AutoCLI Documentation — Setup and .autofile Guide

Installation

Install Auto using one of the following options.

Option 1: Pre-built binary

Go to the Releases page.
Download the latest auto.exe or AutoInstaller.*.exe.
Installer: run the installer and follow the setup wizard.
Standalone: add auto.exe to your system PATH.

Option 2: Build from source

See the Building section on GitHub for prerequisites and build commands (Make or CMake).

How to use

Step 1: Create a `.autofile`

Create a file named .autofile in your project directory and define command blocks. Each block has a name and a list of commands.

# This is a comment
dev {
  $ taskkill /im node.exe
  - mongod.exe --dbpath C:\data\db
  + node server.js
  + python fileserver.py
  + set PORT=4000 && npm start --prefix client
}

Step 2: Run Auto

In a terminal, from the same directory (or a subdirectory) as your .autofile, run:

auto dev

To use a custom file (name must start with .):

auto -f .autofile dev

Command syntax

Each command line in a block starts with a mode symbol, then the command. Supported modes:

Symbol	Mode	Description
`+`	Normal	Runs in a normal `cmd` window.
`-`	Minimized	Runs in a minimized `cmd` window.
`$`	Background	Runs in the background (no window).
`&`	Windows Terminal	Runs in Windows Terminal with a custom tab title: `& "Title" command`.

Commands whose first token is wt are passed through unchanged to support full Windows Terminal options. Arguments can be quoted; quoted parts are one argument and surrounding quotes are removed.

Example

production {
  $ nginx.exe
  $ redis-server.exe
  + node app.js
  - pm2 monit
  & "API" node server.js
  & "Worker" npm run worker
}

Special blocks

Blocks whose name starts with . (dot) can be run by name like any other block, e.g. auto .init:

.init {
  + echo "Initializing environment..."
  + npm install
}

Important notes

Running processes

Do not run auto again while processes from the same .autofile are still running.
Some commands support only one instance; rerunning can cause errors.
Stop existing processes before running auto again.

Best practices

Use clear block names (e.g. dev, production, test).
Add comments to document your automation.
Group related commands in the same block.
Use $ for services that don’t need interaction, - for monitoring tools.

VS Code extension

For syntax highlighting and better editing of .autofile in VS Code, install the autofile-extension. It highlights labels, operators (+, -, $), and commands.

Documentation