TechSmith Desktop Automation CI

Overview

This skill separates portable checks from workstation-only product execution. Pull requests can validate scripts, enum contracts, manifests, and fixtures without installing licensed desktop software; a protected Windows lane may run a bounded smoke test only when the organization supplies an approved license and interactive session.

Prerequisites

• A repository containing the PowerShell, C#, deployment, or packaging assets
• A CI runner matrix that distinguishes ordinary hosted runners from approved TechSmith workstations
• Sanitized fixtures for COM success, missing registration, timeout, and file-output failure
• A named owner for any licensed smoke-runner credential and cleanup

Tool Discipline

Use Read, Glob, and Grep to inspect local scripts, manifests, logs, and tests. Use WebFetch only for current primary TechSmith documentation. Use Write or Edit only after confirming the target repository file and approval boundary.

Current Contract

• Keep the default pull-request lane secretless and independent of Snagit or Camtasia installation.
• Validate official Snagit enum values: window 1, region 4, file output 2, clipboard output 4.
• Do not make CamtasiaProducer.exe or a legacy exporter a CI prerequisite for current releases.
• Treat the licensed Windows smoke lane as optional, protected, serialized, and manually dispatchable.

Licensing and Authentication

TechSmith desktop activation is not API authentication. Resolve individual sign-in versus business-key or approved offline activation before execution. Redact all keys, account identifiers, activation artifacts, and sensitive endpoint details.

Instructions

1. Inventory scripts, manifests, expected output paths, and all places that instantiate a COM object or product executable.
2. Add parser, lint, and unit checks for argument construction, bounded polling, exit handling, redaction, and cleanup.
3. Use fakes for IsCaptureDone, LastCaptureSucceeded, and LastFileWritten; cover timeout and wrong-path cases.
4. Pin a Windows runner label for the product smoke job and require a protected environment with no fork-secret exposure.
5. Run one non-destructive COM creation probe or recorder version probe; never create an unattended recording in pull requests.
6. Publish JUnit-style results and a redacted environment manifest, then remove temporary artifacts.

Approval Boundaries

Do not place a software key in repository secrets available to forked workflows. Do not install, activate, record, capture, or upload user content on an unapproved hosted runner.

Output

Return portable-gate results, fixture coverage, licensed-lane disposition, runner identity, product/version evidence, artifact cleanup, and any blocked approval.

Error Handling

Examples

The example below shows the minimum redacted evidence expected from a successful invocation of this operator workflow.

lane=portable; scripts=pass; enum_contract=pass; licensed_smoke=skipped(no-approved-runner)

Resources

• Skill-specific official documentation
• Recorder command line
• Official COM samples