uia windows                        # List all open windows (title, handle, bounds)
uia state                          # Full snapshot: windows, focus, cursor, screens

2. Inspect a window's UI tree

uia tree Calculator --depth 3      # Nested JSON of all UI elements
uia find Calculator --name Equals  # Find specific elements by name/type/id
uia focused                        # What element has keyboard focus right now

3. Interact with elements

uia click --window Calculator --name Five         # Click by element name
uia click --x 500 --y 300                         # Click by screen coordinates
uia type --window Notepad --text "Hello world"    # Type text
uia key --window Calculator --combo ctrl+c        # Send key combo
uia focus Calculator                               # Bring window to foreground

4. Take screenshots

uia screenshot --window Calculator  # Capture window to PNG, returns file path

5. Launch apps

uia launch calc.exe                # Launch Calculator
uia launch notepad.exe             # Launch Notepad
uia launch mspaint.exe             # Launch Paint

6. Clipboard

uia clipboard get                  # Read clipboard text
uia clipboard set "copied text"   # Write to clipboard

Action Batching (Key Pattern)

Always batch multiple actions into one call to avoid per-command overhead. Write a JSON file and pass it to uia batch:

{
  "window": "Calculator",
  "actions": [
    {"type": "click", "element": {"name": "Two"}},
    {"type": "click", "element": {"name": "Five"}},
    {"type": "click", "element": {"name": "Multiply by"}},
    {"type": "click", "element": {"name": "Two"}},
    {"type": "click", "element": {"name": "Five"}},
    {"type": "click", "element": {"name": "Equals"}},
    {"type": "read", "element": {"automationId": "CalculatorResults"}}
  ],
  "verbose": true
}

uia batch actions.json --verbose   # Execute with overlay visuals

Supported action types

Type	Description	Key fields
`click`	Click element or coords	`element`, `x`, `y`
`rightclick`	Right-click	`element`, `x`, `y`
`doubleclick`	Double-click	`element`, `x`, `y`
`type`	Type text	`text`, `element`
`key`	Key combo	`combo` (e.g., `ctrl+a`)
`read`	Read element value	`element` → returns `value`
`wait`	Wait for element	`element`, `timeoutMs`
`scroll`	Scroll	`element`, `clicks` (+down, -up)
`select`	Select dropdown item	`element`, `value`
`toggle`	Toggle checkbox/switch	`element`
`drag`	Drag from/to	`x`, `y`, `toX`, `toY`
`freehand`	Draw path	`points` array of `{x, y}`
`screenshot`	Mid-batch screenshot	(captures current state)

Element queries

Target elements using any combination of:

name — visible text or accessible name
controlType — Button, Edit, Text, CheckBox, ComboBox, etc.
automationId — developer-assigned stable ID

Example: {"name": "Five", "controlType": "Button"}

Important Patterns

Window handles for stability

Window titles change (e.g., browser tabs). Capture the handle from uia windows and use it for all subsequent commands instead of the title.

Apps with poor UIA trees (Paint, modern UWP)

Some apps don't expose internal controls in the UIA tree. For these:

uia screenshot <window> — see the visual layout
uia tree <window> --depth 4 — see what UIA exposes
If elements are missing, fall back to coordinate-based clicks using bounds from the screenshot

Verify after acting

After clicking or typing, read the result or take a screenshot to confirm the action worked. If it didn't, adjust coordinates by ±5px and retry.

Output Format

All output is JSON:

{"ok": true, "data": { ... }}
{"ok": false, "error": {"code": "WINDOW_NOT_FOUND", "message": "...", "hint": "..."}}

Exit codes: 0=success, 1=action failed, 2=setup error, 3=timeout.

Server Management

The server auto-starts on first command. You rarely need these:

uia serve --background   # Start manually
uia stop                 # Stop the server

win-uia

Windows Desktop Automation with UIA CLI

Prerequisites

Core Workflow

1. Discover what's on screen