xdotool-control

Automate mouse, keyboard, and window operations on the Linux desktop. Primary use: clicking Chrome extension icons, interacting with GUI apps when browser CDP isn't connected.

Quick Start

# Find a window
xdotool search --name "Google Chrome"

# Click at screen coordinates
xdotool mousemove 1800 56 click 1

# Type text into focused window
xdotool type "hello world"

# Screenshot current state
scrot /tmp/snap.png

Core Patterns

1. Find + Focus + Click

# Find Chrome window, focus it, click at position
WIN=$(xdotool search --name "Google Chrome" | head -1)
xdotool windowactivate --sync "$WIN"
sleep 0.3
xdotool mousemove X Y click 1

2. Screenshot → Verify → Click Loop

Use this when you need to click an element but don't know its exact position:

bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/xdotool-control/scripts/snap_verify_click.sh \
  "Google Chrome" \    # Window name pattern
  "extension_icon" \   # What to look for (label for your snap files)
  1830 56              # Coordinates to click

Or use the full loop script for unknown positions:

bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/xdotool-control/scripts/find_and_click.sh \
  "Google Chrome" \
  /tmp/target_icon.png \  # Template image to match (ImageMagick compare)
  10                       # Max attempts

3. Click Chrome Extension Icon

bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/xdotool-control/scripts/click_extension.sh "OpenClaw"
# or
bash ~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/xdotool-control/scripts/click_extension.sh "Dawn"

This focuses Chrome and clicks the extensions puzzle-piece area, then scans for the named extension.

4. Tab Switching

# Switch to next tab
WIN=$(xdotool search --name "Google Chrome" | head -1)
xdotool windowactivate --sync "$WIN"
xdotool key ctrl+Tab

# Switch to specific tab (1-indexed)
xdotool key ctrl+2   # Tab 2
xdotool key ctrl+3   # Tab 3

# Open new tab
xdotool key ctrl+t

# Type a URL into address bar
xdotool key ctrl+l
sleep 0.2
xdotool type "https://example.com"
xdotool key Return

5. Type Into Window

WIN=$(xdotool search --name "Terminal" | head -1)
xdotool windowactivate --sync "$WIN"
sleep 0.2
xdotool type --clearmodifiers "command to type here"
xdotool key Return

6. Approve tmux Prompt (for Clawdy daemon)

SESSION=$(tmux ls | grep claude-session | head -1 | cut -d: -f1)
tmux send-keys -t "$SESSION" "Yes" Enter

Window Management

# List all windows with names
xdotool search --name "" | while read wid; do
  name=$(xdotool getwindowname "$wid" 2>/dev/null)
  [ -n "$name" ] && echo "$wid $name"
done | head -20

# Get window geometry (position + size)
xdotool getwindowgeometry $WIN_ID

# Move window to front
xdotool windowraise $WIN_ID

# Resize window
xdotool windowsize $WIN_ID 1280 800

# Move window
xdotool windowmove $WIN_ID 0 0

Screenshot Utilities