diff --git a/mslib/autoplot/CLAUDE.md b/mslib/autoplot/CLAUDE.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e0578b617
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mslib/autoplot/CLAUDE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# mslib.autoplot — headless batch plotting
+
+Purpose: the `mssautoplot` CLI: renders top/side view plots from a JSON config
+without showing the GUI, by driving the msui plotting stack headlessly.
+Global map: ../../ARCHITECTURE.md
+
+## Layout
+
+- `__init__.py` — the whole CLI (click-based `main`, `load_from_ftml`,
+  TopView/SideView plotting drivers)
+
+## May import
+
+`mslib.utils` and `mslib.msui` (this package exists precisely so that the
+GUI dependency does not sit inside the base layer mslib.utils).
+Never `mslib.mscolab` or `mslib.mswms` (enforced in setup.cfg).
+
+## Verify
+
+`pixi run -e dev env QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen pytest tests/_test_utils/test_mssautoplot.py -q`
+and `mssautoplot --help` inside the dev env.
diff --git a/mslib/utils/mssautoplot.py b/mslib/autoplot/__init__.py
similarity index 99%
rename from mslib/utils/mssautoplot.py
rename to mslib/autoplot/__init__.py
index e663a5707..ed99d4b68 100644
--- a/mslib/utils/mssautoplot.py
+++ b/mslib/autoplot/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 """
 
-    mslib.utils.mssautoplot
-    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+    mslib.autoplot
+    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
     A CLI tool to create for instance a number of the same plots
     for several flights or several forecast steps
diff --git a/mslib/msui/autoplot_dockwidget.py b/mslib/msui/autoplot_dockwidget.py
index 430c42441..a3315fbe3 100644
--- a/mslib/msui/autoplot_dockwidget.py
+++ b/mslib/msui/autoplot_dockwidget.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QWidget, QFileDialog, QTreeWidgetItem, QMessageBox
 from PyQt5 import QtCore
 
-from mslib.utils.mssautoplot import main as cli_tool
+from mslib.autoplot import main as cli_tool
 from mslib.msui.qt5.ui_mss_autoplot import Ui_AutoplotDockWidget
 from mslib.utils import constants as const
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 51bbc2582..5b508ddd1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ Repository = "https://github.com/Open-MSS/MSS"
 [project.scripts]
 mscolab = "mslib.mscolab.mscolab:main"
 msidp = "mslib.msidp.idp:main"
-mssautoplot = "mslib.utils.mssautoplot:main"
+mssautoplot = "mslib.autoplot:main"
 mss = "mslib.msui.mss:main"
 mswms = "mslib.mswms.mswms:main"
 
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 049caa7b3..8df0ca921 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -62,12 +62,6 @@ source_modules =
 forbidden_modules =
     mslib.msui
 ignore_imports =
-    mslib.utils.mssautoplot -> mslib.msui
-    mslib.utils.mssautoplot -> mslib.msui.mpl_map
-    mslib.utils.mssautoplot -> mslib.msui.wms_control
-    mslib.utils.mssautoplot -> mslib.msui.viewplotter
-    mslib.utils.mssautoplot -> mslib.msui.mpl_pathinteractor
-    mslib.utils.mssautoplot -> mslib.msui.flighttrack
     mslib.plugins.io.csv -> mslib.msui.flighttrack
     mslib.plugins.io.text -> mslib.msui.flighttrack
     mslib.plugins.io.flitestar -> mslib.msui.flighttrack
@@ -82,6 +76,7 @@ source_modules =
     mslib.plugins
     mslib.msidp
     mslib.support
+    mslib.autoplot
 forbidden_modules =
     mslib.mscolab
 ignore_imports =
@@ -98,5 +93,6 @@ source_modules =
     mslib.plugins
     mslib.msidp
     mslib.support
+    mslib.autoplot
 forbidden_modules =
     mslib.mswms
diff --git a/tests/_test_utils/test_mssautoplot.py b/tests/_test_utils/test_mssautoplot.py
index 545e6373d..c8e90c0f2 100644
--- a/tests/_test_utils/test_mssautoplot.py
+++ b/tests/_test_utils/test_mssautoplot.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     tests._test_utils.test_mssautoplot
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
-    This module provides pytest functions to tests mslib.utils.mssautoplot
+    This module provides pytest functions to tests mslib.autoplot
 
     This file is part of MSS.
 
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 
 import os
 
-from mslib.utils.mssautoplot import load_from_ftml
+from mslib.autoplot import load_from_ftml
 
 
 def test_load_from_ftml():