Windows

Install

Download wlift-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip from the release page, unzip, and drop the three binaries (wlift.exe, hatch.exe, wlift-lsp.exe) into a directory that's on your PATH. %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\wlift\bin is a reasonable choice; add it via System Properties → Environment Variables.

The install.sh shell installer doesn't work on native Windows. WSL users can use the Linux installer and get a Linux wlift binary inside WSL.

Runtime requirements

Built against MSVC. wlift.exe needs the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (2015+) at runtime — almost every Windows install already has it via Windows Update. If a user reports a missing VCRUNTIME140.dll, point them at Microsoft's vc_redist.x64.exe installer.

Build an AOT binary

wlift my_app.wren --aot .\my_app.exe
.\my_app.exe

Output is a regular Windows PE executable, statically linked against the WrenLift runtime. The only external dependency is the same MSVC runtime wlift.exe itself needs.

Authenticode signing

Distributing outside a corporate intranet? Sign the binary so SmartScreen and antivirus heuristics don't block it.

signtool sign /fd SHA256 /a /tr http://timestamp.digicert.com /td SHA256 my_app.exe
signtool verify /pa my_app.exe

An EV (Extended Validation) cert builds SmartScreen reputation faster, but the signing flow is identical — the difference is the cert source, not the signtool arguments.

Packaging

For an installer, MSI via WiX or an MSIX bundle are the standard paths. Wrenlift binaries have no Windows registry dependencies, no COM registration, no service install steps — you're laying down a .exe on disk.