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Setting up SpecForge on Windows

This guide will walk you through setting up SpecForge on Windows.

1. Installation

Download specforge-x.y.z-Windows-X64.msi from the SpecForge releases page and run the installer.

The MSI installer will:

  • Install SpecForge to C:\Program Files\Imiron\SpecForge\
  • Add SpecForge to your system PATH automatically
  • Include all required dependencies (Z3, rsvg-convert)

Standalone Executable

Download specforge-x.y.z-Windows-X64.zip from the SpecForge releases page and extract it to a directory of your choice.

Note: With this method, you need to manually install dependencies.

The SpecForge executable requires Z3 and rsvg-converter (optional) to be installed on your system.

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

choco install z3 rsvg-convert

If you don't have Chocolatey, you can install it from chocolatey.org.

Manual Installation

If you prefer not to use a package manager, download Z3 directly from the Z3 releases page and add it to your PATH.

2. Configure Your License

The SpecForge server requires a valid license file to start. If you don't have a license, please contact the SpecForge team or request a trial license.

Place your license.json file in one of the following locations (the first match is used):

  1. Standard Configuration Directory (recommended):

    • %APPDATA%\specforge\license.json
    • Typically: C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Roaming\specforge\license.json

  2. Environment Variable (for custom locations):

    $env:SPECFORGE_LICENSE_FILE="C:\path\to\license.json"

  3. Current Directory: .\license.json

Create the directory if it doesn't exist. You can do this in PowerShell:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$env:APPDATA\specforge"
Copy-Item "C:\path\to\your\license.json" "$env:APPDATA\specforge\license.json"

3. Configure LLM Provider (Optional)

To use LLM-based features such as natural-language spec generation and error explanation, configure an LLM provider by setting environment variables before starting the server.

For OpenAI (recommended):

$env:LLM_PROVIDER="openai"
$env:LLM_MODEL="gpt-5-nano-2025-08-07"
$env:OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"

Get an API key from platform.openai.com/api-keys.

For other providers (Gemini, Ollama), see the LLM Provider Configuration guide.

5. Start the Server

If you used the MSI installer, run from any directory:

specforge serve

If you used the standalone executable, navigate to the directory where you extracted the SpecForge executable and run:

.\specforge.exe serve

The server will start on http://localhost:8080. You can verify it's running by navigating to http://localhost:8080/health, which should show version information.

Note: The server will exit immediately if the license is missing or invalid. If you encounter startup issues, verify your license configuration.

6. Install the VSCode Extension

Install the SpecForge VSCode extension from the Visual Studio Marketplace or see the VSCode Extension setup guide.

Next Steps