Download and install on Windows
No terminal. No accounts. Roughly five minutes.
1. Get the file
⬇ Open the downloads page
Scroll to the bottom of that page, to a grey section called Assets. You want one of these two:
| File | Choose this if |
|---|---|
Image.Forge.Setup.x.y.z.exe | You want a normal install — Start menu entry, desktop shortcut, an entry in Settings → Apps to uninstall it from. Most people want this one. |
image-forge-portable.exe | You want no install at all. Runs from wherever you put it, including a USB stick. Your settings and keys are still saved on the computer you run it on, in %APPDATA%\image-forge. |
Each is about 115 MB. That is normal: the app carries its own browser engine, so it does not matter what you have installed.
Coming from 1.0.0? Install 1.0.1 over it. 1.0.0 lost its settings on every restart, so keys you typed into it need entering once more. From 1.0.1 on, they stay. What happened.
2. The blue box
The first time you run it, Windows will show a blue screen saying “Windows protected your PC” with only a Don’t run button.
This is not a virus warning. Windows shows it for every program that has not been signed with a paid code-signing certificate, which costs a few hundred euros a year. This project does not have one, and would rather tell you that plainly than hide it.
To continue:
- Click More info — the small text link, which is easy to miss.
- A Run anyway button appears. Click it.
You only do this once.
The very first start can take a little longer while Windows checks the new program. After that it opens in about a second.
If you would rather not, that is a completely reasonable position. You can run it from source instead, which involves no unsigned executable.
3. First run
The app opens on the Forge — an empty list of pictures. You need one engine to draw them.
The fastest way needs no signup at all: in the toolbar at the top, click the engine button and choose OVHcloud · SDXL. That is it. It is free, needs no key, and makes two pictures a minute, always square.
For more pictures, faster: Cloudflare gives roughly 690 images a day, free, with no credit card. It takes about three minutes to set up — step-by-step instructions.
Prefer to learn the buttons first? Choose Simulated Forge. It draws little scenes offline, instantly and free.
4. Where your things live
| What | Where |
|---|---|
| Your settings and keys | %APPDATA%\image-forge |
| Your images | Wherever you point Link folder — pick your OneDrive or Google Drive folder and you get free cloud backup |
| Your manifest | Inside the app, and written to a CSV in your linked folder |
Paste %APPDATA%\image-forge into the address bar of any Explorer window to open it. The app’s Help → Where is my data? menu opens it for you.
Keep a copy of your keys. Settings shows when your settings were last saved, and has a Back up to a file button. The file holds your keys in plain text, so keep it somewhere private. Restore reads it back.
5. Updating
Settings → Advanced has a button that asks GitHub whether there is a newer release. The app never checks on its own. To update, download the new installer and run it — it installs over the old version and keeps your settings, keys and manifest.
Every release stays on the releases page if you ever need an older one.
Uninstalling
Windows Settings → Apps → Image Forge → Uninstall.
The uninstaller asks whether you also want to delete your settings and keys. Say No if you plan to reinstall; Yes if you are done. Your images are never touched — they are in your own folder, not the app’s.
For the portable version: delete the .exe. Your settings and keys stay in %APPDATA%\image-forge until you delete that folder too.
When something is wrong
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Blue “Windows protected your PC” | Expected. See above. |
| Antivirus quarantines it | Same cause — unsigned. If you are not comfortable allowing it, run from source instead. |
| “Image Forge could not start” | It could not open its local port. Close any other copy of Image Forge and try again. |
| App opens to a white screen | Close it fully and reopen. If it persists, open an issue and say which Windows version you are on. |
| “Every key is resting” | Your engine hit its limit. Switch to another engine in the toolbar, or wait for the reset. |
| Settings say “NOT saved” | The app could not store your change. Press Back up to a file before closing. |
More in Troubleshooting. Still stuck? Open an issue. “The button did nothing” is a perfectly good bug report.