No Kernel Footprint
No drivers, no .sys files. User-mode software only – the clean headline for EDR review.
Last updated July 2026
The plain-English summary for your reviewers. The detailed source of truth is in the sections below.
No drivers, no .sys files. User-mode software only – the clean headline for EDR review.
The installer excludes the install dir only. Add %TEMP%\automize_run_* – the highest-churn AV target – yourself.
HTTPS/WSS on 443, no inbound ports. The proxy or egress filter is the usual real blocker.
Binaries are unsigned, so exclusions are keyed on path – see § 1.
This page gives your endpoint-protection and network teams everything they need to review, approve, and apply so the Automize automation agent runs reliably on managed devices – with a rationale for every entry. It is the detailed companion to our System Requirements page.
The agent installs no kernel drivers, filter drivers, or .sys files – nothing kernel-mode. The only privileged install action is a Windows Defender path exclusion. Everything below is ordinary user-mode software behaviour. Because the binaries are unsigned, exclusions must be path-based.
Exclude these directories from real-time and on-access scanning, each one recursively. One umbrella rule on %LOCALAPPDATA%\Automize\Automize covers config, logs, and cache in a single line.
| Path | Recursive | Why it’s needed |
|---|---|---|
C:\Program Files (x86)\Automize |
Yes | Install directory (machine-wide, elevated). Already covered by the installer’s built-in Defender exclusion – list it here for any other AV/EDR product. Note the (x86): the installer resolves to 32-bit Program Files even on 64-bit Windows, so it is not C:\Program Files\Automize. |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Automize\Automize |
Yes | Umbrella – one rule covers three: config (config.json, vault.json, state.json), logs (Log\, including Log\browser_diag\ screenshots), and update-staging / watchdog cache (Cache\). The doubled Automize\Automize is the real on-disk path (platformdirs convention), not a typo. |
%TEMP%\automize_run_* |
Yes | Most important entry. Per-run scratch: downloaded step scripts, screenshots, and working files are written and executed rapidly here. This is the highest-churn AV target and is not covered by the installer’s Defender exclusion. |
%USERPROFILE%\.cache\selenium |
Yes | Selenium-managed browser-driver downloads (chromedriver / msedgedriver). |
%APPDATA%\undetected_chromedriver |
Stealth only | Present only if stealth (undetected-chromedriver) mode is ever used by an activity. |
No credential files to exclude. The vault master key and TOTP seeds live in Windows Credential Manager, not on disk – there is nothing secret in the folders above.
Add these to your AV/EDR allowlist. The agent legitimately launches Office and browser applications as child processes – expected for RPA, but a pattern behavioural engines flag.
| Executable | Role | Note |
|---|---|---|
Automize.exe |
Main agent & embedded Python host | Single PyInstaller --onedir frozen build – the Python interpreter is embedded, so there is no separate python.exe. An _internal\ folder with python3xx.dll sits beside it but runs nothing of its own. Interactive GUI process by default. |
chromedriver.exe · msedgedriver.exe |
Browser drivers | Resolved at runtime by Selenium Manager into %USERPROFILE%\.cache\selenium\; drive Chrome/Edge over the DevTools Protocol. |
undetected_chromedriver.exe |
Stealth driver (optional) | Present only when an activity sets stealth:true; lives under %APPDATA%\undetected_chromedriver\. |
chrome.exe · msedge.exe |
Browser being driven | The client’s own installed browser – not shipped by Automize. Listed so driver-controlled sessions aren’t flagged. |
EXCEL.EXE · OUTLOOK.EXE · WINWORD.EXE · POWERPNT.EXE |
Office automation (COM) | Launched as children of Automize.exe via COM. The non-Office parent → Office child pattern is a common EDR heuristic; allowlist the parent so it isn’t blocked. |
powershell.exe |
Transient helper | Short-lived only: the installer’s Defender-exclusion step, and a detached relaunch watchdog (relaunch_watchdog.ps1) that fires solely during a silent self-update. |
AutomizeLoginAgent · task AutomizeUnattendedBot |
Unattended Server (optional) | Service “Automize Login Agent” plus a companion Scheduled Task – they exist only if an admin installs the unattended Windows Server deployment. Omit otherwise. |
All traffic is outbound HTTPS/WSS on port 443. No inbound ports are opened on the device. This is frequently the real blocker – an authenticated proxy or egress filter, not the antivirus.
| Destination | Port | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
automize.co.za*.automize.co.za |
443 | Platform API (HTTPS) – job dispatch, heartbeat, run lifecycle, results, licensing. Also live updates over wss://automize.co.za/ws/ on the same host (interactive debug & paired sessions). Single flat host, no regional subdomains. |
*.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.comor *.amazonaws.com |
443 | Presigned upload/download of file artefacts (project files, screenshots) directly to object storage in eu-west-1 (Dublin). Use *.amazonaws.com as a safe catch-all if per-region wildcards aren’t practical. |
o4510997831221248.ingest.de.sentry.io |
443 | Crash / error reporting (Sentry, EU region). Safe to omit if your policy blocks it. |
api.github.comobjects.githubusercontent.com |
443 | Auto-update: release lookup, then signed binary download from the public release archive. |
| Your target systems | 443 / varies | Only contacted when a process uses that connector (an ERP/HR API, database, and so on). Tenant-specific; this traffic never leaves your network. |
Do not open port 8080. It is server-internal only – the bot never needs it, inbound or outbound.
Proxy note. The agent honours the system proxy. Authenticated proxies that require interactive Windows credentials are the most common failure for unattended runs – allow the hosts above to bypass credential prompts, or use a service-account proxy rule.
These are the legitimate RPA techniques the agent uses. Behavioural / heuristic engines may flag them – this section exists so your reviewers recognise them as expected rather than malicious. All are user-mode; none touch the kernel.
keybd_event, mouse_event, SetCursorPos). This is how the bot operates applications; keystroke-injection heuristics see it.--load-extension, and no .crx or manifest is present.On Windows frozen builds the agent updates itself: it downloads Bot-v<version>-win.exe into …\Automize\Automize\Cache, verifies it against a SHA-256 manifest, then silently installs and swaps the binary in place (a relaunch_watchdog.ps1 helper is written to the same Cache folder during the swap). That staging folder is already covered by the %LOCALAPPDATA%\Automize\Automize umbrella exclusion in section 1 – no extra rule needed. Downloads come from the two GitHub hosts in section 3.
The installer already adds the install-directory exclusion. To add the rest in one step, run this in an elevated PowerShell on the bot machine:
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Automize'
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Automize\Automize"
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "$env:TEMP\automize_run_*"
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionPath "$env:USERPROFILE\.cache\selenium"
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess 'Automize.exe'
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess 'chromedriver.exe'
Add-MpPreference -ExclusionProcess 'msedgedriver.exe'For a third-party AV/EDR product, apply the same paths, processes, and endpoints through that product’s management console – the values are identical.