Hi,
it depends vastly on your patch and how you access it without gui. MIDI ? OSC ? network ?
On my computer (archlinux) "killall pd" on the command-line works.
Adding a [; pd quit( I understand, but that will need an external controller to hit the message box, right?
Yes, that's what I meant when I said :
Make so that this message is banged when the work is done.
Sorry for being unclear.
Attached is an example from something I use.
typing echo "control quit;" | pdsend 3489 makes pd exit.
You can replace the network and route logic with a midi controller or whatever. Mine is controlled from Processing/controlP5.
hth, Charles