GUI Test Studio / Installation & Configuration
For administrators

Installation & Configuration

Everything you need for the initial setup of GUI Test Studio — from picking the right build to project-specific settings.

⬇ Download GuiTestStudio.zip

Requirements

GUI Test Studio runs on Windows and is published as a standalone, self-contained single-file EXE — no .NET runtime, no installation and no administrator rights required, just download and run.

x86 or x64?

GUI Test Studio is available as both a 32-bit (x86-GuiTestStudio.exe) and a 64-bit build (x64-GuiTestStudio.exe). It matters that the bitness matches the monitored target application:

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Bitness mismatch: If GUI Test Studio runs as a 64-bit process while the target application runs as a 32-bit process under WOW64 (or vice versa), the ClrMD-based .NET exception diagnostics can't read memory information from the target process. Recording, playback, image comparison and AI verification always keep working regardless.

Where projects & settings are stored

Projects, settings and test-run results are stored under Documents\GuiTestStudio — one subfolder per project with a project.json, an assets folder for anchor/reference images, and a runs folder with results including screenshots and HTML reports. The project folder itself can be changed in the general settings.

Core piece

Enabling AI verification

AI verification (analyzing failed image checkpoints and freely worded AI check steps) requires an Anthropic API key. In the general settings (⚙ button) enter the key once — it's stored encrypted (DPAPI, tied to your Windows user account), never in plain text. Alternatively, GUI Test Studio falls back to the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable if no key is stored. The desired model can also be adjusted there.

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Optional: Without a stored key, recording, playback and image comparisons keep working normally — only AI check steps are then skipped and automatic failure analysis stays off.

Project properties

The 🗂 button in the header lets you set, per project:

Central defaults for new projects

The general settings let you define default values (log directory pattern, target size, RAM thresholds) that are applied automatically when a new project is created. Every project stays independently editable afterwards via its project properties.

Fine-tuning image anchor search

The general settings let you enable/disable image anchor search during playback and adjust the anchor size (patch size in pixels) and minimum match score — higher values increase accuracy but make the search pickier.

Debugger attach (experimental)

Optionally, GUI Test Studio can additionally attach as a debugger to the target process to also capture native exceptions.

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Caution: If another debugger (e.g. Visual Studio) is already attached to the target process, this attach will fail — a process can only have one debugger at a time.

Next up

Where to go next