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Windows installer

The recommended way to install on developer machines running Windows.

Updated on 2026-07-13

The Windows installer is the most convenient way to set up a Windows workstation. It bundles the CLI, can add it to the PATH, installs the VS Code extension when VS Code is found, and lets you install a license. Rules are not bundled — they come from the profiles in your .codecharter/config.yml, resolved against the portal.

Download

Get the installer from the portal at /downloads. You need an active subscription or a running trial.

The file is named codecharter-X.Y.Z-setup.exe. It is roughly 8 MB because the .NET runtime is not bundled — the installer is framework-dependent and uses the .NET already installed on the machine. If it is missing and winget is available, the installer offers to install the .NET 9 runtime for you via winget; otherwise it points you to the .NET download page.

The installer is x64-only; there is no native Arm64 Windows package. The setup executable is not code-signed — to verify a download, compare it against the SHA-256 published in the release notes and sent as the X-CodeCharter-Sha256 response header on the download.

The download page offers two variants:

  • With license — you receive codecharter-X.Y.Z-setup-licensed.zip. Unzip it and you get the setup executable next to a codecharter.license file. The installer detects that license automatically and pre-selects it on the license page (see below).
  • Without license — just the plain codecharter-X.Y.Z-setup.exe. You can still point the installer at a license file manually, or add one later.

Installation

Run the executable and click through the wizard (the installer UI is available in English and German). The pages are:

  1. Destination location — the installer always shows where it will install. The default is the Program Files folder (C:\Program Files\CodeCharter\ for an all-users install, or a per-user folder when you install without admin rights). Change it here if you want a different location.
  2. Additional tasks — add codecharter to the PATH, install the VS Code extension (if VS Code is detected), and set codecharter.serverPath in your VS Code user settings.
  3. License — optionally install a license now. If a codecharter.license file sits next to the setup executable (the with license download), it is pre-selected automatically; otherwise use Browse… to pick one. The chosen file is copied into the installation folder as codecharter.license, where the CLI picks it up automatically. You can skip this and add a license later, for example by setting the CODECHARTER_LICENSE environment variable to the file path of a .license file — see Licensing.
  4. AI tools (MCP) — register the CodeCharter MCP server in your AI coding tools. The installer detects which tools are present (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini) and pre-selects them; untick any you do not want. The server is added to each tool's user-level MCP config. This page only appears when at least one tool is detected and a license is available — codecharter mcp install needs a license, and the entry runs the codecharter command, so the Add to PATH task is enabled automatically when you configure MCP. If the page did not appear or you skipped it, you can add the MCP server at any time afterwards by running codecharter mcp install --client <tool> --scope user.
  5. Ready to install — confirms the destination folder, then installs.

Silent installation

For silent installation (e.g. via Group Policy or MDM), use the standard Inno Setup switches:

codecharter-X.Y.Z-setup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART

Useful switches:

  • /DIR="C:\Tools\CodeCharter" — override the destination folder.
  • /TASKS="addtopath" — pick which additional tasks to run.
  • /CURRENTUSER or /ALLUSERS — choose the install scope explicitly. The interactive installer asks per dialog; in silent mode the default is a per-user install, so pass /ALLUSERS for a machine-wide install.
  • /LOG="install.log" — write a verbose install log.

In silent mode the wizard pages are not shown, but the install still behaves as if you accepted the defaults: a codecharter.license next to the executable is installed, and when a license is available the MCP server is registered automatically in all detected AI tools (which also adds codecharter to the PATH). To install silently without MCP registration, run the setup without a license file beside it and add the license afterwards. You can register the MCP server later per tool, e.g.:

codecharter mcp install --client cursor --scope user

Supported --client values: claude-code, claude-desktop, cursor, windsurf, gemini.

Update

Run the new setup; it overwrites the previous version in place. Just download the new executable and run it.

Uninstallation

Via "Apps & Features", or run the bundled uninstaller (unins000.exe) in the installation folder.

The uninstaller removes the installed files (including the bundled license) and the PATH entry it added. It also removes the VS Code integration it configured: the CodeCharter extension is uninstalled and the codecharter.serverPath user setting is removed. Your .ccr files in your repos are left untouched.

MCP registrations are not removed by the uninstaller. If you had registered the MCP server in AI tools, their config files still point to the (now missing) binary. Remove the stale entries manually from each tool's MCP config after uninstalling.

If you prefer not to use the installer

On CI or in Docker the installer is unwieldy. Use the standalone CLI instead — it is a self-contained archive (the CLI plus its bundled runtime), no setup required.