Installing on Windows

Updated on Oct 5, 2026

Forge supports x86_64 Windows 11 and Windows Server 2019, 2022, and 2025. The release asset is frg-<version>-x86_64-windows.exe.

Windows installation requires PowerShell 7. The built-in Windows PowerShell 5.1 isn't supported. Install PowerShell 7 with winget install Microsoft.PowerShell, then use the pwsh terminal.

Install with the installer script

PowerShell 7GitHub CLI

powershell

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://github.com/telerik/forge/releases/latest/download/install.ps1' -OutFile install.ps1
.\install.ps1

powershell

gh release download --repo telerik/forge --pattern 'install.ps1'
.\install.ps1

By default, install.ps1 installs to C:\Program Files\Forge, which requires an Administrator PowerShell session. It then adds that folder to the system PATH. To install without administrator rights, choose a folder in your user profile. The installer then updates your user PATH:

powershell

.\install.ps1 -InstallDir "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Forge"

The installer unblocks the downloaded file and verifies its SHA256 checksum. Open a new terminal afterwards so the PATH change takes effect. See Installation Overview for installer options, environment variables, and exit codes.

Install the binary manually

Windows 11 client

PowerShell 7GitHub CLI

powershell

gh release download v<version> --repo telerik/forge --pattern 'frg-<version>-x86_64-windows.exe'

$dir = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Forge"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dir | Out-Null
Move-Item .\frg-<version>-x86_64-windows.exe "$dir\frg.exe"

$userPath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "User")
if (($userPath -split ';') -notcontains $dir) {
 [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$userPath;$dir", "User")
}

Open a new terminal and run frg --version.

1. Download frg-<version>-x86_64-windows.exe from the releases page.
2. Move it to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Forge and rename it to frg.exe.
3. Add that folder to your user PATH: in the Start menu, search for Edit environment variables for your account, select Path > Edit > New, and enter the folder path.

Windows Server

Windows Server 2019, 2022, and 2025 use the same binary. Stricter default policies call for a few changes:

1. Install PowerShell 7 (winget install Microsoft.PowerShell), then run all commands in pwsh.
2. In an Administrator session, install to C:\Program Files\Forge and add it to the system PATH, so every session and service can find Forge:

powershell

$dir = "C:\Program Files\Forge"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dir | Out-Null
Move-Item .\frg-<version>-x86_64-windows.exe "$dir\frg.exe"
Unblock-File -Path "$dir\frg.exe"

$machinePath = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "Machine")
if (($machinePath -split ';') -notcontains $dir) {
 [Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$machinePath;$dir", "Machine")
}

3. Open a new session and run frg.exe --version.

These steps also work on Server Core. In scripts, scheduled tasks, and CI on Windows, call frg.exe or the full path (& "C:\Program Files\Forge\frg.exe"). The name without the extension doesn't resolve in every context.

If SmartScreen, the execution policy, or Group Policy blocks Forge, see Troubleshooting Installation Problems.

Verify the Windows binary

On Windows, compare the hash with the matching line in SHA256SUMS, and check the Authenticode signature:

powershell

Get-FileHash .\frg-<version>-x86_64-windows.exe -Algorithm SHA256
Get-AuthenticodeSignature .\frg-<version>-x86_64-windows.exe

Install GitHub Copilot CLI on Windows

If you use GitHub Copilot CLI as the Forge agent on Windows, install it with WinGet or npm:

powershell

winget install GitHub.Copilot
# or
npm install -g @github/copilot

Warning: Don't use the GitHub CLI extension (gh copilot) with Forge on Windows. The gh copilot wrapper runs through cmd.exe, whose command-line length limit (about 8,191 characters) Forge's prompts regularly exceed. You then see errors such as "The command line is too long" or truncated responses. If you configured command = "gh" in .forge/config/agents.toml, remove it.

Forge finds copilot automatically. For an npm install, Forge calls Node.js directly instead of the copilot.cmd wrapper, which avoids the same length limit. If Forge can't find the executable, set its path in .forge/config/agents.toml:

toml

[agent.github_copilot]
command = "C:\\Program Files\\GitHub Copilot CLI\\copilot.exe"

Then run frg status (add --verbose for details) to confirm that Forge detects the agent. See Agent Setup and Custom Agent Configurations for Claude Code, OpenCode, and other agent settings.

For general download verification and troubleshooting, see Troubleshooting Installation Problems.