IB Gateway Automation (IBGA)

IB Gateway in headless docker container.

---

IBGA is IB Gateway in headless mode. It is a container image preloaded with scripts for automating user interactions with IBG, including TOTP (IBKR Mobile Authenticator App) automation and second factor support.

Lightweight by design

• Near-zero memory footprint — the automation layer is plain bash scripts plus a small JVMTI agent and a few C utilities
• ~140 MB image — built on debian:bookworm-slim, multi-arch (linux/amd64, linux/arm64)

Benefits

• A "docker compose" flavored configuration
• Store username, password, time zone and other options in one place
• Automatic installation and easy upgrade of IBG
• Automatic handling of daily restarts beyond the one week limit, upon exit or crash
• Automatic handling of paper trading confirmation and options dialog
• Automatic daily export of logs
• Retaining of settings after an upgrade
• A disposable container design
• Support Mobile Authenticator App automation (as of Nov 3, 2024)
• Support two-factor authentication (as of Nov 11, 2022)

Quick start

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  my-ibga:
    image: heshiming/ibga
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - TERM=xterm
      - IB_USERNAME=username
      - IB_PASSWORD=password
      - IB_REGION=America
      - IB_TIMEZONE=America/New York
      - IB_LOGINTAB=IB API
      - IB_LOGINTYPE=Live Trading
      - IB_LOGOFF=11:55 PM
      - IB_APILOG=data
      - IB_LOGLEVEL=Error
    volumes:
      - ./run/program:/home/ibg
      - ./run/settings:/home/ibg_settings
    ports:
      - "15800:5800"   # noVNC web viewer
      - "4000:4000"    # IB Gateway API

docker compose up -d

Documentation: https://heshiming.github.io/ibga/

Under the hood

• IBGA runs in a set of bash scripts
• JAuto, a JVMTI agent determines screen locations of windows, text boxes, and buttons
• xdotool simulates keyboard and mouse input
• Xvfb, x11vnc, and noVNC provide a VNC-capable X11 environment for IBG
• oathtool generates TOTP passcodes

Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome.

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE.