Process Management in BAS: Running External Programs

BAS is a browser tool, but real automation often spills past the browser — you need to open another program, run a system command, or kick off a helper tool. The Process Management module is that bridge to the rest of the operating system.

What it does

The module is built to launch various .exe files on your PC in parallel with the auto-scenario, and to call Batch/Bat scripts from the command line (CMD). The single core action — Run process — can launch any .exe or .bat file.

BAT scripts and WMIC

A BAT script is a sequence of commands run from the Windows command line (CMD). Calling them lets a bot do OS-level work the browser can’t:

• show a dialog window or play a Windows system sound,
• get the list of running processes using WMIC — a Windows service utility for managing processes,
• run any command-line tool as a step in your flow.

Where it fits

This module is what turns a browser bot into a broader desktop automator. It opens a VPN client and switches IP, launches a helper executable, runs a cleanup script between iterations, or coordinates with tools that have no web interface at all. Because processes run in parallel with the scenario, the bot can start an external program and keep working in the browser while it runs.

Reach for it whenever the task needs something the browser modules can’t reach — the moment automation has to touch the OS, Process Management is the door.