The SWI/SNF ATP-dependent chromatin remodeler is a master regulator of the epigenome; controlling pluripotency, cell fate determination and differentiation. There is a sparsity of information on the autoregulation of SWI/SNF, the domains involved and their mode of action. We find a DNA or RNA binding module conserved from yeast to humans located in the C-terminus of the catalytic subunit of SWI/SNF called the AT-hook that positively regulates the chromatin remodeling activity of yeast and mouse SWI/SNF. The AT-hook in yeast SWI/SNF interacts with the SnAC and ATPase domains, which after binding to nucleosome switches to contacting the N-terminus of histone H3. Deletion of the AT-hooks in yeast SWI/SNF and mouse esBAF complexes reduces the remodeling activity of SWI/SNF without affecting complex integrity or its recruitment to nucleosomes. In addition, deletion of the AT-hook impairs the ATPase and nucleosome mobilizing activities of yeast SWI/SNF without disrupting the interactions of the ATPase domain with nucleosomal DNA. The AT-hook is also important in vivo for SWI/SNF-dependent response to amino acid starvation in yeast and for cell lineage priming in mouse embryonic stem cells. In summary, the AT-hook is shown to be an evolutionarily conserved autoregulatory domain of SWI/SNF that positively regulates SWI/SNF both in vitro and in vivo.