Building Standalone Bots

Standalone Bots are one of RTILA X’s most powerful features. They let you package your automation as a self-contained executable file that runs independently — no RTILA X installation needed. You can distribute these bots to clients, deploy them on servers, or sell them as products.

Think of it this way: you build the automation in RTILA X, and then you “bottle it up” into a standalone program that anyone can run, even if they’ve never heard of RTILA X.

Premium Feature: Standalone Bots are available on paid plans. The free community license does not include bot export. See Licensing for details.

Why Build Standalone Bots?

Use Case	Description
Sell to clients	Package your automation and sell it as a product. Clients run it without needing RTILA X.
Deploy to servers	Run your automation on a server that doesn’t have RTILA X installed.
Distribute to team members	Share your automation with team members who don’t have RTILA X licenses.
White-label products	Brand the bot with your own company name using the Credit Label feature.
Demo and trials	Give potential clients a working demo of your automation.
Freelance deliverables	Deliver a working automation as a standalone file.

How Standalone Bots Work

Here’s the high-level flow:

1. You build an automation project in RTILA X using the Visual Builder or AI Assistant.
2. You create a Standalone Bot from that project, configuring its name, branding, and security.
3. RTILA X encrypts the project configuration using AES-GCM encryption and uploads it to the RTILA Snips server.
4. RTILA X packages the bot as a compressed archive containing the RTILA engine and a reference to the encrypted configuration.
5. You download the archive and distribute it.
6. The recipient extracts and runs the bot. The bot fetches its configuration from the RTILA Snips server, decrypts it, and runs the automation.

Bot Configuration

When you create a standalone bot, you configure the following settings:

Setting	Type	Required	Description
Bot Name	Text	✅ Yes	The display name for your bot. This is what recipients will see.
Source Project	Dropdown	✅ Yes	The RTILA X project to package. Select from your existing projects.
Credit Label	Text	No	Your branding text (e.g., “Powered by MyCompany”). Shown when the bot runs.
Visibility	Select	✅ Yes	Who can run the bot: public (anyone) or password (password required).
Password	Text	If password	The password required to run the bot. Only used when visibility is “password”.
Active	Toggle	No	Whether the bot is active. Inactive bots cannot be run. Default: On.

Building a Bot: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Navigate to Standalone Bots

1. Go to Standalone Bots in the sidebar (the robot icon).
2. You’ll see a list of your existing bots (if any).

Step 2: Create a New Bot

1. Click New Bot in the top-right corner.
2. The Bot Configuration form opens.

Step 3: Configure the Bot

Fill in the bot configuration:

1. Bot Name — Enter a descriptive name for your bot. Example: “Amazon Price Scraper” or “Daily Report Generator”.

2. Source Project — Select the RTILA X project you want to package. The dropdown shows all your projects.

3. Credit Label (optional) — Enter your branding text. This text is displayed when the bot runs. Example: “Powered by MyCompany” or “Built with RTILA X”. Leave empty for no branding.

4. Visibility — Choose who can run the bot:

   • Public — Anyone who has the bot file can run it without a password.
   • Password Protected — Users must enter a password to run the bot.

5. Password (if Password Protected) — Enter the password that users will need to enter to run the bot. Minimum 8 characters recommended.

6. Active — Toggle whether the bot is active. Default is On.

Step 4: Save and Upload

1. Click Save & Upload.
2. RTILA X does the following: a. Reads the project configuration from your selected project. b. Encrypts the configuration using AES-GCM encryption. c. Uploads the encrypted configuration to the RTILA Snips server. d. Receives a snips_id (a unique identifier for the uploaded configuration). e. Creates a bot record in your local database.
3. A success notification appears.

Step 5: Download the Bot Archive

1. In the bots list, find your newly created bot.
2. Click the Download Archive button (download icon).
3. Choose a destination folder on your computer.
4. RTILA X packages the bot and saves the archive:
   • Windows: .zip file
   • Mac/Linux: .tar.gz file
5. The archive is saved to your chosen destination.

Password Protection

How Password Protection Works

When you set a bot’s visibility to “Password Protected”:

1. The password is stored in the bot’s encrypted configuration on the RTILA Snips server.
2. When someone runs the bot, they are prompted to enter the password.
3. The entered password is compared against the stored password using a timing-safe comparison (to prevent timing attacks).
4. If the password matches, the bot runs. If it doesn’t match, the user is prompted again.
5. After 5 failed attempts, the bot exits and cannot be run again without restarting.

Password Prompt Flow

User runs the bot
       │
       ▼
"This bot is password protected."
"Please enter the bot password:"
       │
       ▼
 User enters password
       │
       ├── Correct → Bot runs normally
       │
       └── Incorrect → "Incorrect password. X attempts remaining."
              │
              └── After 5 failures → Bot exits

Revoking Access

You can revoke access to a distributed bot by changing its password:

1. Go to Standalone Bots.
2. Click the edit icon next to the bot.
3. Change the password to a new value.
4. Click Save & Upload.
5. The old password immediately stops working. Anyone with the old password can no longer run the bot.

Important: Changing the password does NOT update bots that have already been distributed. Users who already have the bot file will need to download the new version. However, since the password is checked against the server, the old password will stop working immediately.

Password Protection vs. Public

Aspect	Public	Password Protected
Who can run it	Anyone with the file	Only users who know the password
Password prompt	No	Yes — shown on every launch
Failed attempts	N/A	Maximum 5 attempts before exit
Revoking access	Not possible (anyone with the file can run it)	Change the password to revoke access
Best for	Free distribution, demos	Paid products, client deliverables

Bot Encryption

RTILA X uses AES-GCM (Advanced Encryption Standard - Galois/Counter Mode) to encrypt your bot configuration before uploading it to the Snips server. This ensures that:

• Your automation logic (commands, selectors, datasets) is protected.
• Your project configuration cannot be read or modified by anyone without the decryption key.
• The encryption key is embedded in the RTILA engine binary, not stored separately.

Encryption Details

Aspect	Details
Algorithm	AES-256-GCM
Key size	256 bits
IV (Initialization Vector)	12 bytes, randomly generated for each encryption
Key storage	Embedded in the RTILA engine binary (obfuscated)
Data encrypted	The complete project configuration (commands, datasets, settings)

What Gets Encrypted

When you create a standalone bot, the following data is encrypted and uploaded:

Data	Description
Project name	The name of your automation project
Commands	All automation commands (clicks, fills, extractions, etc.)
Datasets	All dataset definitions (selectors, properties, transformations)
Settings	Project settings (URLs, timeouts, stealth settings, variables)
Credit label	Your branding text
Password	The bot password (if password-protected)
Active status	Whether the bot is active

What Is NOT Encrypted

Data	Description
Bot name	Stored in your local database (not encrypted)
Source project ID	Reference to the original project
Snips ID	The unique identifier for the uploaded configuration

Downloading the Bot Archive

Archive Formats

Operating System	Archive Format	Extension
Windows	ZIP archive	.zip
macOS	GZIP-compressed tar archive	.tar.gz
Linux	GZIP-compressed tar archive	.tar.gz

What’s Inside the Archive

The archive contains:

File	Description
RTILA Engine executable	The Deno-based automation engine that runs your automation
Bot reference file	Contains the snips_id that tells the engine where to fetch the configuration

Download Steps

1. Go to Standalone Bots.
2. Find the bot you want to download.
3. Click the Download Archive button (download icon).
4. Choose a destination folder.
5. The archive is created and saved.

Note: The archive contains the RTILA engine executable, which can be 50–200 MB depending on your operating system. This is normal.

Running a Standalone Bot

On Windows

1. Extract the .zip archive.
2. Double-click the executable file.
3. If password-protected, enter the password.
4. The bot runs, opening a browser window and executing the automation.

On Mac/Linux

1. Extract the .tar.gz archive: tar -xzf bot_name.tar.gz
2. Make the executable executable: chmod +x BOT_snips_id
3. Run the bot: ./BOT_snips_id
4. If password-protected, enter the password.
5. The bot runs.

Bot Execution Flow

When a standalone bot is launched:

1. Welcome screen — The bot displays a welcome screen showing:
   • The bot name
   • The credit label (your branding)
   • The bot ID
2. Password check (if password-protected) — The user is prompted for the password.
3. Configuration fetch — The bot fetches its encrypted configuration from the RTILA Snips server using the snips_id.
4. Decryption — The configuration is decrypted using the embedded key.
5. Browser launch — The bot launches a browser and begins executing the automation.
6. Execution — The automation runs, executing all commands and extracting data.
7. Output — Results are saved to the working directory.

Welcome Screen

When a standalone bot starts, it shows a welcome screen:

============================================================
🌟  I N I T I A L I Z I N G   S T A N D A L O N E   B O T  🌟
============================================================

🤖 Welcome to [Bot Name]!
   🆔 Bot ID: [snips_id]
   ✨ [Credit Label]

============================================================

Bot Output

The bot saves its output to the working directory (the folder where the bot executable is located):

Output	Description
Extracted data files	CSV, JSON, or other files depending on your project’s export settings
Screenshots	If your project takes screenshots
Downloaded files	If your project downloads files (images, PDFs, etc.)

Editing a Bot

Steps

1. Go to Standalone Bots.
2. Find the bot you want to edit.
3. Click the edit icon (pencil).
4. The Bot Configuration form opens with the current settings.
5. Modify the settings.
6. Click Save & Upload.
7. The updated configuration is encrypted and uploaded to the Snips server.

What You Can Edit

Setting	Editable?	Notes
Bot Name	✅ Yes	Change the display name
Source Project	✅ Yes	Change which project is packaged
Credit Label	✅ Yes	Change your branding text
Visibility	✅ Yes	Switch between public and password-protected
Password	✅ Yes	Change the password (revokes old password)
Active	✅ Yes	Enable or disable the bot

What Happens After Editing

When you edit a bot:

• The updated configuration is encrypted and uploaded to the Snips server.
• The snips_id remains the same (the bot ID doesn’t change).
• Distributed bots will use the updated configuration the next time they run.
• If you changed the password, the old password immediately stops working.

Important: If you change the Source Project, the bot will run the new project’s automation. This is a significant change — make sure you want to switch projects before saving.

Deleting a Bot

Steps

1. Go to Standalone Bots.
2. Find the bot you want to delete.
3. Click the delete icon (trash).
4. A confirmation dialog appears.
5. Click Delete to confirm.

What Happens When You Delete a Bot

Aspect	Behavior
Bot record	Permanently deleted from your local database
Server configuration	Deleted from the RTILA Snips server
Distributed bots	Stop working immediately (can’t fetch configuration)
Original project	NOT affected — your RTILA X project is not deleted

Warning: Deleting a bot is permanent. Any distributed copies of the bot will immediately stop working because they can no longer fetch their configuration from the server.

Bot ID (snips_id)

Every standalone bot has a unique identifier called the snips_id. This ID is:

• Generated by the RTILA Snips server when you upload the bot configuration.
• Used by the bot executable to fetch its configuration from the server.
• Embedded in the bot archive.
• Displayed on the bot’s welcome screen.

Aspect	Details
Format	Alphanumeric string
Generated by	RTILA Snips server
Uniqueness	Globally unique across all bots
Displayed	On the bot’s welcome screen and in the bots list
Used for	Fetching configuration from the server

Bot Table Reference

The Standalone Bots page shows a table with the following columns:

Column	Description
ID	The bot’s snips_id (unique identifier)
Name	The bot’s display name
Project	The source project name
Visibility	“Public” or “Password Protected”
Status	“Active” or “Inactive”
Created	The date the bot was created
Actions	Download, Edit, Delete buttons

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
“Failed to upload bot configuration”	Network error or server issue	Check your internet connection and try again
“Bot configuration not found”	The snips_id doesn’t exist on the server	The bot may have been deleted. Recreate it.
“Invalid password”	Wrong password entered	Enter the correct password. You have 5 attempts.
“Bot is not active”	The bot’s Active toggle is off	Enable the bot in the edit dialog
“Failed to download archive”	Network error or disk full	Check your internet connection and disk space
“Encryption failed”	Internal error	Try again. If the problem persists, contact support.

Tips and Best Practices

Tip	Why It Matters
Test your project before packaging	Make sure the automation works correctly before packaging it as a bot
Use descriptive bot names	Makes it easy to identify bots in the list
Use a credit label for branding	Your branding text is displayed every time the bot runs
Use password protection for paid products	Prevents unauthorized use of your bots
Change passwords to revoke access	If a client’s subscription expires, change the password
Keep a backup of your project	The bot references the project. If you delete the project, the bot’s source is lost.
Test the bot after packaging	Extract the archive and run it to verify it works
Use descriptive file names for archives	Makes it easy to identify distributed bots
Monitor bot usage	Check the Snips server for bot execution statistics
Use HTTPS for distribution	Distribute bot archives securely to prevent tampering