CLI Reference

CLI Reference

QuadClicker is a single binary that serves both GUI and CLI roles. CLI mode is triggered when any flag other than --minimized, --no-update-check, or --post-update is present on the command line. No GUI window is created.

quadclicker [OPTIONS]

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Flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--rate <value>	string	required	Click rate. See Click-Rate-Formats for every accepted format.
--button <left|right|middle>	enum	left	Mouse button to click.
--type <single|double>	enum	single	Single click or double click (double uses OS double-click interval).
--location <x,y>	int,int	cursor position	Fixed screen coordinate. Example: --location 500,300. Omit to click wherever the cursor currently is.
--stop-after-clicks <n>	integer	0 (unlimited)	Stop after exactly N clicks.
--stop-after-seconds <n>	float	0 (unlimited)	Stop after N seconds. Accepts decimals: --stop-after-seconds 0.5.
--idle-wait <n>	float	0 (disabled)	Wait until the system has been idle for N seconds before starting.
--no-gui	flag	—	Explicitly force headless mode. Redundant when other CLI flags are present, but accepted.
--minimized	flag	—	Launch the GUI minimized to the system tray. Does not trigger CLI mode.
--no-update-check	flag	—	Skip the launch-time GitHub update check. GUI-compatible; does not trigger CLI mode. (Windows only)
--check-update	flag	—	Check for an update, print the result, and exit 0 on success or exit 2 on failure. Does not launch the GUI or run any clicks. (Windows only)
--version / -v	flag	—	Print version string (QuadClicker X.Y.Z) and exit 0.
--help / -h	flag	—	Print usage text and exit 0.
--post-update [version]	flag	—	Internal flag used by the self-update staging script after a successful update. Accepts an optional version argument. GUI-compatible.

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Exit codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success or clean stop (including --help, --version, --check-update on success)
1	Invalid argument — error message printed to stderr
2	Runtime error — e.g. OS refused input injection; error message printed to stderr
130	Interrupted by Ctrl+C (SIGINT)

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Examples

Click at the current cursor position, 10 times per second, until Ctrl+C:

quadclicker --rate 10/s

Right-click at coordinate (500, 300), stop after 100 clicks:

quadclicker --rate 10/s --location 500,300 --button right --stop-after-clicks 100

Double-click every 500 ms for 30 seconds:

quadclicker --rate 500ms --type double --stop-after-seconds 30

Middle-click as fast as possible (1 ms delay), 50 times:

quadclicker --rate 1ms --button middle --stop-after-clicks 50

Click once every 5 minutes, 10 times total:

quadclicker --rate 5min --stop-after-clicks 10

Click once per hour for an hour (3600 s):

quadclicker --rate 60/h --stop-after-seconds 3600

Wait for 10 seconds of system idle, then click 1000 times at 10/s:

quadclicker --rate 10/s --idle-wait 10 --stop-after-clicks 1000

Launch GUI minimized to tray (not CLI mode):

quadclicker --minimized

Check for an update and print the result:

quadclicker --check-update

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Argument parsing notes

• Windows case sensitivity: Session flags (--rate, --button, --type, --location, etc.) are matched via arg.ToLowerInvariant(), so --Rate or --RATE work. However, --help/-h, --version/-v, and --check-update are matched by earlier exact-string comparisons and must be exact lowercase. Additionally, --help and --version short-circuit only when passed as the sole argument; combined with other flags they are treated as unknown arguments and produce an error (exit 1).
• Linux case sensitivity: All flags are matched by exact string comparison — the Linux implementation is fully case-sensitive throughout. Unlike Windows, Linux pre-scans all arguments for --help/-h/--version/-v before parsing, so they print and exit 0 even when combined with other flags.
• --rate is required in CLI mode. Omitting it produces: Error: --rate is required in CLI mode. (exit 1).
• Unknown flags produce: Error: Unknown argument: '--foo'. (exit 1). On Linux, passing any Windows-only flag (--no-update-check, --check-update, --post-update) exits 1 with "Unknown argument" — omit those flags in cross-platform scripts.
• --location spaces: Both platforms accept spaces around the comma. Windows Trim()s both sides and parses strictly (500abc is rejected). Linux std::stoi skips leading whitespace and stops at the first non-digit character without erroring — more permissive, not less (500 ,300, 500, 300, even 500abc,300 all parse to 500,300). The only Linux failures are a missing comma or a non-numeric leading portion (e.g. abc,300).
• --stop-after-seconds and --idle-wait accept decimal values using the invariant locale (. as decimal separator regardless of system locale).

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Linux differences

The Linux CLI has the same flags and exit codes except:

• --no-update-check, --check-update, and --post-update are not implemented (no self-update on Linux). Passing any of these flags exits 1 with Error: Unknown argument: '--no-update-check' (or the respective flag). Omit them in cross-platform scripts.
• --version prints QuadClicker 1.0.0 (hardcoded in the current build — not yet reading from a build-time constant).

The Linux help text (--help) accurately reflects what is implemented.