Pywinauto

Pywinauto is an open-source set of Python modules for automating GUI interaction on Windows. It enables controlling native Windows applications and other software that exposes Windows controls. It is widely used for GUI testing, automation, and repetitive tasks.

The project provides two backends: win32 and UIA. The win32 backend uses the Windows Win32 API to automate legacy controls; the UIA backend uses Microsoft UI Automation to access modern UI elements. Both backends expose high-level wrappers for common controls such as buttons, edit boxes, check boxes, combo boxes, and menus, as well as low-level access to window hierarchies.

A typical workflow involves launching or attaching to an application via an Application object, obtaining handles to top-level windows via Desktop, and locating subcontrols using a WindowSpecification with criteria like title, class_name, automation_id, or control_type. Actions such as clicking, typing, selecting, or reading text are performed through methods like click_input, type_keys, set_text, and more. The library also provides a print_control_identifiers utility to inspect a window's control tree.

Pywinauto supports synchronization features to wait for windows or controls to exist or become visible, and it can simulate both keyboard and mouse input, making it suitable for automated GUI tests and task automation. It runs on Windows and depends on the Windows automation APIs, and is distributed as an open-source project maintained by a community of contributors.

Related projects include alternatives for GUI automation on Windows and other platforms, but Pywinauto remains focused on Windows GUI automation using Python.