10 Python Automation Scripts That Save Me 10+ Hours Per Week

I'm obsessed with automation. If I do something more than twice, I write a script.

Here are 10 Python scripts I use daily that save me over 10 hours per week. Each one is under 50 lines and ready to use.

1. 📧 Auto-Reply to Emails

import imaplib
import email
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText

def auto_reply(imap_server, smtp_server, email_addr, password):
    # Connect to inbox
    mail = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL(imap_server)
    mail.login(email_addr, password)
    mail.select('inbox')

    # Find unread emails
    _, messages = mail.search(None, 'UNSEEN')

    for msg_id in messages[0].split():
        _, msg_data = mail.fetch(msg_id, '(RFC822)')
        msg = email.message_from_bytes(msg_data[0][1])

        sender = email.utils.parseaddr(msg['From'])[1]
        subject = msg['Subject']

        # Smart auto-reply
        reply = MIMEText(f"Thanks for your email about '{subject}'. "
                        f"I'll get back to you within 24 hours.")
        reply['Subject'] = f"Re: {subject}"
        reply['To'] = sender

        smtp = smtplib.SMTP_SSL(smtp_server)
        smtp.login(email_addr, password)
        smtp.send_message(reply)
        smtp.quit()

    print(f"Processed {len(messages[0].split())} emails")

Time saved: 1 hour/week

2. 📁 Smart File Organizer

import os
import shutil
from pathlib import Path

RULES = {
    'Images': ['.jpg', '.jpeg', '.png', '.gif', '.svg', '.webp'],
    'Documents': ['.pdf', '.doc', '.docx', '.txt', '.md'],
    'Code': ['.py', '.js', '.ts', '.html', '.css', '.json'],
    'Videos': ['.mp4', '.mov', '.avi', '.mkv'],
    'Archives': ['.zip', '.tar', '.gz', '.rar'],
}

def organize(directory):
    path = Path(directory)
    moved = 0

    for file in path.iterdir():
        if file.is_file():
            ext = file.suffix.lower()
            for folder, extensions in RULES.items():
                if ext in extensions:
                    dest = path / folder
                    dest.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
                    shutil.move(str(file), str(dest / file.name))
                    moved += 1
                    break

    print(f"Organized {moved} files")

# Usage: organize('/path/to/messy/folder')

Time saved: 30 min/week

3. 🔍 Bulk API Health Checker

import requests
import concurrent.futures
from datetime import datetime

ENDPOINTS = [
    'https://api.example.com/health',
    'https://api.example.com/v2/status',
    'https://staging.example.com/health',
]

def check_endpoint(url):
    try:
        r = requests.get(url, timeout=5)
        return {
            'url': url,
            'status': r.status_code,
            'response_time': r.elapsed.total_seconds(),
            'healthy': r.status_code == 200
        }
    except Exception as e:
        return {'url': url, 'status': 'ERROR', 'error': str(e), 'healthy': False}

def health_check():
    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=10) as executor:
        results = list(executor.map(check_endpoint, ENDPOINTS))

    print(f"\n{'='*60}")
    print(f"Health Check - {datetime.now().strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')}")
    print(f"{'='*60}")

    for r in results:
        icon = '✅' if r['healthy'] else '❌'
        print(f"{icon} {r['url']} - {r['status']}")

    unhealthy = [r for r in results if not r['healthy']]
    if unhealthy:
        print(f"\n⚠️  {len(unhealthy)} endpoints DOWN!")
        # Send alert (Slack, email, etc.)

health_check()

Time saved: 2 hours/week

4. 📊 CSV to Beautiful Report

import csv
import json
from collections import Counter

def csv_to_report(csv_file, group_by_col):
    with open(csv_file) as f:
        reader = csv.DictReader(f)
        rows = list(reader)

    # Group and count
    groups = Counter(row[group_by_col] for row in rows)

    print(f"\n📊 Report: {csv_file}")
    print(f"Total records: {len(rows)}")
    print(f"\nBreakdown by {group_by_col}:")
    print("-" * 40)

    for name, count in groups.most_common(10):
        bar = '█' * (count * 30 // max(groups.values()))
        print(f"  {name:20} {bar} ({count})")

    return {
        'total': len(rows),
        'groups': dict(groups),
        'columns': list(rows[0].keys()) if rows else []
    }

Time saved: 1 hour/week

5. 🔄 Git Multi-Repo Updater

import subprocess
import os

REPOS = [
    '~/projects/frontend',
    '~/projects/backend',
    '~/projects/mobile',
    '~/projects/docs',
]

def update_all_repos():
    for repo in REPOS:
        repo = os.path.expanduser(repo)
        if not os.path.exists(repo):
            print(f"⚠️  Skipping {repo} (not found)")
            continue

        print(f"\n📦 Updating {os.path.basename(repo)}...")

        result = subprocess.run(
            ['git', 'pull', '--rebase'],
            cwd=repo, capture_output=True, text=True
        )

        if result.returncode == 0:
            print(f"  ✅ {result.stdout.strip()}")
        else:
            print(f"  ❌ {result.stderr.strip()}")

update_all_repos()

Time saved: 30 min/week

6-10: Quick Fire Scripts

6. Screenshot Webpage

# pip install playwright
from playwright.sync_api import sync_playwright

def screenshot(url, output='screenshot.png'):
    with sync_playwright() as p:
        browser = p.chromium.launch()
        page = browser.new_page(viewport={'width': 1920, 'height': 1080})
        page.goto(url)
        page.screenshot(path=output, full_page=True)
        browser.close()

7. Password Generator

import secrets
import string

def generate_password(length=20):
    chars = string.ascii_letters + string.digits + '!@#$%^&*'
    password = ''.join(secrets.choice(chars) for _ in range(length))
    print(f"🔐 {password}")
    return password

8. JSON Formatter

import json
import sys

def pretty_json(file_or_string):
    try:
        data = json.loads(file_or_string)
    except:
        with open(file_or_string) as f:
            data = json.load(f)
    print(json.dumps(data, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False))

9. Duplicate File Finder

import hashlib
from pathlib import Path
from collections import defaultdict

def find_duplicates(directory):
    hashes = defaultdict(list)
    for file in Path(directory).rglob('*'):
        if file.is_file():
            h = hashlib.md5(file.read_bytes()).hexdigest()
            hashes[h].append(str(file))

    dupes = {h: files for h, files in hashes.items() if len(files) > 1}
    for h, files in dupes.items():
        print(f"\n🔄 Duplicates ({len(files)} files):")
        for f in files:
            print(f"  {f}")

10. Pomodoro Timer

import time
import os

def pomodoro(work=25, rest=5, cycles=4):
    for i in range(cycles):
        print(f"\n🍅 Cycle {i+1}/{cycles} - WORK ({work} min)")
        time.sleep(work * 60)
        os.system('say "Break time!"')  # macOS

        print(f"☕ REST ({rest} min)")
        time.sleep(rest * 60)
        os.system('say "Back to work!"')

🎁 Bonus: The Automation Mindset

The real skill isn't writing scripts — it's recognizing what should be automated.

My rule: If you do it 3 times, automate it.

Want 100+ more automation-ready prompts?

👉 100+ AI Coding Prompts — battle-tested prompts for Python, JavaScript, DevOps, and more.

What's your favorite automation script? Share it in the comments!