores: Reliability 61, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 54, Agent ergonomics 46, Security & auth 24, Payments & pricing 60, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 72, Transparency & trust 73 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Read with the local-software lines, since the owner runs the interpreter. · Schema & documentation, Graded as a scripting language driven from the command line. · Agent ergonomics, The command line adds no tool definitions to context, but output is whatever the script writes, with no structured format (15 of 25). · Security & auth, No credential model. · Payments & pricing, Read with the self-hosted rule. · Maintenance & community, 2.0.30 on 9 October 2026 (30). · Transparency & trust, The editorial half.
- Sources: 11, open questions: 4, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: desktop.control, desktop.scripting
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/autohotkey.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/autohotkey.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/autohotkey from a page on autohotkey.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/AutoHotkey/AutoHotkey, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Write output with `FileAppend text, "*"` and pipe the interpreter's output, since stdout does not appear at the console it was launched from
2. Run `AutoHotkey64.exe /ErrorStdOut /Validate script.ahk` before running a new script
3. Add `OnError` or `try` blocks so a runtime error does not leave a dialog open in an unattended run
4. Target v2 syntax. v1 is unmaintained and its scripts do not run on v2

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Robocorp | B | 65.5 | desktop.control, desktop.scripting | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/robocorp.min.md |
| AutoIt | D | 46.3 | desktop.control, desktop.scripting | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/autoit.min.md |
| Robot Framework | BB | 76.4 | desktop.scripting | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/robot-framework.min.md |
| UiPath | B | 68.2 | desktop.control | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/uipath.min.md |
| Automation Anywhere | D | 50.9 | desktop.control | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/automation-anywhere.min.md |


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