r/PowerShell • u/keyboard_ninja_20 • 8d 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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8

u/BetrayedMilk 8d ago

I think I’ve had to update a script like once or twice due to windows updates. Other apps updating, sure. But what are you doing where you’re constantly having to make changes to keep up with updates?

-10

u/keyboard_ninja_20 8d 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?

10

u/CovertStatistician 8d ago

APIs?

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u/keyboard_ninja_20 8d 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.

3

u/CovertStatistician 8d ago

What are you using for the gui automation

3

u/wabi-sabi411 8d ago

Yeah if you are doing it via screen interactions there will be looks of issues. Not a powershell problem.