install on windows

install smith on windows, walk the first-run setup page, and know the few places windows differs, like checks with no shell and a path that only updates on restart.

this walks you from the installer to a first launch on windows. one thing up front: the windows notes in the docs are read from the code, and nothing there has been seen on a windows machine except what one reporter saw. read them as how it should go, not as a promise.

01the installer#

the installer is per user, not per machine, and it isn't a one-click install. when you uninstall, it asks "also remove smith's data?". the answer defaults to no, and it is no when the uninstall is silent. say yes and it removes $LOCALAPPDATA\smith and $APPDATA\smith. an update never touches them. the detail is under install.

02the first launch#

the first time smith starts, the setup page opens by itself. it does that whenever no work folder has ever been chosen, on windows and linux alike, and until you open a real folder smith waits in a throwaway temp folder. see when it opens.

setup is ten steps, and the page saves a step when you press next. the checks themselves write nothing.

1. claude, codex or grok: any one of the three installed and starting, and git found.
2. signed in: one signed-in program is enough.
3. where smith keeps things: the data folder must not be a temporary one, must be writable, and warns when there's under 2 GB free.
4. your conductor.
5. tickets.
6. link this install.
7. your first project: a folder with a git repo, a folder of files, or nothing.
8. search, which is optional.
9. skills and models, which are optional.
10. done.

steps 1 and 2 stay locked until they pass. the full table, with what each step checks and stores, is in the steps.

if you moved the data folder, the new folder is copied first and the old one stays where it is. the switch applies when smith restarts. that's under running setup again.

03starting from a backup#

a fresh install can start from a backup. the first-run page has a "backups folder" row: pick or type the folder your backups are in, list what's in it, and restore one. the restore is applied at the next start. see restore from a backup.

04where windows differs#

• checks run with no shell. the executable is looked up and started directly, so builtins that exist only in cmd, pipes and && don't work in a check. wrap the command in a .cmd or .ps1, or name powershell as the executable with -NoProfile, -File and x.ps1 each as its own entry in args. see shell.
• path changes need a restart. a path edit you make after the app started isn't in the environment the checks run in, so restart the app. see path.
• the python store alias. the windows apps python.exe alias may be found first and may not be a real interpreter. name the real interpreter's full path as the executable. see executables, and checks for the field.
• line endings. smith doesn't handle them. diffs are git's own, under your machine's git config. see line-endings.

05where to go next#

windows specifics has every windows note in one place. first-run setup has the setup page in full.