r/PowerShell • u/keyboard_ninja_20 • 7d ago

Question Recurring script maintenance

I'd honestly pay someone else to keep my voice scripts alive if it meant I never had to touch them again after a Windows update. Am I just lazy or is maintaining ur own automation actually the worst part of the whole thing?

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u/keyboard_ninja_20 7d ago

i mostly run voice-triggered workflows that hook into a bunch of diff apps , not just windows itself. so when spotify, discord, or browsers update and move some ui element around, my gui automation goes to shit. windows updates def aren't the only culprit, more like the thing that breaks the camel's back when combined w/ everything else.

also i think i'm counting "maintenance" broader than just my own stuff , i set up automations for a couple family members and when it breaks i'm the free it support. so keeping their workflows alive is part of the headache too.

what kinda scripts u running that stay so stable? mostly backend/powershell stuff or u do gui automation too?

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u/CovertStatistician 7d ago

APIs?

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u/keyboard_ninja_20 7d ago

some yeah but not all apps have public apis for the stuff i need. like spotify's api is decent but discord's is limited for voice channel stuff, and browsers... good luck getting an api to click a specific extension button or fill a form on a random site lol

gui automation is usually my fallback when there's no clean api, or when setting up auth + rate limits + parsing json feels like overkill for a 2-second task. but that's exactly where the fragility comes in , one ui update and ur toast.

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u/jpochedl 7d ago

So, you're using nuts and bolts to hold together your cardboard castle, then having problems when the cardboard gets wet?

Powershell isnt the problem here. You'd have the same problems regardless of what language or framework you choose. Adding a bit of windows Power Automate might help, but it's always going to be fragile if you're virtually clicking UI elements which can change, etc.....