Collie on Windows

How to install Collie on Windows 11, open it on your phone, and fix what can go wrong. Read Security first: Collie gives remote shell access to your machine by design.

collie start publishes Collie to your phone for you, with Tailscale Serve, on Windows as on Linux and macOS. Tailscale is a service that joins your own devices into a private network, called a tailnet.

Tailscale Serve gives Collie an HTTPS address on your tailnet, and collie start runs it for you. Reaching it from your phone shows the setup, and the steps by hand for when collie start cannot publish.

Experimental. Experimental means the maintainer owns and tests the Windows code, and the parts below are not all proven yet. This is the whole status: Tested - A 25-step install, update and rollback rehearsal on a Windows 11 virtual machine, against local copies of the release files. - A real install from the public v1.16.0 release on a Windows 11 virtual machine: install.ps1 found the release, the sha256 matched and collie.exe ran. Then collie start, collie status, collie doctor and collie stop worked. - Phone access through Tailscale Serve over HTTP, on a Headscale tailnet: the Host check, collie url, pairing and the write gate. Not tested yet - An update between two real releases on Windows. - The HTTPS form of Tailscale Serve on Windows, and with it the home screen install, Web Push and the microphone. - Publishing from collie start on a real tailnet on Windows. Only unit tests and HTTP on the project's Headscale test tailnet have run it. - Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows on ARM, and the other items in What is not tested. The release check requires the Windows zip from now on. Only the maintainer can override that, for a Linux hotfix (details).

What you get

Collie shows the agents in your terminal on your phone, so you can see which one needs you and answer it.

The agents run in Herdr panes. A pane is one terminal window inside Herdr. Herdr is a terminal multiplexer, a program that keeps your agents running in panes. On Windows, Herdr is the only supported multiplexer.

Collie reads agents such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, pi and omp. The agent itself must run on Windows. Which ones do is the agent's matter, not Collie's.

Before you start

You need these:

• —
  Windows 11 on x64. WSL is not Windows here. Inside WSL, follow the Linux install in Install.
• —
  PowerShell. The Windows PowerShell 5.1 that comes with Windows 11 is enough.
• —
  Herdr 0.9.3 or newer for Windows. Step 3 of Zero to phone installs it. The Herdr project makes its Windows build, and Collie depends on it.
• —
  A phone with a browser, an iPhone or an Android phone.
• —
  A free Tailscale account. You create it when you first sign in to the Tailscale app. The PC and the phone must sign in to the same one. The phone reaches the PC through it. Steps 1 and 2 of Zero to phone set it up, and step 6 publishes Collie on it.

Check whether Smart App Control is on, because it can block collie.exe. Open Windows Security, then App & browser control, then Smart App Control settings. It has three states:

If it is on, read Unsigned binary first. It lists your choices.

Zero to phone

The step list lives in one place: the Windows path in the guide. Follow its steps in order, then pair the phone with Put Collie on your phone and pair it. To read the installer script before you run it, see Install.

What you should see after each step of the guide:

1. 01
   The Tailscale app on the PC and on the phone shows both devices on one tailnet. Over plain HTTP, which a Headscale tailnet uses, the home screen install is not available, and Collie stays a browser tab.
2. 02
   The admin console shows MagicDNS on and HTTPS enabled.
3. 03
   Herdr prints its installer output. herdr --version prints 0.9.3 or newer. This page has no Herdr command of its own, because the Herdr project owns the installer. If this one fails, open herdr.dev and follow its Windows steps.
4. 04
   The script prints each step. It ends with a line that starts with OK Collie and a list of next steps, which begins with Next steps. This script does not take them for you:, then 1. Open a NEW terminal window. and 3. Start Collie, then print its address:. To read the script first, see Install.

   No service starts and nothing stays running. The script runs collie.exe version once, to check that Windows lets it run, and that is all.

5. 05
   Herdr opens and takes over that terminal. A new terminal is needed because Windows gives the new PATH only to windows opened after the install.
6. 06
   A second terminal is needed because Herdr holds the first one. collie start prints the Collie is running banner and your tailnet address on the tailnet line. It runs tailscale serve for you, and it adopts a mapping that you made by hand with an older version of this page. If Tailscale is missing, signed out or without HTTPS, it prints one line setup: <what is missing> for each problem, each followed by an indented line fix: <what to do>, and still starts Collie on this PC. After the status banner it ends with Running, but your phone cannot reach it yet. Fix the setup lines above, then run collie start again. collie doctor repeats this check. Start your agent in a Herdr pane, for example claude. Collie shows it on its dashboard.
7. 07
   collie url prints the tailnet address. tailscale serve status shows the mapping that start made. If collie url prints a loopback address (127.0.0.1), an address that only this PC can open, start could not publish: see Reaching it from your phone. You can open that address in a browser on this PC to see the dashboard.

After step 7, go on with the guide's phone section. There, collie qr prints the address as a QR code, and collie pair prints a code of eight characters, then a line like `single-use · expires

Install

What install.ps1 does, and what you can change.

irm https://colliepwa.dev/install.ps1 | iex

To read the script before you run it, save it, open it and run it as a file:

Invoke-WebRequest -OutFile install.ps1 https://colliepwa.dev/install.ps1
notepad install.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

install.ps1 needs no Bun, no Git and no bash. It looks at the newest five releases, takes the first one that has a Windows zip, checks its sha256 and stops on a mismatch. A sha256 is a fingerprint of the file. The script prints each step, and it never asks for administrator rights. If no release carries the zip, it stops as described below.

The default execution policy, Restricted, which is the Windows rule for which scripts may run, refuses a downloaded script file. The last line of the "read it first" variant sets Bypass for that one run. Unblock-File .\install.ps1 is the other way. The irm ... | iex form runs the script text directly and does not need this.

The script puts a release in %LOCALAPPDATA%\collie\versions\<version>, points the current junction at it, and adds current\bin to your user PATH. A junction is a Windows folder link, and current always points at the version that runs. The script runs collie.exe version once to check that Windows lets it run. It starts nothing else. A second run changes nothing and points at collie update.

The zip is also on each release page on GitHub, beside its .sha256 file. Use the script, not a hand install of the zip.

collie start registers a Task Scheduler task named herdr.collie. Task Scheduler is the Windows program that runs jobs at set times or events. The task starts Collie at your logon with a limited token, which means without administrator rights.

The task runs a launcher, a small program that starts the bridge again if the bridge exits with an error. The bridge is the Collie program that runs on your PC and serves the web page to your phone.

The launcher also restarts a bridge that is still running but has stopped answering. Two minutes after a start it asks the bridge's health check every 30 seconds, and three misses in a row, about 90 seconds of silence, end the bridge so the launcher starts it again. A crew peer with no standby door is not asked: its only door is mutual TLS.

Reaching it from your phone

Step 6 of Zero to phone, in full: set up Tailscale once, and collie start publishes Collie on your tailnet, the same way as on Linux and macOS.

If you already ran tailscale serve by hand on Collie's own listener, do nothing. That is tailnet port 443 in https mode, or Collie's own port (8787 by default) in http mode. The first collie start after the update keeps your mapping and records it as Collie's, and collie uninstall removes it with the rest. COLLIE_PUBLIC_HOSTS and COLLIE_PUBLIC_URL in .env are harmless and can stay. If your mapping on that port sends traffic somewhere other than Collie, or uses the other protocol, Collie leaves it alone. collie start then prints an error that says it refuses to overwrite the mapping, and collie doctor reports a root mount Collie does not own.

If your hand-made mapping came from the old Headscale recipe on port 80 (--http=80), Collie does not adopt it, and collie uninstall does not remove it. Move it to Collie's own port:

1. 01
   Put COLLIE_SERVE_MODE=http in the .env file (step 1 of the steps by hand below shows where).

2. 02
   Remove the port-80 mapping:

   tailscale serve --http=80 --set-path=/ off

3. 03
   Remove COLLIE_PUBLIC_URL from the .env file, or change it to http://<name>:8787.

4. 04
   Start Collie, which publishes on Collie's own port:

   collie start

For a new setup, follow these steps:

1. 01
   Install Tailscale on the PC and on the phone, and sign in to the same account on both: tailscale.com/download.

2. 02
   In the Tailscale admin console, open DNS, turn on MagicDNS, then select Enable HTTPS.

3. 03
   Start Collie, which publishes it on your tailnet:

   collie start

4. 04
   Print the address to open on the phone:

   collie url

Note. Once collie start publishes Collie, every device on your tailnet can reach it, but it answers each one device not paired until you run collie pair and enter the code on the phone. Read Security on how to limit who may reach Collie.

Collie listens on this PC only, at a loopback address that only this PC can reach. collie start then runs tailscale serve --bg --set-path=/ 8787 for you and prints a line like tailscale serve (https) → tailnet :443 -> 127.0.0.1:8787. That is the "managed front door": Collie publishes the address itself and records the mapping in tailscale-managed-handler in its config folder.

collie start also reads this PC's tailnet name from Tailscale and gives it to the Host check, so the default setup needs no COLLIE_PUBLIC_HOSTS and no COLLIE_PUBLIC_URL. The Host check refuses any website name that is not this PC's, which stops a web page from reaching Collie through DNS rebinding. Open Collie by the full name: the Host check refuses the short name.

Publishing from collie start on Windows is new, and the project has tested it with unit tests only, not yet on a real tailnet. If a step fails, report it (where).

Collie removes only the mapping it recorded. collie stop leaves it in place, and collie uninstall removes it. tailscale serve status shows it. Never use tailscale funnel: Funnel puts Collie on the public internet.

On a tailnet with HTTPS on, Tailscale gives the address a certificate that the phone trusts. Installing to the home screen, Web Push (notifications to your phone) and the microphone need HTTPS. Over plain HTTP they stay off (Voice input and Web Push).

If you published by hand before

The first collie start after the update takes over your mapping and records it.

Earlier versions of this page told you to run tailscale serve by hand. When that mapping sends / to Collie's port on the listener Collie would use, collie start prints tailscale serve: adopting the existing Collie root mount on :443 and records it. Until then, collie doctor warns on its front-door line. The COLLIE_PUBLIC_HOSTS and COLLIE_PUBLIC_URL lines in your .env keep working, and you may delete them.

When collie start cannot publish

collie start prints note: the tailnet front door did not come up, and the lines above it say why. Collie still runs on this PC, so fix the cause and run collie start again.

On a Headscale tailnet (a self-hosted Tailscale server) there are no HTTPS certificates, so the HTTPS form cannot work. Publish over HTTP instead. Add this line to the .env file (step 1 of the steps by hand below shows where it is), then restart and publish:

COLLIE_SERVE_MODE=http

collie restart
collie serve

Collie then publishes on its own port, and the address is http://<name>:8787. Plain HTTP is acceptable here because Tailscale encrypts the traffic between tailnet devices (WireGuard), and the HTTP hop stays inside the tailnet.

If Collie still cannot publish, or you want to run Tailscale Serve yourself, do it by hand:

1. 01
   Open the Collie config folder's .env file, and create the folder if it is missing:

   New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$env:APPDATA\herdr\plugins\config\herdr.collie"
   notepad "$env:APPDATA\herdr\plugins\config\herdr.collie\.env"

2. 02
   Publish Collie's local port, 8787 by default, on your tailnet:

   tailscale serve --bg --set-path=/ 8787

3. 03
   Add these two lines at the end of the .env file, with your own name from step 2, and save:

   COLLIE_PUBLIC_HOSTS=myhost.tail1234.ts.net
   COLLIE_PUBLIC_URL=https://myhost.tail1234.ts.net

4. 04
   Restart the bridge, then print the address:

   collie restart
   collie url

In step 1, Notepad asks whether to create the file if it is not there. Click Yes. The folder is the Herdr plugin config folder for herdr.collie, by default %APPDATA%\herdr\plugins\config\herdr.collie. herdr plugin config-dir herdr.collie prints it.

In step 2, Tailscale prints a line with an address like https://myhost.tail1234.ts.net. The name is the part after https://. On Headscale use tailscale serve --bg --http=8787 --set-path=/ 8787, and put http://<name>:8787 in COLLIE_PUBLIC_URL. That mapping sits on Collie's own listener, so the next collie start adopts it. A mapping on port 80 is not adopted. --set-path=/ replaces whatever this PC already serves at / on that port.

COLLIE_PUBLIC_URL is the address that collie url and the QR code of collie pair print. A mapping made by hand that Collie later adopts becomes Collie's to remove; any other one stays yours, and tailscale serve reset clears every Serve mapping on the PC.

If you prefer a reverse proxy, a program that forwards web requests to Collie, or another tunnel, Deployment describes the variants. That is Variant C, with COLLIE_SKIP_SERVE=1 and COLLIE_PUBLIC_HOSTS set to the name your phone opens. The first collie start raises no firewall prompt, because Collie listens on this machine only.

Open it on your phone

The steps are the same as on every system: Put Collie on your phone and pair it. These notes are the Windows part.

• —
  Over plain HTTP, the home screen install is not available, because it needs HTTPS. Pair in the browser tab instead.
• —
  With HTTPS, type the code in the app that you opened from the icon, as the guide says.
• —
  The phone needs the Tailscale app, signed in to your tailnet, to reach the address that collie url prints.
• —
  The code is good for 10 minutes and works once. Run collie pair again if it ran out. Pairing ends the open access in the Note in Reaching it from your phone (Pair a device).

Everyday commands

Run these in any terminal. Each works as it does on Linux and macOS, with the Windows notes below.

Update

Update from the terminal or from the phone, the same as on Linux and macOS:

collie update

The update fetches the release, swaps collie.exe, restarts the bridge and checks that it answers. If it does not answer, Collie rolls back to the version that worked, in about a minute and a quarter. The phone's Update button runs the same chain.

To go back by hand, run this. It needs no network. It points current at the newest older version that is still on disk and restarts the bridge. If that version does not come up, Collie goes forward again and changes nothing:

collie update --rollback

An old version folder can stay in versions\ until the launcher restarts, because Windows will not delete a folder a running program holds. The next update removes it.

Caution. A source checkout never updates itself on Windows: collie update and the phone button say so in one sentence and change nothing. Every Windows install made before the first zip is a source checkout. Moving to the zip install is a one-time manual step: run collie uninstall to remove the old task, then run install.ps1. After that, collie update works.

Collie allows one install per Windows machine, and collie start refuses a task that runs another one, which is why the old task goes first. You can also stay on a source checkout and update it by hand: fetch the newer tag, run bun run build, then collie restart. The build needs Git for Windows' bash.

Releases up to and including v1.15.0 cannot swap a running collie.exe and fail with EPERM. The fix (PR 309) first shipped in v1.15.1. The later Windows update work, such as the phone's Update button on Windows, first ships in v1.16.0.

Uninstall

collie uninstall

collie uninstall stops the bridge and removes the Task Scheduler task. It keeps the install folder, your .env and the user PATH entry, as every install keeps its files. Then it prints two more lines for PowerShell. The first removes the install folder. The second removes only current\bin from your user PATH, through the registry. Collie prints the two lines on one line each, with your real folder in them. They look like this, wrapped here to fit:

cmd /c rmdir /s /q "<install folder>"
$k = [Microsoft.Win32.Registry]::CurrentUser.OpenSubKey('Environment', $true)
$k.SetValue('Path', (($k.GetValue('Path', '', 'DoNotExpandEnvironmentNames') -split ';' |
  Where-Object { $_.TrimEnd('\') -ne '<install folder>\current\bin' }) -join ';'),
  $k.GetValueKind('Path'))
$k.Close()

Copy the lines from Collie's own output when you can. Collie removes the tailscale serve mapping it recorded, which includes a hand-made mapping that collie start adopted (Reaching it from your phone). A mapping that it never recorded stays.

When something breaks

Run collie doctor first, then find your problem below.

collie doctor checks the install and prints a fix for each problem it finds. Then read the section below that matches what you see. If none does, look in the log, described in Logs.

To report a problem, open an issue at github.com/AltanS/collie/issues. Say that you run Windows, give the Collie version from collie version, and paste the collie doctor output and the last lines of the log. Remove anything private first. The log can hold pane text.

Unsigned binary: SmartScreen and Smart App Control

collie.exe is not signed, so Windows does not know who published it. Read this before you run the installer.

Two Windows features can stop an unsigned program:

• —
  SmartScreen asks before it runs a program that came from the internet. For a file you downloaded in a browser, click More info, then Run anyway.
• —
  Smart App Control has no per-file allow. If it is on and it blocks Collie, you cannot allow that one file. install.ps1 shows the block when it runs collie.exe version, and prints no success line.

If Smart App Control blocks Collie, you have these choices, in this order:

1. 01
   Check whether it is on: open Windows Security, then App & browser control, then Smart App Control settings.
2. 02
   Build from source (Build from source), which makes collie.exe on your own machine. This was not tested on a machine where Smart App Control is on.
3. 03
   Use a PC where Smart App Control is off, or report the block in an issue.
4. 04
   Last, turn Smart App Control off. This is hard to undo: Microsoft's documentation has said that turning it on again may need a Windows reset, so read Microsoft's current page first.

The sha256 check in install.ps1 finds a damaged or swapped download. It does not say who published the file, because the hash sits beside the zip, and whoever can replace one can replace the other. Signing the binary is a possible later step, with no date.

Long paths

What you see: a pane does not open, and Herdr says The directory name is invalid (os error 267). collie doctor warns first: LongPathsEnabled is 0 on this machine.

Herdr cannot start a pane in a folder whose path is longer than 260 characters unless Windows long paths are on. collie doctor also warns when the install folder itself is very long.

In a PowerShell run as administrator:

Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem' `
  -Name LongPathsEnabled -Value 1

Windows may need a restart before programs that are already running see it. Keep your work folders short in any case.

Task Scheduler refuses a standard user

What you see: collie start fails with error: schtasks /Create /TN herdr.collie failed, Windows reports 0x80070569, and Collie says the account lacks the right "Log on as a batch job".

This affects a standard user account that never had that right. An administrator account usually has it.

An administrator grants the right:

1. 01
   Run secpol.msc.
2. 02
   Open Local Policies, then User Rights Assignment.
3. 03
   Open Log on as a batch job, and add the account.
4. 04
   Run collie start again.

Windows Home does not ship secpol.msc.

Secret files

What you see: collie doctor prints a secrets-private line, for example can be read by other accounts, with a fix.

Collie limits who can read its secret files: your account, SYSTEM and Administrators. Windows has no 0600 mode, so Collie sets the access list (ACL) of its state and config folders.

collie doctor

The secrets-private line has three answers:

A folder on a network share or a FAT or exFAT volume is "not checked", because there is no list to read. Keep the state and config folders on an NTFS drive in this PC.

The bridge repairs a loose folder at start, but only a folder Collie created now, a default folder in your user profile, or a folder that is empty or holds only Collie's own files. Any other folder is checked and warned about, with the icacls command that fixes it. collie doctor and other commands change nothing.

To undo a repair: before it, the bridge saves the old list in acl-backups in the state folder and prints the undo line. Run it in a terminal run as administrator:

icacls <folder> /restore <backup file>

COLLIE_NO_ACL_REPAIR=1 turns every change off. Collie still checks and warns. The full account of the rules is in Secret files on Windows.

Logs

The bridge log is collie.log in the plugin config folder (%APPDATA%\herdr\plugins\config\herdr.collie\collie.log by default). collie logs prints its last lines. Collie only appends to it and never rotates it, so the file grows for as long as the bridge runs. To empty it, run collie stop, delete the file, then run collie start.

Build from source

The release zip needs no toolchain. A build from source still needs Bun, Git and Git for Windows' bash on your PATH, because bun run build calls bash. A build without bash is planned and not done.

What is supported

One host: Windows 11 on x64, with Herdr as the multiplexer.

A crew is several machines that each run a Collie, shown behind one URL (Crews).

These limits also hold:

• —
  Collie allows one install per Windows machine. The task name is always herdr.collie.
• —
  Collie does not rotate collie.log (Logs).
• —
  herdr plugin install is not a Windows install path. Use install.ps1, then collie start.
• —
  Herdr's action buttons do not exist on Windows, because they need bash.
• —
  A permission that a hook holds is not on Windows yet. Collie builds no hold socket there, so every permission stays a screen ask.
• —
  The nightly harness lab runs on Linux only. It is not on Windows.
• —
  Herdr's Windows build is made by the Herdr project. Collie depends on it and does not control it.

Crews

Experimental. Crews work on Windows behind COLLIE_CREWS_ON_WINDOWS=1. They are not covered by the Windows test pass. A Windows lead with a Linux member was verified by hand: crew invite, crew join, the crew link, and the member's panes on the phone. Joining a crew from Windows is untested.

Set the variable in the environment of every crew verb you run, then run the verb as on any host:

$env:COLLIE_CREWS_ON_WINDOWS = "1"
collie crew invite

Without the variable the crew-forming verbs refuse exactly as before: collie crew invite, crew join, crew add, crew deputy, crew approve-promote and collie promote say so in one sentence and change nothing. One Windows detail is handled for you: crew add's ssh legs run without connection multiplexing, which Windows OpenSSH cannot do.

Moving from the community script

What changes if you ran the community script, and what does not carry over.

Before this release, Windows ran under contrib/windows/collie-ctl.ps1, a script the community wrote. Collie now runs the task itself, and every verb of the script is a collie verb of the same name. After you update, run collie restart once. If the script ran the task named herdr.collie, Collie takes it over under the same name. Until you restart, collie status and collie doctor say that the task still runs the old script.

Two things do not carry over:

• —
  A custom task name. The script let you set COLLIE_TASK_NAME. Collie does not read it, and the task is always herdr.collie. A task you registered under another name stays where it is, and Collie does not stop or remove it. Delete it before you run collie start, or two supervisors will start the bridge. In PowerShell: schtasks /Delete /TN "<your task name>" /F.
• —
  Crash-log copies. The script kept a copy of the log when the bridge failed. Collie does not. The old copies stay on disk until you delete them.

How this is tested, and when experimental ends

Why Collie says experimental, for readers who want the evidence. You do not need it to use Collie.

Two words on this page have a fixed meaning:

• —
  Supported means the maintainer owns the Windows code and tests it: a CI run on every push, and a rehearsal on a Windows 11 virtual machine before each release tag (ADR 0075). CI is the automatic test run on GitHub. An ADR is a short decision record kept in the repository.
• —
  Experimental means an update between two real releases and the HTTPS phone path are not yet proven.

What the support rests on:

• —
  The windows.yml workflow, a CI workflow, runs the bridge, cli and scripts tests on windows-latest for every pull request and every push to main. It is not yet a required check. The maintainer plans to make it one after about ten green runs in a row.
• —
  Each release builds collie-<version>-windows-x64.zip with a .sha256 file.
• —
  Before each release tag, the maintainer runs a rehearsal, make win-rehearse. It installs a release on a fresh Windows 11 VM, updates it from the terminal and from the phone's endpoint, forces a failed health check and checks the rollback. The update uses a local copy of the release files. If the VM is not available, the tag waits.
• —
  Windows 11 is the second truth beside CI, because the CI runner is Windows Server.
• —
  The real install from the public v1.16.0 release ran on a Windows 11 VM. install.ps1 found the release, downloaded the zip, the sha256 matched, and collie.exe ran as 1.16.0. collie start registered the task and started the bridge. collie status said running, collie doctor exited 0, and collie stop stopped it. The script at https://colliepwa.dev/install.ps1 is live, and it is byte-identical to the script in the v1.16.0 release.
• —
  Phone access ran on a Windows 11 VM on a Headscale tailnet, over HTTP. tailscale serve --bg --http=80 --set-path=/ <port> published Collie. The two .env lines and collie restart made collie url and the collie start banner print the tailnet name. From another tailnet machine, the page, /api/health and /api/snapshot answered by the full name, and a request by tailnet IP address or by the short name was refused. Pairing in the phone interface worked, and after it a write without the credential got 403 "device not paired". A desktop browser at phone size stood in for the phone.
• —
  Smart App Control on the test VM is in evaluation mode, and neither Smart App Control nor SmartScreen has blocked Collie there. This page describes what Windows documents, not a block that was seen.

The word experimental leaves only when all of these are true together:

1. 01
   A release carries the Windows zip, install.ps1 is on colliepwa.dev, and one install and one update have run against a real release. The first three are done: v1.16.0 carries the zip, the address is live and the install has run. An update between two real releases has not, because it needs a second release with the zip.
2. 02
   The Windows check is a required check in branch protection. Branch protection is the GitHub setting that blocks a merge until the named checks pass.
3. 03
   The release gate reads the Windows workflow. The gate is the first step of the release workflow, which waits for the tests before it publishes.
4. 04
   The tolerance for a missing Windows zip is off. It is off now, as the next section says.

A release without a Windows zip

The release check requires the Windows zip from now on. Only the maintainer can override that, for a Linux hotfix. The release job checks this in scripts/windows-asset.ts. It looks for an earlier stable release (not a draft, not a prerelease) that carries the zip, and v1.16.0 is one. From 2026-11-15 the zip is mandatory in any case, and it is also mandatory when GitHub's release list does not answer. The one exception is a switch that the maintainer can set for a Linux hotfix while the Windows build is broken, the repository variable COLLIE_WINDOWS_ASSET_OVERRIDE. A release made under that switch carries no Windows zip.

Releases before v1.16.0 have no Windows zip. What you see when the newest release has none:

• —
  install.ps1 looks at the newest five releases. For each one it prints <tag> has no Windows build. Trying the next older release. Then it prints collie install: none of the newest 5 releases of AltanS/collie carries a Windows build yet. Nothing was installed. and ends with Install failed. and a line that tells you to pin a release that has one. It changes nothing on your machine. To pin one, set COLLIE_TAG.
• —
  collie update on a Windows install says error: release <version> has no Windows build; try again after the next release. Nothing was changed.

To check, open the release page on GitHub and look for a file named collie-<version>-windows-x64.zip.

What is not tested

Plain list, so nothing here reads as a promise:

• —
  An update between two real releases on Windows. The rehearsal used a local copy of the release files.
• —
  The HTTPS form of Tailscale Serve on Windows (Headscale answered 501 Not Implemented), and with it the home screen install, Web Push and the microphone. Also a real phone, an agent running in a Herdr pane, and a reverse proxy, in place of Tailscale Serve.
• —
  Publishing from collie start on a real tailnet on Windows. It has unit tests, and HTTP ran on the project's Headscale test tailnet.
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  A manual collie update --rollback on Windows. The automatic rollback after a failed update was rehearsed.
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  Moving from a source checkout to the zip install, and updating a source checkout by hand.
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  Installing the zip by hand, without install.ps1.
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  Windows 10, Windows Server, Windows on ARM, tmux, zellij and tuios on Windows.
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  pi and OmO in a Herdr pane on Windows. Collie reads their screens from Linux captures only, and the Windows console may lay out their rows differently.
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  A real Smart App Control block, and PowerShell 7 for install.ps1.
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  A build from source on a machine where Smart App Control is on.
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  The Task Scheduler fix on Windows Home. The route was checked with a standard user whose name held a space and a non-ASCII letter.
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  A FAT volume with real hardware. The "not checked" answer is covered by unit tests.
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  A second Collie's task being refused, covered by unit tests only.
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  Whether Explorer sees the new PATH without a sign-out, and a PATH edit by a standard user.
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  The local-cli voice provider with a real engine. Its cleanup was tested with a test command: Collie ends the command's process tree, but a process started by a helper that has already exited can outlive it (Voice input and Web Push).