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Windows Setup Guide
This guide covers building and installing ZeroClaw on Windows.
Quick Start
Option A: One-click setup script
From the repository root:
setup.bat
The script auto-detects your environment and walks you through installation. You can also pass flags to skip the interactive menu:
| Flag | Description |
|---|---|
--prebuilt |
Download pre-compiled binary (fastest) |
--minimal |
Build with default features only |
--standard |
Build with Matrix + Lark/Feishu + Postgres |
--full |
Build with all features |
Option B: Scoop (package manager)
scoop bucket add zeroclaw https://github.com/zeroclaw-labs/scoop-zeroclaw
scoop install zeroclaw
Option C: Manual build
rustup target add x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
cargo build --release --locked --features channel-matrix,channel-lark --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
copy target\x86_64-pc-windows-msvc\release\zeroclaw.exe %USERPROFILE%\.zeroclaw\bin\
Prerequisites
| Requirement | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Git | Yes | git-scm.com/download/win |
| Rust 1.87+ | Yes | Auto-installed by setup.bat if missing |
| Visual Studio Build Tools | Yes (source builds) | C++ workload required for MSVC linker |
| Node.js | No | Only needed to build the web dashboard from source |
Installing Visual Studio Build Tools
If you don't have Visual Studio installed, install the Build Tools:
- Download from visualstudio.microsoft.com/visual-cpp-build-tools
- Select the "Desktop development with C++" workload
- Install and restart your terminal
Alternatively, if you have Visual Studio 2019+ installed with the C++ workload, you're already set.
Feature Flags
ZeroClaw uses Cargo feature flags to control which integrations are compiled in:
| Feature | Description | Default? |
|---|---|---|
channel-lark |
Lark/Feishu messaging | Yes |
channel-nostr |
Nostr protocol | Yes |
observability-prometheus |
Prometheus metrics | Yes |
skill-creation |
Auto skill creation | Yes |
channel-matrix |
Matrix protocol | No |
browser-native |
Headless browser | No |
hardware |
USB device support | No |
rag-pdf |
PDF extraction for RAG | No |
observability-otel |
OpenTelemetry | No |
To build with specific features:
cargo build --release --locked --features channel-matrix,channel-lark --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
Post-Installation
- Restart your terminal for PATH changes to take effect
- Initialize ZeroClaw:
zeroclaw init - Configure your API key in
%USERPROFILE%\.zeroclaw\config.toml
Troubleshooting
Build fails with linker errors
Install Visual Studio Build Tools with the C++ workload. The MSVC linker is required.
cargo build runs out of memory
Source builds need at least 2 GB free RAM. Use setup.bat --prebuilt to download a pre-compiled binary instead.
Feishu/Lark not available
Feishu and Lark are the same platform. Build with the channel-lark feature:
cargo build --release --locked --features channel-lark --target x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
Web dashboard missing
The web dashboard requires Node.js and npm at build time. Install Node.js and rebuild, or use the pre-built binary which includes the dashboard.