Installing on Windows

This page covers getting Micold AI IDE onto a Windows PC and running it: which file to download, what the installer does, how to upgrade and remove it, and what the package cannot do for you.

Before you start

Micold AI IDE runs your tools rather than bundling them. Install these first:

• Git for Windows — projects and worktrees are git repositories.
• Claude Code or GitHub Copilot CLI, signed in and on your PATH.

Windows 11, or Windows 10 version 1809 or later, is required.

Download

Each release carries one installer per processor architecture:

Not sure which you have? Open Settings → System → About and read System type: x64-based processor means x64, ARM-based processor means ARM64. Picking the wrong one does no harm — the installer says the PC is not supported and stops before changing anything.

Install

1. Run the downloaded .exe.
2. Windows protected your PC appears. This is SmartScreen, and it appears because the installer is not code-signed: the project has no signing certificate, so Windows cannot attribute the file to a publisher. Click More info, then Run anyway.
3. Follow the wizard. It asks for no administrator rights and shows no UAC prompt — Micold AI IDE installs for your account only.
4. On the last page, tick Launch Micold AI IDE if you want to start it straight away.

What that leaves on your PC:

• the application and its session service, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Micold AI IDE;
• a Micold AI IDE entry in the Start menu, and a desktop shortcut if you ticked that option;
• an entry in Settings → Apps → Installed apps.

Nothing is added to your PATH, and nothing is set to start when you sign in. The application starts its session service itself the first time it needs one (The Micold session daemon).

Upgrading

Download the newer installer and run it; there is no need to uninstall first. If the application is open, the installer asks you to close it. Its ready page says Running sessions will be stopped: the session service is stopped once you continue, so any open sessions end at that point.

Your projects and settings carry over, and Installed apps still shows a single Micold AI IDE entry.

Running the installer for the version you already have repairs the install: it puts back the program files and the Start menu entry.

Removing

Open Settings → Apps → Installed apps, find Micold AI IDE, and choose Uninstall. As with an upgrade, a running application and session service are stopped first.

Uninstalling removes the program files, the shortcuts, the Installed apps entry and the session service’s runtime folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\micold-ai-ide\run.

What uninstall keeps

Your settings and session data stay, so reinstalling picks up where you left off:

• %APPDATA%\micold-ai-ide
• %LOCALAPPDATA%\micold-ai-ide\data

For a full reset, delete both folders by hand after uninstalling. Your projects are never touched — they live wherever you cloned them.

Limits

• Smart App Control. If Smart App Control is on (Windows 11 → Windows Security → App & browser control), it blocks the unsigned installer outright. Unlike SmartScreen, it has no per-app override: the only way through is turning Smart App Control off, and Windows cannot turn it back on without a reset. On such a PC, build Micold AI IDE from source instead (Build from source).
• Managed PCs. A work PC with an AppLocker or Windows Defender Application Control policy may refuse the installer. Ask your IT department, or build from source.
• Sessions end when you sign out. Closing the window leaves your sessions running, but logging out of Windows stops the session service and every session with it. The one exception is running the service in a container (Running the session service in a container); see The Micold session daemon for why.
• The service stops after 30 minutes with no window open. A session still working does not keep it up; its sessions are kept as resumable, and opening the app starts a fresh service (It stops itself when nobody has used it for 30 minutes).
• One service per account. Each Windows account that uses Micold AI IDE runs its own session service, and no other account on the PC can connect to it.
• Unsupported architecture. Each installer runs only on its own architecture; on any other PC it shows the installer’s own “not supported” message and changes nothing.