Install on Windows

Two Windows artifacts are published per architecture: an .msi installer and a .zip. Both carry the CLI only.

Which build

Windows on ARM starts a full release later than Windows on x86_64. Both are declared, neither is certified at its floor yet.

You do not need the build tools

Building TOVIO from source on Windows requires the Visual Studio Build Tools with the Desktop C++ workload, because the TLS transport will not link under the GNU toolchain. Installing a published package requires none of that — it is the main reason to prefer the package once one exists.

Verify before you install

The MSI is Authenticode-signed, so Windows checks the publisher for you at install time. Verify the release's checksum and provenance attestation as well: Authenticode proves who signed the installer, not that you downloaded the artifact the release actually published.

Which shell

TOVIO behaves identically in PowerShell, Command Prompt and Git Bash. The usage lines say tovio rather than tovio.exe on every platform, which is deliberate — the binary name is pinned so the documented commands are copy-pasteable as written. Completions are available for PowerShell; see the completions article.

Keep your repository path short

Windows path length is worth respecting. The object store nests paths several levels below the repository root, so a deep repository root can push the full object path past the classic Windows limit even when the root itself looks reasonable. The symptom is characteristic: tovio init succeeds, and then tovio commit fails with TVO-CORE-000 and an os error 3 — "The system cannot find the path specified" — so the failure appears one command after its cause.

Keeping repositories somewhere short, such as C:\src\, is the reliable fix. Do not assume the Windows long-path setting alone is enough.

Keys on Windows

The Windows Credential Manager holds the 32-byte wrapping key, under the service name tovio. Your identity secret itself is sealed on disk inside the repository at .tovio/identity/default.key. Neither is removed when you uninstall, and neither ever enters the object store or the wire.