Windows

Holder for Windows

Download the Windows installer, or build Holder yourself while the Windows signing pipeline is being finished.

Signed Release Builds Are Coming Soon

Holder is more transparent than most software on your system. All the source code is public, you can build it yourself, and public GitHub workflows take it from source to installer.

Getting those workflows to produce trusted Windows installers requires a few more hoops. Good that modern Windows takes security seriously, but the developer experience is... (think of a polite word)... fragmented.

Apple has straightforward notarization and Linux established package signing. Meanwhile, Windows has a pile of parts we have to fit together: Authenticode, SmartScreen, Store certification and several packaging formats.

The goal is for every Windows release to be Authenticode-signed by a trusted certificate authority and eventually pass Microsoft Store certification. After all that bureaucracy, we might even avoid the blue window of moan.

For now, use a development build or compile Holder yourself.

Before You Install

The current Windows installer is a development build. Until the Windows release-signing pipeline is finished, Microsoft Defender SmartScreen will treat it as an unrecognised application and display:

Windows protected your PC

This does not mean that SmartScreen has detected malware in Holder. It means Windows does not trust the certificate used to sign these development builds, and the installer does not yet have normal publisher reputation.

If you've downloaded Holder from the official Holder project and want to continue, click More info, check that you're running the file you intended to download, and then choose Run anyway.

Windows SmartScreen showing the Run anyway button after expanding More info

Install

Download the latest Windows installer from the Holder release page and run it. The installer includes the desktop app, launcher, backend daemon and command-line tool.

When the installer starts, it is worth selecting Add Holder command line tools to PATH. This lets you run holderctl from PowerShell, which is useful both for normal command-line use and for fixing problems.

The Holder installer showing setup options including adding Holder command line tools to PATH

The installer copies the Holder programs and supporting files to your computer.

When the installer finishes, leave Launch Holder selected, or open Holder later from the Start menu.

The Holder installer completion screen with the launch option selected

Usage

Holder opens with your projects and cards. By default you get a project called Home. Press the plus button to create a card, or the folder-plus button to create a project.

Holder running on Windows with the default Home project open

Press the beaker icon to open the toolbox, press the keyboard icon to open the AI panel.

Holder running on Windows with the toolbox and AI panel visible

The local HTTP API is documented with Swagger UI.

Holder API documentation open in a browser on Windows

To access the command-line interface, type holderctl into PowerShell.

holderctl running in PowerShell on Windows

Holder Framework Edition gives you several ways to work with the same local knowledge base: the desktop app, the command line and the HTTP API.

Holder on Windows showing the desktop app, command line interface and browser API documentation

Building From Source

Building from source on Windows uses Visual Studio for the backend and MSYS2 UCRT64 for the GTK desktop app.

Install Visual Studio Community with the Desktop development with C++ workload.
Install MSYS2 and open the UCRT64 shell.
Clone the backend: git clone https://github.com/HolderTeam/holder-daemon.git.
Open holder-daemon in Visual Studio, choose windows-vcpkg-debug, then use Build All.
For tests, choose windows-vcpkg-tests-debug, build, then run the CTest preset from Visual Studio's Test menu.
Clone the desktop app: git clone https://github.com/HolderTeam/holder-desktop.git.
In the MSYS2 UCRT64 shell, run ./make-win.sh deps, then ./make-win.sh run.

The installer also includes a tiny launcher that starts the backend before opening the desktop app. You don't need to build it unless you are working on packaging, but you can get it here: holder-launcher.