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Windows

OpenAlice has two Windows paths:

  • the self-contained desktop installer bundles Electron Node, managed Pi, PortableGit, Bash, pinned fd/ripgrep, and the OpenAlice Workspace CLIs; and
  • the source install gives you the clearest logs and remains the recommended path when developing, debugging, or reporting beta failures.

The desktop .exe is still unsigned and may be blocked by SmartScreen. Use it if you are comfortable evaluating an unsigned beta; otherwise follow the source path below.

Desktop installer

Download the unsigned Windows x64 .exe

The packaged default does not require Node, npm, pnpm, Git for Windows, WSL, or a separately installed agent CLI. After installation:

  1. Open Settings → AI Provider.
  2. Add a compatible API-key credential and set it as Pi's default Workspace credential.
  3. Create a Chat Workspace using Pi.

The app supplies the runtime, not the model account. You may still install Claude Code, Codex, opencode, or Pi yourself and use its normal login/config.

If SmartScreen blocks the installer or you need startup logs, use the source path below.

Source install

Requirements

Install these first:

Install pnpm with:

npm install -g pnpm

Or use Corepack if you already prefer it:

corepack enable
corepack prepare pnpm@latest --activate

Clone and install

Open PowerShell, then run:

git clone https://github.com/TraderAlice/OpenAlice.git
cd OpenAlice
pnpm install

Run OpenAlice

pnpm dev

The dev orchestrator prints the URLs it picked. Open the UI URL, usually:

http://localhost:5173

Trust the URL printed by the terminal if the port auto-bumps.

Agent login

OpenAlice does not run the model loop inside its own backend. It starts native agent CLIs inside workspaces.

For Claude Code:

claude

Complete the login flow once. If you use Codex:

codex login

You can also add API-key credentials later in Settings -> AI Provider.

Do you need WSL or Git Bash?

Usually, no.

Built-in workspace templates bootstrap on OpenAlice's Node process and bundled git path. They do not need bash, WSL, or system git at runtime. The packaged desktop also gives Pi a managed Bash/PortableGit toolchain; a source checkout uses the agent and shell available in your development environment.

You only need Git Bash or WSL2 when a third-party workspace template still ships a bootstrap.sh and expects a POSIX shell.

Troubleshooting

PowerShell cannot run pnpm — Check your execution policy or use a normal terminal profile that can run global npm binaries.

A port is already in use — pnpm dev probes and auto-bumps ports. Open the URL it prints.

SmartScreen blocks the .exe — Use the source path above. The package is self-contained, but Windows signing/distribution is still beta.

Agent authentication fails — Run claude or codex login directly in the same Windows user account, complete login, then restart pnpm dev.

Next Steps