The Windows client

Short answer

The Windows client is Abliteration as most people will meet it. It arrives from the Microsoft Store, updates itself silently in the background, sits in the system tray after you close the window so the model stays warm, registers the abliteration:// URL scheme so the catalog can hand off directly to it, and runs inference on CPU today with NVIDIA CUDA on the near-term roadmap. Everything the app does on macOS, it does on Windows too; a few pieces sit on the Windows side by default and the Mac catches up over time.

Detailed explanation

Where it comes from. The Windows client is published on the Microsoft Store as a signed app package. Windows treats it as a trusted publisher, so the install is a single “Get” click with no elevation prompt, no page of warnings, and no admin password. Once it is on the machine, the app shows up as a Start-menu tile, in Windows Search, and as a taskbar icon while running.

How updates arrive. New releases are pushed to the Store, and Windows fetches and installs them silently in the background. The next time you open the app after a release, you are already on the new version, with your models, chats, and settings preserved. There is no in-app “Check for updates” button and no restart prompt; the Store handles the whole flow.

Trust and identity. The app is signed with the same publisher identity across every release. Because it comes through the Store, Windows also runs it inside the standard app-package sandbox, which is why the writable side of the app stays inside a per-user folder that survives reinstall (see Where Abliteration keeps your data).

What the client gives you.

• System-tray persistence. Closing the window sends the app to the notification area next to the clock. The process keeps running, the loaded model stays in RAM, and the local HTTP bridge stays reachable at 127.0.0.1:47821 so any tab you open on abliteration.org reads your machine directly. Quit from the tray menu is the only action that fully stops the process. See Menu bar and tray.
• Registered URL scheme. The abliteration:// scheme (and the legacy infrahuman://) is registered as an OS-level handler, so every “Open in app” button on the catalog routes directly into the running instance. If the app is closed, Windows launches it and hands over the URL once the window is ready. See Deep links.
• Native Windows theme. The app follows the Windows light or dark theme by default, and switches live when the system theme changes. See Switching light and dark theme.
• Hardware detection tuned to Windows. The Hardware screen names the specific CPU, RAM, and every graphics adapter Windows knows about, filtering out the display-only surfaces (DisplayLink docks, virtual displays) that would confuse a GPU-inference decision. See Hardware detection.

Acceleration on Windows. Inference runs on CPU today. NVIDIA CUDA and a cross-vendor Vulkan path are on the roadmap, see GPU roadmap. Any discrete NVIDIA card with a modern driver is already named in green on the Hardware screen so the first release with acceleration flips it on for the right rigs; everything else stays honestly on CPU.

On the near-term roadmap. Optional autostart at Windows boot (see Autostart roadmap), CUDA and Vulkan backends (see GPU roadmap), and a Behaviour setting to make the close button quit instead of minimising to the tray.

Why it matters

The Windows build is where the app grew up, so a lot of the small choices the app makes have a Windows flavour: the Store install, the tray, the taskbar tile, the Personalization theme, the CUDA path landing first among GPU backends. Knowing what is on the Windows side by default helps set expectations for the Mac side, which mirrors the same features on a different schedule.

In Abliteration specifically

The Local HTTP bridge means the catalog at abliteration.org reads your real machine as long as the app is running or in the tray, and falls back to a browser guess only when the app is fully quit. Because the tray keeps the app warm, in practice this means the site sees your real numbers all day, not only during the window you are actively chatting.

Updates from the Store are the only way the app gets new versions on Windows; there is no in-app updater to race with the Store.

Related

• The macOS client - the same program, the differences that matter
• System requirements - RAM and disk floors for Windows
• Menu bar and tray - how the tray keeps the app warm
• Deep links - the abliteration:// URL scheme
• Local HTTP bridge - what the site reads while the app is in the tray
• Updates - how the Store keeps you current
• GPU roadmap - when CUDA and Vulkan land