🤖 Astron RPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

📚 Table of Contents

• 🔧 Installation & Deployment
• 👥 Client Related
• ⚡ Performance & Loading
• 📖 Feature Usage
• 🐛 Troubleshooting
• 📞 Get Help

🔧 Installation & Deployment

Q: Can the open-source client run on Linux?

A: ❌ Not yet! The open-source version of Astron RPA client currently only supports Windows systems.

Supported Systems:

• ✅ Windows 10/11

👥 Client Related

Q: Do I need to install a client?

A: ✅ Yes! RPA currently doesn't have a web version and requires a client to run.

Q: Do I have to manually build the client?

A: ✅ No! You can download the msi installer package directly from the Release version and install it directly.

Q: How do I quickly deploy the latest code?

A:

Server Update Method 1️⃣: Quick Update (Download Latest Image)

Best for production environments, the fastest and simplest update method.

# 1. Stop old containers
docker-compose down

# 2. Remove old images (optional, to clean up local images)
docker rmi ghcr.io/iflytek/astron-rpa/openapi-service:latest
docker rmi ghcr.io/iflytek/astron-rpa/ai-service:latest
docker rmi ghcr.io/iflytek/astron-rpa/robot-service:latest

# 3. Start new containers and automatically download latest images
docker-compose up -d

Server Update Method 2️⃣: Local Build (For Developers)

Allows customization, suitable for development and testing environments.

# 1. Pull the latest code
git pull origin main

# 2. Enter docker directory
cd docker

# 3. Edit docker-compose.yml
# - Comment out the image line
# - Uncomment the build section

# Example configuration:
# services:
#   openapi-service:
#     # image: ghcr.io/iflytek/astron-rpa/openapi-service:latest
#     build:
#       context: ..
#       dockerfile: backend/openapi-service/Dockerfile

# 4. Build and start locally
docker-compose up -d --build

# 5. Wait for build to complete (may take several minutes)
docker-compose logs -f

💡 Update Tips:

• Method 1️⃣ is fastest, suitable for production
• Method 2️⃣ allows customization, suitable for developers
• Database data is preserved during updates (mysql container data in volumes)

Server Update Method 3️⃣: Update Database with ATLAS

Quickly update database schema by starting the ATLAS container for automatic migration.

# 1. Start the ATLAS container for database migration
docker-compose up -d atlas

# 2. View ATLAS migration logs (ensure migration succeeded)
docker-compose logs -f atlas

💡 About ATLAS:

• ATLAS is a database version management tool for automatically executing database migration scripts
• Each server update may include database schema changes that need to be applied via ATLAS
• Existing data in the database is preserved; only table structures and schema are updated

Client Update Method 1️⃣: Update Python Packages Directly

Quick development iteration, only updating specific packages.

If you've modified Python packages in the engine directory (such as workflowlib, executor, etc.), you can copy them directly to the client's Python environment:

# Example: updating workflowlib
# 1. Find the source code location
# engine/shared/astronverse-workflowlib

# 2. Copy to client installation directory
# From: \astron-rpa\engine\shared\astronverse-workflowlib\src\astronverse\workflowlib
# To: C:\Program Files\Astron RPA\data\python_core\Lib\site-packages\astronverse\workflowlib

Common Packages and Locations:

💡 Restart Tip:

• If updating packages in Servers, you need to restart the client to load the new packages

Client Update Method 2️⃣: Repackage and Reinstall

Use this when updating multiple packages or need a complete version update.

If you've made extensive changes or want to fully update the client, you can use build.bat to package a new client msi installer:

# 1. Run in the project root directory
.\build.bat

# 2. Wait for build to complete (may take 10-30 minutes)
# New msi installer will be generated in build/dist/ directory

# 3. Use the newly generated msi installer to reinstall
# - Run build/dist/*.msi file directly
# - Or replace it in the release directory for other users to download

Update Methods Comparison

💡 Best Practices:

• 🔨 Development Phase → Use "Copy packages" for quick iteration
• ✅ Feature Complete → Use "build.bat" to package as complete installer
• 🚀 Production → Use official Release version

⚡ Performance & Loading

Q: Why does the software hang on loading?

A:

Here are some situations encountered in practice:

1️⃣ remote_addr not modified in conf.yaml

❌ Symptom: Client hangs on loading page

✅ Solution: After installation, modify the server address in resources/conf.yaml in the installation directory:

# 32742 is the default port, change if modified
remote_addr: http://YOUR_SERVER_ADDRESS:32742/
skip_engine_start: false

2️⃣ Server hasn't fully started up yet

❌ Symptom: Newly started service is still initializing

✅ Solution: Wait a while and then restart the client

3️⃣ CASDOOR_EXTERNAL_ENDPOINT not modified in .env

❌ Symptom: Authentication service cannot be accessed

✅ Solution:

# Modify casdoor service configuration in .env (8000 is the default port)
CASDOOR_EXTERNAL_ENDPOINT="http://{YOUR_SERVER_IP}:8000"

📖 Feature Usage

Q: Why can't I capture web elements? Why does web automation always fail?

A:

🔴 Most likely you haven't installed the browser plugin

For more web automation information, see the Official Guide

Q: How do I use AI capabilities in workflows?

A:

Before using AI atomic capabilities, you need to configure the corresponding AI parameters when deploying the server.

# Large model URL and corresponding API_KEY (compatible with OpenAI format)
AICHAT_BASE_URL="https://api.deepseek.com/v1/"
AICHAT_API_KEY="sk-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

# Iflytek Cloud OCR authentication method (get from official website)
XFYUN_APP_ID=dxxxxx38
XFYUN_API_SECRET=ZTFxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxNDVm
XFYUN_API_KEY=c4xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx8a7

# Yunma CAPTCHA authentication method
JFBYM_ENDPOINT="http://api.jfbym.com/api/YmServer/customApi"
JFBYM_API_TOKEN="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

⚠️ Important: Restart the server after configuration to ensure it takes effect

Q: How do I make external calls? How do I use MCP?

A:

For external calls, the official documentation has detailed descriptions and API documentation.

The only thing to note is that all URLs need to be changed from the official domain to your own server domain.

# Official version:
https://newapi.iflyrpa.com/api/rpa-openapi/workflows/get

# Open-source version:
http://{IP_ADDRESS}:32742/api/rpa-openapi/workflows/get

📌 Reminder: All robots that need to be called externally need to be published in the designer first, then configured for external calls in the executor

🐛 Troubleshooting

Q: How do I collect diagnostic information?

A:

When encountering problems, query the server and engine logs:

# 1️⃣ Query Docker logs
docker ps -a
docker logs [container_name] > logs.txt

# 2️⃣ Query client logs
# Logs are saved in: installation_directory\data\logs
# If software is installed on C drive: %APPDATA%\astron-rpa\logs

📞 Get Help

🌐 Official Channels

📚 Useful Resources

• 🏠 Project Homepage
• 📖 Project Introduction
• 📝 Complete Installation Guide
• 🐳 Docker Deployment Guide
• 👨‍💻 Usage Guide

🔄 Update History

⏰ Last Updated: 2025-11-26
👤 Maintainer: DoctorBruce
📜 License: Apache-2.0