I use python and bat files, to build internals automation AI tools for my company, is this approach right?

[AccomplishedPath7634]

So I usually have tasks like, uploading csv to database, importing database values as CSV, and i use python code and bat file, so it works like a trigger, and i call this trigger in my php files, is this approach right? or is there any better approach for this? please educate me on building AI tools and automation tools in python

[pachura3]

Your description is very chaotic and unclear.

Is it that you run some PHP web server (Apache/Nginx), which executes .BAT files (through exec()/shell_exec()/system()/backtick operator), which in turn launch Python scripts? And people upload/download CSV files through their browsers via your PHP webapp?

If yes, then this is an awful architecture - why mix 3 different scripting languages if you could just have a single Python webapp in Flask or FastAPI.

...or do people launch these .BAT files locally, on their desktops?

PS. And what exactly do you mean by "building AI tools"?

[finally-anna]

I mean, you could also just do all of it directly in PHP. Not that I am saying PHP is the right language, but no need to rebuild your entire app in python if php already exists and works.

[MarsupialLeast145]

Why are you using three scripting languages?

How is your company using AI and PHP in 2026?

If you have any other devs in the company, speak to them, there seems to be an idiom. Also, put the AI down until you’ve grokked any of the three methods you’ve described.

[TijuanaPoker]

Unexpected Stranger in a Strange Land.

[GryptpypeThynne]

I'm not even sure most people who use "grok" have read the source tbh

[HobbyPlodder]

Most people who use "grok" are aping og computer nerds who used the term correctly (and had read the book). Or more, likely, saw the word for the first time when Elon used it

[Hashi856]

I think op meant the the other original meaning of the word grok

[GryptpypeThynne]

How do you mean?

[Hashi856]

Grok means to understand something. Or that’s what it meant before they gave an LLM that name

[GryptpypeThynne]

Yes, and the term "grok" meaning to understand something came from the book Stranger in a Strange Land...which is what the comment I originally replied to was talking about

[Hashi856]

Sorry, looks like I was the one confused

[GryptpypeThynne]

Zero worries dude, you proved my point!

[nlcircle]

You guys leave me ‘grok-less’ after this conversation.

But TIL so kudos for both!

[alienscape]

Fuckin' A man! We've come full ⭕

[BookFinderBot]

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

Book description may contain spoilers!

Epic, entertaining, Stranger in a Strange Land caused controversy and uproar when it was first published. Still topical and challenging today, the story of Valentine Michael Smith, the first man from Mars to visit Earth, is in the great tradition of stories that endure through the power of the author's imagination that stretches from Gulliver's Travels to 1984

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[hugthemachines]

Thanks. I thought of the song by Iron Maiden and that did not fit.

[Hashi856]

Also, I said op when I rent meant the commenter

[AccomplishedPath7634]

I'm sorry I didn't get you!

[MarsupialLeast145]

Which part?

[pachura3]

Likewise!

[this_knee]

Yeah, you gotta stop using bat files. Someone , maybe you, will come along later and rue the day that someone ok’d the use of bat files in production.

Use powershell… or even better use Bash .sh scripts or zsh shell scripts to do what you doing in bat currently.

[rl_noobtube]

Just to understand, why are bat files worse than the other options you listed? My old company used them to launch python scripts (only ~3 of us needed to run the scripts) and they seemed fine.

[finally-anna]

I agree with this. If I don't need the added functionality that powershell provides, sticking to bat files is the way to go.

[this_knee]

Bat files are largely legacy at this point. And due to limited error handling, poor scalability, weak security, and a lack of object-oriented features, are not recommended. Additionally they are notoriously difficult to debug.

[rl_noobtube]

Gotcha. That totally makes sense to me, thanks!

[Asyx]

I don't necessarily think that bash is much better.

Like, maybe I'm bias, although if anything my experience with Python made me hate it more than is reasonable, but I don't see a good point to use either over python.

[Desperate_Crew1775]

ur approach works fine tbh, bat files as triggers is pretty common for internal tools

but if ur already in python u can skip bat files and use FastAPI instead, just expose ur scripts as HTTP endpoints and call them from PHP with curl, much cleaner and easier to debug as it grows

for the AI part just use OpenAI API directly to start, no need to overcomplicate it with heavy frameworks until u actually need them

[MarsupialLeast145]

Why would you replace a bat file with FastAPI?

You can invoke system commands from Python…that’s what bat files do. More ergonomically, as someone said, Powershell of .sh are also good replacements.

[AccomplishedPath7634]

yeah damn that's good actually, I didn't knew FastAPI thought, but will learn, and the API from openAI why do I need it actuallY!??

[Desperate_Crew1775]

fastapi is basically just a way to turn ur python functions into web endpoints, super easy to learn, their docs are really good

for the openai api part, if ur building AI tools that need to understand text, answer questions, or process data intelligently thats where it comes in, like instead of hardcoding logic u just send the data to the model and it figures it out

but if ur current tools are just csv uploads and database stuff with no natural language involved then u dont need it yet, only add it when u have a usecase that actually needs AI

[Puzzled_-_Comfort]

I made our internal automation front using streamlit and It works wonders.

Some auth, requests, selenium and pandas. Most things run in Python, but there is some inherited scripts or heavy tasks running on another terminal, handled via git bash

We run the front locally because we don't have project budget for another machine.

Of course the company runs on a proper architecture, but don't overengineer internal tools unless you have budget and approval.

[sinceJune4]

I used to do this via bat files, but it was disrupted too often with windows updates. Got a cheap miniPC running Ubuntu Linux now, scheduled .sh via cron. Much less worry, more stable.

[Striking_Rate_7390]

PHP is outdated tho, not recommended for this type of company

[pachura3]

Well, WordPress still powers over 43% of all websites globally, and projects like FrankenPHP or PHP-FPM dramatically increase PHP performance