agent-desktop-windows
The observe-act loop, ref system, JSON envelope, sessions and tracing are the same on every platform. This file covers only what differs on Windows.
Requires Windows 10 1809+ / Windows Server 2019+ (x64 or ARM64). Run it in the interactive desktop session of the signed-in user. Session 0 (services and SYSTEM tasks), Server Core, the secure desktop (UAC prompts, the sign-in screen), a locked desktop and another user's session are not supported: observation, actions and capture there fail or return nothing.
Capability Table
| Group | Commands | Status on Windows |
|---|---|---|
| Observation | snapshot, find, get, is, screenshot |
Works; surfaces are window, focused, a Chromium modal reached as sheet, and an open application menu reached as menu |
| Surfaces | list-surfaces |
Works; per-process inventory of window, focused and sheet surfaces plus a menu surface carrying item_count when a menu is open |
| Shell surfaces | open-system-surface |
Works; raises start-menu, taskbar, system-tray, system-tray-overflow or action-center and returns the window identity snapshot --surface <kind> consumes; quick-settings returns PLATFORM_NOT_SUPPORTED naming action-center |
| Ref interaction | click, right-click, type, set-value, clear, select, toggle, check, uncheck, expand, collapse, scroll, scroll-to |
Works; semantic delivery in headless and --headed modes alike, except right-click, which is a physical click and returns POLICY_DENIED unless --headed (type also requires focus permission and returns POLICY_DENIED under strict headless) |
| Multi-click and focus | double-click, triple-click, focus |
Works with global --headed; focus is headed-required (A3-4, A19-5) |
| Keyboard and mouse | press, hover, drag, mouse-click, mouse-move, mouse-wheel |
Works; cursor-moving input requires --headed; press --app synthesizes into the foreground queue after verification (fails closed headless if not already frontmost; non-interactive callers report delivered_unverified) |
| Held input | key-down, key-up, mouse-down, mouse-up |
Fails closed with ACTION_NOT_SUPPORTED on every platform until a daemon owns held-input lifetime |
| App and window | launch, close-app, list-windows, list-apps, focus-window, resize-window, move-window, minimize, maximize, restore |
Works; launch resolves an absolute path or a bare name, with or without .exe, under System32 or the Windows directory (A21-1), not display names |
| Displays | list-displays |
Works |
| Clipboard | clipboard-get, clipboard-set, clipboard-clear |
Works; typed text and image content |
| Wait | wait |
Works for ms, --element, --window, --text, --menu, --menu-closed, --event, and --notification predicates |
| Notifications | list-notifications, dismiss-notification, dismiss-all-notifications, notification-action |
Works over the Action Center; the commands that raise shell chrome take the foreground, so pass --headed when the center is closed |
| Cursor overlay | cursor-overlay |
Works; enable renders a click-through overlay and data.rendered is the renderer's own pipe acknowledgement, not merely a spawned process. disable carries no rendered field. See Cursor Overlay below |
| System | status, permissions, version, batch, skills, session, trace |
Works |
First Contact
- Quote every ref in PowerShell. PowerShell reads a bare
@tokenas its splatting operator and deletes the argument before the binary sees it, soset-value @s8f3k2p9:e1 hifailsINVALID_ARGS. Writeset-value '@s8f3k2p9:e1' hi. cmd.exe and bash need no quoting. - A window behind another window is drivable. A minimized one is not.
Every element of a minimized window reports
offscreenand ref actions fail. Runrestore --app <image>and snapshot again. Do not usefocus-windowby reflex: it steals the user's foreground. - No permission dialog exists.
permissionsreportsautomationasnot_required. Elevation boundaries are the only access control. - Chromium and Electron apps read thin before they settle. Pass
--timeout-mstosnapshotinstead of concluding the tree is empty. - Headless by default. Ref actions stay semantic. Only
--headedcommands verify exact-window focus and synthesize physical input.alt+f4,win+l,win+d,alt+taband modifier supersets are refused without--force. typeneeds focus permission. It is physical keystroke synthesis, so a strict-headlesstypereturnsPOLICY_DENIED. It always endsdelivered_unverified(verification_scope: "unavailable"): confirm with a freshget.press --appwrites to the foreground queue with no per-process targeting. A headless press to a non-frontmost app fails closed. A non-interactive caller (service, scheduled task, CI job) getsdelivered_unverified.launchneeds an absolute path or a bare name under System32 or the Windows directory (notepadornotepad.exe), not a display name. Uselist-appsto find a running app.- Notifications:
list-notificationswith the Action Center closed needs--headed. Single-itemdismiss-notificationandnotification-actionneed--headedand--expected-appor--expected-titlefor the entry at INDEX. - Surfaces: an open or context menu is the
menusurface. Windows does not advertise amenubarsurface. - Commands that raise shell chrome take the foreground. Strict headless
refuses them with
POLICY_DENIEDbefore anything is raised. - Stateful actions run once, then verify by re-reading.
delivered_verifiedmeans the readback matched.ACTION_FAILEDwithdetails.kind: "post_action_verification"means the action landed but the readback differs: readdetails.post_stateand do not retry. Aset-valuethe app reformats reads as failed. Seereferences/troubleshooting.md. - Unsigned binary warnings are expected. See
references/troubleshooting.md.
What differs on Windows
- Ref actions are semantic UI Automation calls, in headless and
--headedmode. - Notifications work over the Action Center and need
--headed. launchtakes an absolute path or a bare name under System32 or the Windows directory, with or without.exe, not a display name.- Held-input commands fail closed on every platform.
- The cursor overlay renders only for headless semantic actions.
- In key combos,
cmdandmetaare the Windows key, someta+cis a shell shortcut. Writectrl+cto copy. - Headless
typeis refused withPOLICY_DENIED: useset-value, or pass--headedto type throughSendInput.focusalso needs--headed.
References
references/shell-and-overlay.md: open it foropen-system-surface, tray and taskbar surfaces, notifications, the cursor overlay, hosted (UWP) window identity and menu detection coverage.references/permissions-and-elevation.md: integrity levels, UIPI, blocked combos, protected processes, the cross-process interaction lease.references/chromium-and-electron.md: settle timing, covered-window hazard, WPF wrong-provider trap, unnamed web content.references/troubleshooting.md: symptom-to-cause map, action verification outcomes, saving a document headless, install warnings.
Read any file from the binary:
agent-desktop skills get agent-desktop-windows references/troubleshooting.md.
