diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 17b60b59..3d809a11 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ Unsupported files can still be converted to a supported format/codec from the `F
 
 ## [Import / export](import-export.md)
 
-## [Command line interface (CLI)](cli.md)
+## [Command line interface (CLI) / API](cli.md)
 
 ## [Known issues, limitations, troubleshooting, FAQ](issues.md)
 
diff --git a/cli.md b/cli.md
index 2395c684..8a80bec7 100644
--- a/cli.md
+++ b/cli.md
@@ -22,3 +22,32 @@ See [available settings](https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut/blob/master/public
 ```bash
 LosslessCut --settings-json '{captureFormat:"jpeg", "keyframeCut":true}'
 ```
+
+## Controlling a running instance (experimental)
+
+If you have the "Allow multiple instances" setting enabled, you can control a running instance of LosslessCut from the outside, using for example a command line. You do this by issuing messages to it through the `LosslessCut` command. Currently only keyboard actions are supported. *Note that this is considered experimental and the API may change at any time.*
+
+### Keyboard actions, `--keyboard-action`
+
+Simulate a keyboard press action. The available action names can be found in the "Keyboard shortcuts" dialog (Note: you don't have to bind them to any key).
+
+Example:
+
+```bash
+# Export the currently opened file
+LosslessCut --keyboard-action export
+```
+
+#### Batch example
+
+Note that there is no synchronization, and the action will exit immediately, regardless of how long the action takes. This means that you will have to sleep between multiple actions.
+
+```bash
+for PROJECT in /path/to/folder/with/projects/*.llc
+    LosslessCut $PROJECT
+    sleep 5 # wait for the file to open
+    LosslessCut --keyboard-action export
+    sleep 10 # hopefully done by then
+    LosslessCut --keyboard-action quit
+done
+```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/public/electron.js b/public/electron.js
index 6ab73cf3..3c5c9638 100644
--- a/public/electron.js
+++ b/public/electron.js
@@ -201,7 +201,11 @@ function initApp() {
     if (!Array.isArray(additionalData?.argv)) return;
 
     const argv2 = parseCliArgs(additionalData.argv);
-    if (argv2._) openFilesEventually(argv2._);
+
+    logger.info('second-instance', argv2);
+
+    if (argv2._ && argv2._.length > 0) openFilesEventually(argv2._);
+    else if (argv2.keyboardAction) mainWindow.webContents.send('apiKeyboardAction', argv2.keyboardAction);
   });
 
   // Quit when all windows are closed.
@@ -317,6 +321,10 @@ function focusWindow() {
   }
 }
 
+function quitApp() {
+  electron.app.quit();
+}
+
 const hasDisabledNetworking = () => !!disableNetworking;
 
-module.exports = { focusWindow, isDev, hasDisabledNetworking };
+module.exports = { focusWindow, isDev, hasDisabledNetworking, quitApp };
diff --git a/src/App.jsx b/src/App.jsx
index d585a06a..6e68c202 100644
--- a/src/App.jsx
+++ b/src/App.jsx
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ const filePathToUrl = window.require('file-url');
 const { parse: parsePath, join: pathJoin, basename, dirname } = window.require('path');
 
 const remote = window.require('@electron/remote');
-const { focusWindow, hasDisabledNetworking } = remote.require('./electron');
+const { focusWindow, hasDisabledNetworking, quitApp } = remote.require('./electron');
 
 
 const calcShouldShowWaveform = (zoomedDuration) => (zoomedDuration != null && zoomedDuration < ffmpegExtractWindow * 8);
@@ -1890,7 +1890,7 @@ const App = memo(() => {
     electron.clipboard.writeText(await formatTsv(selectedSegments));
   }, [isFileOpened, selectedSegments]);
 
-  const onKeyPress = useCallback(({ action, keyup }) => {
+  const getKeyboardAction = useCallback(({ action, keyup }) => {
     function seekReset() {
       seekAccelerationRef.current = 1;
     }
@@ -1996,10 +1996,15 @@ const App = memo(() => {
       decreaseVolume: () => setPlaybackVolume((val) => Math.max(0, val - 0.07)),
       copySegmentsToClipboard,
       reloadFile: () => setCacheBuster((v) => v + 1),
+      quit: () => quitApp(),
     };
 
+    return mainActions[action];
+  }, [addSegment, alignSegmentTimesToKeyframes, askSetStartTimeOffset, batchFileJump, batchOpenSelectedFile, captureSnapshot, captureSnapshotAsCoverArt, changePlaybackRate, cleanupFilesDialog, clearSegments, closeBatch, combineOverlappingSegments, combineSelectedSegments, concatCurrentBatch, convertFormatBatch, copySegmentsToClipboard, createFixedDurationSegments, createNumSegments, createRandomSegments, currentSegIndexSafe, cutSegmentsHistory, deselectAllSegments, duplicateCurrentSegment, extractAllStreams, extractCurrentSegmentFramesAsImages, extractSelectedSegmentsFramesAsImages, fillSegmentsGaps, goToTimecode, increaseRotation, invertAllSegments, invertSelectedSegments, jumpCutEnd, jumpCutStart, jumpSeg, jumpTimelineEnd, jumpTimelineStart, keyboardNormalSeekSpeed, keyboardSeekAccFactor, onExportPress, onLabelSegment, pause, play, removeCutSegment, removeSelectedSegments, reorderSegsByStartTime, seekClosestKeyframe, seekRel, seekRelPercent, selectAllSegments, selectOnlyCurrentSegment, setCutEnd, setCutStart, setPlaybackVolume, shiftAllSegmentTimes, shortStep, shuffleSegments, splitCurrentSegment, timelineToggleComfortZoom, toggleCaptureFormat, toggleCurrentSegmentSelected, toggleKeyframeCut, toggleLastCommands, toggleLoopSelectedSegments, togglePlay, toggleSegmentsList, toggleStreamsSelector, toggleStripAudio, tryFixInvalidDuration, userHtml5ifyCurrentFile, zoomRel]);
+
+  const onKeyPress = useCallback(({ action, keyup }) => {
     function tryMainActions() {
-      const fn = mainActions[action];
+      const fn = getKeyboardAction({ action, keyup });
       if (!fn) return { match: false };
       const bubble = fn();
       return { match: true, bubble };
@@ -2038,7 +2043,7 @@ const App = memo(() => {
     if (match) return bubble;
 
     return true; // bubble the event
-  }, [addSegment, alignSegmentTimesToKeyframes, askSetStartTimeOffset, batchFileJump, batchOpenSelectedFile, captureSnapshot, captureSnapshotAsCoverArt, changePlaybackRate, cleanupFilesDialog, clearSegments, closeBatch, closeExportConfirm, combineOverlappingSegments, combineSelectedSegments, concatCurrentBatch, concatDialogVisible, convertFormatBatch, copySegmentsToClipboard, createFixedDurationSegments, createNumSegments, createRandomSegments, currentSegIndexSafe, cutSegmentsHistory, deselectAllSegments, duplicateCurrentSegment, exportConfirmVisible, extractAllStreams, extractCurrentSegmentFramesAsImages, extractSelectedSegmentsFramesAsImages, fillSegmentsGaps, goToTimecode, increaseRotation, invertAllSegments, invertSelectedSegments, jumpCutEnd, jumpCutStart, jumpSeg, jumpTimelineEnd, jumpTimelineStart, keyboardNormalSeekSpeed, keyboardSeekAccFactor, keyboardShortcutsVisible, onExportConfirm, onExportPress, onLabelSegment, pause, play, removeCutSegment, removeSelectedSegments, reorderSegsByStartTime, seekClosestKeyframe, seekRel, seekRelPercent, selectAllSegments, selectOnlyCurrentSegment, setCutEnd, setCutStart, setPlaybackVolume, shiftAllSegmentTimes, shortStep, shuffleSegments, splitCurrentSegment, timelineToggleComfortZoom, toggleCaptureFormat, toggleCurrentSegmentSelected, toggleKeyboardShortcuts, toggleKeyframeCut, toggleLastCommands, toggleLoopSelectedSegments, togglePlay, toggleSegmentsList, toggleStreamsSelector, toggleStripAudio, tryFixInvalidDuration, userHtml5ifyCurrentFile, zoomRel]);
+  }, [closeExportConfirm, concatDialogVisible, exportConfirmVisible, getKeyboardAction, keyboardShortcutsVisible, onExportConfirm, toggleKeyboardShortcuts]);
 
   useKeyboard({ keyBindings, onKeyPress });
 
@@ -2148,8 +2153,18 @@ const App = memo(() => {
       }
     }
 
+    function tryKeyboardAction(action) {
+      const fn = getKeyboardAction({ action });
+      if (!fn) {
+        console.error('Action not found:', action);
+        return;
+      }
+      fn();
+    }
+
     const actions = {
       openFiles: (event, filePaths) => { userOpenFiles(filePaths.map(resolvePathIfNeeded)); },
+      apiKeyboardAction: (event, action) => tryKeyboardAction(action),
       openFilesDialog,
       closeCurrentFile: () => { closeFileWithConfirm(); },
       closeBatchFiles: () => { closeBatch(); },
@@ -2197,7 +2212,7 @@ const App = memo(() => {
 
     actionsWithCatch.forEach(([key, action]) => electron.ipcRenderer.on(key, action));
     return () => actionsWithCatch.forEach(([key, action]) => electron.ipcRenderer.removeListener(key, action));
-  }, [alignSegmentTimesToKeyframes, apparentCutSegments, askSetStartTimeOffset, checkFileOpened, clearSegments, closeBatch, closeFileWithConfirm, combineOverlappingSegments, combineSelectedSegments, concatCurrentBatch, createFixedDurationSegments, createNumSegments, createRandomSegments, createSegmentsFromKeyframes, customOutDir, cutSegments, detectBlackScenes, detectSceneChanges, detectSilentScenes, detectedFps, extractAllStreams, fileFormat, filePath, fillSegmentsGaps, getFrameCount, handleShowStreamsSelectorClick, invertAllSegments, loadCutSegments, loadMedia, openFilesDialog, openSendReportDialogWithState, reorderSegsByStartTime, selectedSegments, setWorking, shiftAllSegmentTimes, shuffleSegments, toggleKeyboardShortcuts, toggleLastCommands, toggleSettings, tryFixInvalidDuration, userHtml5ifyCurrentFile, userOpenFiles]);
+  }, [alignSegmentTimesToKeyframes, apparentCutSegments, askSetStartTimeOffset, checkFileOpened, clearSegments, closeBatch, closeFileWithConfirm, combineOverlappingSegments, combineSelectedSegments, concatCurrentBatch, createFixedDurationSegments, createNumSegments, createRandomSegments, createSegmentsFromKeyframes, customOutDir, cutSegments, detectBlackScenes, detectSceneChanges, detectSilentScenes, detectedFps, extractAllStreams, fileFormat, filePath, fillSegmentsGaps, getFrameCount, getKeyboardAction, handleShowStreamsSelectorClick, invertAllSegments, loadCutSegments, loadMedia, openFilesDialog, openSendReportDialogWithState, reorderSegsByStartTime, selectedSegments, setWorking, shiftAllSegmentTimes, shuffleSegments, toggleKeyboardShortcuts, toggleLastCommands, toggleSettings, tryFixInvalidDuration, userHtml5ifyCurrentFile, userOpenFiles]);
 
   const showAddStreamSourceDialog = useCallback(async () => {
     try {
diff --git a/src/components/KeyboardShortcuts.jsx b/src/components/KeyboardShortcuts.jsx
index 9abf3e60..16e833ad 100644
--- a/src/components/KeyboardShortcuts.jsx
+++ b/src/components/KeyboardShortcuts.jsx
@@ -504,6 +504,10 @@ const KeyboardShortcuts = memo(({
           name: t('Close current screen'),
           category: otherCategory,
         },
+        quit: {
+          name: t('Quit LosslessCut'),
+          category: otherCategory,
+        },
       },
     };
   }, [currentCutSeg, t]);
@@ -585,9 +589,11 @@ const KeyboardShortcuts = memo(({
 
               return (
                 <div key={action} style={rowStyle}>
-                  {beforeContent}
-
-                  <Text title={action} marginRight={10}>{actionName}</Text>
+                  <div>
+                    {beforeContent}
+                    <Text title={action} marginRight={10}>{actionName}</Text>
+                    <div style={{ fontSize: '.8em', opacity: 0.4 }} title={t('API action name: {{action}}', { action })}>{action}</div>
+                  </div>
 
                   <div style={{ flexGrow: 1 }} />