Install Cuewire

This page shows how to install Cuewire on Windows, update it and remove it.

Figure: Setup puts the app in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Cuewire. Your canvases, notes and settings live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Cuewire. Setup never changes that folder.

What you need

• A 64-bit Windows PC (x86_64).
• The command-line tools of the agents you want to use, such as Claude Code or Codex. Install them on their own. Cuewire runs them, but it does not install them.

Note

Today Cuewire comes as a Windows setup program only. There is no download for macOS or Linux yet. A Linux machine or a WSL distribution can still run your agents as a remote project.

Install on Windows

1. Get the setup program, CuewireSetup-<version>-x86_64.exe.
2. Double-click it.
3. If Windows shows Windows protected your PC, follow the steps in the next section.
4. Wait a few seconds. Setup has no window and asks no questions. Cuewire starts by itself.

Setup does this for you:

• It installs Cuewire for you alone, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Cuewire.
• It needs no administrator rights.
• It adds Cuewire to the Start menu.
• It adds Cuewire to the apps list in Windows Settings, so you can remove it later.
• It starts Cuewire.

Next, see Your first canvas.

If Windows says “Windows protected your PC”

Some Cuewire builds are not signed yet. For an unsigned program, Windows SmartScreen shows a warning before the first start.

1. Click More info.
2. Check that the app name is the setup file you downloaded.
3. Click Run anyway.

Warning

Do this only for a setup file that you got from the Cuewire team. If you are not sure where the file came from, click Don’t run and get it again.

If setup fails

Setup writes what it did to %TEMP%\cuewire-setup.log. When something goes wrong, it also shows a message. For example, This setup file is damaged (…). Download it again.

Update Cuewire

Run the setup program of the newer version. It installs over the old version, in the same folder.

1. Quit Cuewire with Ctrl+Q. Your agents keep running in the background service.
2. Run the newer CuewireSetup-<version>-x86_64.exe.
3. Wait a few seconds. Cuewire starts again, and every terminal reconnects.

Your canvases, notes and settings stay as they were. Setup does not stop your agents, even while it replaces files that they use.

Restart the terminal service

The new Cuewire works with the background service that is already running. That service is still the old version. If no terminal is running, Cuewire updates the service by itself. If terminals are running, Cuewire waits for you:

1. In the sidebar, click Update ready · restart 2 terminals (the number matches your terminals).
2. Read the dialog, Update the terminal service? The running terminals stop and start again, in the same folders.
3. Click Restart now (Enter). Or click Later (Esc) to keep working on the old version.

Tip

Pick a moment when your agents are idle. Agents that can resume pick up their last conversation when they start again.

Uninstall Cuewire

1. Open Windows Settings, then Apps.
2. Find Cuewire in the list of installed apps.
3. Choose Uninstall.

Uninstalling removes the app, its Start menu entry and its entry in Settings. If some files are still in use, Windows removes them the next time you sign in.

Your data stays in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Cuewire: canvases, notes, settings and logs. If you install Cuewire again, it finds them.

Note

Uninstalling does not stop agents that are still running. Delete their terminals in Cuewire first.

To remove your data as well, run this in a terminal:

"%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Cuewire\uninstall.exe" --uninstall --remove-data

Warning

--remove-data deletes your canvases, notes and settings for good. Nothing can bring them back.

For scripts

uninstall.exe is in the folder where Cuewire is installed.

What’s next

• Your first canvas
• A tour of the window
• Troubleshooting