Windows Support

Windows support in GNO currently targets windows-x64.

Current Recommendation

CLI

Supported path today:

bun install -g @gmickel/gno
gno doctor

That is the recommended Windows path for normal use right now.

Desktop Beta

The desktop shell/runtime story is now validated around a packaged Electrobun artifact that stages the real GNO runtime inside the app bundle.

Current recommendation:

• windows-x64 only
• portable packaged artifact first
• treat MSI/installer polish as follow-up work, not the first supported shape

What Is Explicitly Validated

Windows packaging validation now checks packaged runtime behavior, not just source checkout behavior:

• bundled Bun runtime exists inside the packaged app
• staged GNO runtime exists inside the app resources
• packaged gno doctor --json works
• packaged runtime loads:
  • FTS5
  • vendored fts5-snowball.dll
  • sqlite-vec
• packaged runtime can:
  • init
  • update
  • search
• packaged desktop shell can boot in self-test mode

Unsupported / Not Yet Claimed

• windows-arm64
• MSI installer as the primary supported delivery path
• auto-update story for Windows desktop artifacts

Manual Validation On A Real Windows Machine

If you want to smoke the desktop beta manually:

1. build the shell artifact
2. run the packaged-runtime verifier
3. launch the packaged app
4. verify:
   • onboarding
   • add-folder paste/input
   • preset switching
   • gno:// deep links
   • singleton handoff
   • indexing/search on a real folder

cd desktop/electrobun-shell
bun run build
bun scripts/verify-packaged-runtime.ts

Why windows-arm64 Is Not Supported Yet

Current vendored/runtime proof covers windows-x64 only:

• vendored fts5-snowball.dll is present for windows-x64
• packaged runtime validation is scoped to windows-x64
• native dependency/runtime proof for windows-arm64 is still missing

Release Asset

Starting with the first release that carries this work, GitHub releases can include a packaged Windows desktop beta zip for windows-x64.