topic Re: Running commands under Windchill Shell from a script in Windchill

Running commands under Windchill Shell from a script

Constantine — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 08:22:13 GMT

Version: Windchill 13.0

Use Case: We have an Ant build script that builds and installs a PDMLink customization package. An engineer connects to a server via Remote Desktop and runs it from within Windchill Shell. We'd like to trigger it from a CD pipeline instead.

Description:

Hello All,

I've been using Windchill Shell interactively, i.e. launching `<WT_HOME>/bin/windchill shell` and then doing everything else in a session that opens. I can't figure out how to launch something (e.g., an Ant build script) under Windchill Shell in a "headless" mode, i.e. from a script (PowerShell, a batch file, a Bash script, ...)

It sounds like a common problem and I'm sure people do it all the time, but... how?

Thanks,

Constantine

Re: Running commands under Windchill Shell from a script

avillanueva — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:28:18 GMT

Not an expert but I think you need to have a runner installed on the Windchill server connected to Github. It can then be listening for requests to run your scripts.

Re: Running commands under Windchill Shell from a script

rhart — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:04:34 GMT

I've never tried to script ant but used .bat for other windchill shell commands like xconfmanager, loadfiles, running cps installer.

I think ant would be similar, for example the ant command "ant -DHTTPS_ENABLED=true -f config.xml reconfigure" might look like this?

set "ANT_BIN=%WT_HOME%\ant\bin"

call "%ANT_BIN%\ant.bat" ^

-DHTTPS_ENABLED=true ^

-f config.xml reconfigure

@echo off setlocal EnableExtensions EnableDelayedExpansion REM ---- Configure Windchill home ---- set "WT_HOME=E:\ptc\Windchill_13.0\Windchill" set "WC_BIN=%WT_HOME%\bin" REM ---- Logging ---- set "LOG=%WT_HOME%\logs\windchill_shell_command.log" echo.>>"%LOG%" echo ==================================================>>"%LOG%" echo %DATE% %TIME% - Starting windchill shell command >>"%LOG%" echo WT_HOME=%WT_HOME%>>"%LOG%" echo ==================================================>>"%LOG%" REM ---- pre-requisite checks ---- if not exist "%WC_BIN%\setvars.bat" ( echo ERROR: Missing "%WC_BIN%\setvars.bat" echo ERROR: Missing "%WC_BIN%\setvars.bat">>"%LOG%" exit /b 10 ) if not exist "%WC_BIN%\xconfmanager.bat" ( echo ERROR: Missing "%WC_BIN%\xconfmanager.bat" echo ERROR: Missing "%WC_BIN%\xconfmanager.bat">>"%LOG%" exit /b 11 ) pushd "%WC_BIN%" || ( echo ERROR: Cannot cd to "%WC_BIN%" echo ERROR: Cannot cd to "%WC_BIN%">>"%LOG%" exit /b 12 ) REM ---- Start the environment ---- call "%WC_BIN%\setvars.bat" >>"%LOG%" 2>&1 set "RC=%ERRORLEVEL%" if not "%RC%"=="0" ( echo ERROR: setvars.bat failed with exit code %RC% echo ERROR: setvars.bat failed with exit code %RC%>>"%LOG%" popd exit /b %RC% ) REM ---- RUN WINDCHILL SHELL COMMANDS ---- echo Running: windchill shell command echo Running: windchill shell command>>"%LOG%" REM ---- Run an xconfmanager command REM call "%WC_BIN%\xconfmanager.bat" -p >>"%LOG%" 2>&1 REM set "RC=%ERRORLEVEL%" REM ---- Run a loadfile command like: windchill wt.load.util.CSV2XML -delimiter ~ -input test.csv ---- REM call "%WC_BIN%\windchill.exe" wt.load.util.CSV2XML ^ REM -delimiter ~ ^ REM -input "doc_migrations.csv" ^ REM >>"%LOG%" 2>&1 REM set "RC=%ERRORLEVEL%" REM ---- Run a loadfile command like: windchill wt.load.LoadFromFile -d E:\ptc\Windchill_10.2\Windchill\src\loadFiles\test.xml -u wcadmin -p <pass> -CONT_PATH "/wt.inf.container.OrgContainer=<org>/wt.pdmlink.PDMLinkProduct=<product>" call "%WC_BIN%\windchill.exe" wt.load.LoadFromFile ^ -d "E:\ptc\Windchill_13.0\Windchill\src\loadFiles\doc_migrations.xml" ^ -u wcadmin ^ -p <pass> ^ -CONT_PATH "/wt.inf.container.OrgContainer=<org>/wt.pdmlink.PDMLinkProduct=<product>" ^ >>"%LOG%" 2>&1 set "RC=%ERRORLEVEL%" REM ---- Run xconfmanager -p ---- REM call "%WC_BIN%\xconfmanager.bat" -p >>"%LOG%" 2>&1 REM set "RC=%ERRORLEVEL%" REM set "WT_HOME=E:\ptc\Windchill_13.0\Windchill" REM set "WC_BIN=%WT_HOME%\bin" REM Optional log REM set "LOG=%WT_HOME%\logs\cps_install.log" REM ---- Run java REM echo Running java safe area install... >>"%LOG%" REM java -jar "%JAR%" --completeSafeAreaInstall "%WT_HOME%" >>"%LOG%" 2>&1 REM set "RC=%ERRORLEVEL%" echo Running: windchill shell command done echo Running: windchill shell command done>>"%LOG%" popd if not "%RC%"=="0" ( echo ERROR: windchill shell command failed with exit code %RC% echo ERROR: windchill shell command failed with exit code %RC%>>"%LOG%" exit /b %RC% ) echo Success: windchill shell command completed. echo Success: windchill shell command completed.>>"%LOG%" exit /b 0

Re: Running commands under Windchill Shell from a script

vnamboodheri — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 10:02:13 GMT

Hello @Constantine,

It looks like you have some responses from some community experts. If it helped you solve your question please mark the reply as the Accepted Solution.
Of course, if you have more to share on your issue, please let the Community know so other community members can continue to help you.

Thanks,
Vivek N.
Community Moderation Team.

Re: Running commands under Windchill Shell from a script

Constantine — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:04:08 GMT

Thanks @rhart , that's exactly what I was looking for!

So all I needed to do in my script was to set WT_HOME and call setvars.bat. It works! Demystifying windchill shell 😁

Regards,
Constantine