# Install OrcStrator on Windows, Step by Step > Download the installer, get past the blue Windows warning, create your account and sign in to Claude. Every step, with the words the screens use. - Canonical: https://orcstrator.com/install-orcstrator-on-windows-step-by-step - Published: 2026-11-02 - Author: Rodrigo Nask (https://rodrigonask.com/), OrcStrator --- ## Key takeaways - The installer sets up everything OrcStrator needs, Claude Code included. - Windows shows a blue SmartScreen warning because the app is not code-signed yet: More info, then Run anyway. - You need a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Ultra, Team or Enterprise) before the first chat works. - Your computer must be on and awake for agents and routines to run. Installing OrcStrator means running one Windows installer, creating an OrcStrator account inside the app and signing in to your own Claude account. The installer sets up Claude Code for you, so there is no terminal step. You pressed Download for Windows. A file landed on your computer, usually in the Downloads folder. You opened it, and Windows answered with a blue screen that says it protected your PC. That screen is where a careful person stops and wonders what they did. It has two clicks, and nobody tells you which ones. This guide follows the order the screens appear in, quotes the words they use, and ends on the first screen you see when it is all done. ## Before you start: what you need Four things. - **A Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer.** OrcStrator is Windows only. Anthropic's [Claude Code setup documentation](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/setup) lists Windows 10 version 1809 or later, at least 4 GB of memory and an internet connection. - **A Claude plan.** OrcStrator runs Claude Code, and Claude Code needs a paid Claude plan. Anthropic's setup page says the free claude.ai plan does not include Claude Code access. If you have no plan yet, [Anthropic's page on using Claude Code with a plan](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11145838-use-claude-code-with-your-pro-max-or-ultra-plan) explains what the plans include. - **An email address you can open right now.** OrcStrator sends one message to it, and the app will not let you in until you click the link inside. - **A little patience.** The installer and the Claude sign-in page are the slow parts. You do not need to install anything else first. No Claude Code and no terminal. A terminal is the black window where you type commands, and this guide never opens one. If a guide you found elsewhere starts with "open a terminal and paste", it is for Claude Code on its own, not for OrcStrator, which [works without a terminal](https://orcstrator.com/how-it-works). OrcStrator is free to start, and [its homepage](https://orcstrator.com/) says the free plan needs no card. Your Claude plan is a separate bill, paid to Anthropic. > **Figure (animated on the web version):** Three stepping stones in a row. A marker hops from the first, Download and install, to the second, Create account, to the third, Confirm email, and lands on a small board with three cards. > > Three steps from the button to the board. **Download and install, create an account, confirm your email.** Signing in to Claude comes after, inside the app. The three stones are the first three steps below. Signing in to Claude is the fourth, and it happens inside the app. ## Step 1: download and run the installer Open [orcstrator.com](https://orcstrator.com/#install) and click **Download for Windows**. Your browser downloads one file. Its name starts with `OrcStrator-Setup`, followed by a version number, so you can find it in the Downloads folder by that start. An installer is a file you open once to put a program on your computer. Double-click it. Two things to know first: 1. **It installs for your own Windows user.** The installer is set to put OrcStrator in your own user folder, not in the shared Program Files folder, so it does not ask for administrator rights. 2. **It brings Claude Code with it.** [OrcStrator's page](https://orcstrator.com/) says the installer sets up everything it needs, Claude Code included. Claude Code is Anthropic's tool that lets Claude work on the files on your computer. OrcStrator is the board you drive it from. Anthropic's [setup documentation](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/setup) describes the install you are skipping: a command typed into a terminal. You skip it because the installer does that part. Right after you double-click, Windows may show the blue screen. It is normal for this app today, and the next section covers it. Once past it, the installer opens its own window and walks through a short list: - **A license agreement.** Read it and accept to continue. - **A shortcut choice.** One box reads **Create a desktop shortcut**. Tick it if you want an OrcStrator icon on your desktop. OrcStrator is in the Start menu either way. - **A final box that reads Launch OrcStrator.** Leave it ticked and finish, and the app opens on its own. > **Figure (animated on the web version):** A checklist ticks down: the installer runs, Claude Code is set up, the sign-in card opens inside the app. Beside it, a black terminal window is crossed out and labelled Never opens. > > No terminal appears at any point. **The installer sets up Claude Code, and the sign-in happens on a card inside the app.** ## What does the blue Windows protected your PC screen mean? It means Windows does not recognise the publisher of the file. It does not mean Windows found something wrong inside it. The screen is called Microsoft Defender SmartScreen. Windows shows it for apps that are not code-signed. Code-signing is a digital signature that tells Windows who published a file. OrcStrator is not signed yet, so Windows has no name to show you. The homepage says this goes away once the app is signed, and gives no date, so do not wait for one. The window is titled **Windows protected your PC** and says, in words close to these, that Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognised app from starting. Do this: 1. Click **More info**. It is the small link in the text, not a button. 2. A button that reads **Run anyway** appears next to **Don't run**. Click **Run anyway**. > **Figure (animated on the web version):** A blue Windows window titled Windows protected your PC. A pointer clicks More info, a Run anyway button appears beside Don't run, and the pointer clicks Run anyway. > > The blue warning has two clicks. **More info, then Run anyway,** because the app is not code-signed yet. That is the whole trick. Two clicks, in that order, and the installer's own window opens. Run anyway is a decision to make on purpose. You are making it on one fact: you downloaded the file from orcstrator.com yourself. Windows says it cannot vouch for the publisher, and that is accurate. If the file came from anywhere else, close the window and download it again from the OrcStrator site. ## Step 2: create your OrcStrator account When the app opens for the first time, it shows a full-screen Sign in page. The heading is **OrcStrator**, and under it: "Sign in to get started. Your chats and work stay on your computer." Nothing else in the app opens until you get past this page, and after that you do not see it again unless you sign out. At the top of the form there are two tabs, **Sign in** and **Create account**. You are new, so click **Create account**. Then: 1. **Type your email** in the **Email** field. 2. **Choose a password** in the **Password** field. The **Show** button next to it reveals what you typed, so you can check it. Or click **Make a strong password for me**. OrcStrator fills the box with a long random one and shows it. A **Copy** button appears beside it, and the page adds a note: "Copy it and keep it somewhere safe. Your browser may also offer to save it." Keep it: a password you never saw again is one you will reset next week. 3. Click the **Create account** button at the bottom. While it works, the button reads "One moment...". If you click without typing both fields, the page says "Type your email and password first." This account belongs to OrcStrator. It is not your Claude account, and your work does not go there. According to the homepage, the only things OrcStrator sees are your email, a scrambled id for your computer, and your plan. Your chats, files and projects stay on your computer. Every new OrcStrator account starts on the free plan. The free plan limits how many chats can work at once, and the numbers live in the plan, so they can change. After you are in, open Settings, then Account & updates, and read the box called **Your OrcStrator account** for your plan, the email you signed in with and your limits. ## Step 3: confirm your email After you click Create account, the page changes to **Check your inbox**. It tells you OrcStrator sent a message to your address, and to click the link inside to confirm your email before you come back to sign in. Go to your email, open the message and click the link. Then return to OrcStrator. Two details save you a minute: - **The password box is empty when you come back.** Click **I confirmed it, sign in**, then type your email and password again. The app clears the box on purpose. - **A message that does not arrive is usually in spam.** Check the spam folder first. If it is not there, try to sign in anyway. OrcStrator will say the email is not confirmed yet and show a link that reads **Send the confirmation email again**. Click it, wait a minute, and look again. Now click **Sign in**. A wrong password gets a plain message saying the email and password do not match. Check them, or type your email and click **Forgot password?** for a link to choose a new one. You are in. The app opens. One more case. If the page says your plan allows a limited number of computers, it offers **Sign out my other computers and continue**. That signs the account out everywhere else and finishes signing in here. The other computers fall back to the free plan until you sign in on them again. ## Step 4: sign in to Claude inside the app You have an OrcStrator account. Claude is not connected yet, and until it is, no chat can work. This step has its own picture because it is easy to mix up the two accounts. > **Figure (animated on the web version):** Two cards side by side. The OrcStrator account card, an email and a password, points to opening the app and holding your plan. The Claude account card points to your usage and your prompts. > > Two accounts, two jobs. **OrcStrator opens the app and holds your plan. Claude carries your usage and your prompts.** The OrcStrator account opens the app and holds your plan. The Claude account is where your usage and your prompts go. OrcStrator does not sell Claude usage, so the thing doing the work needs your own login, and that login is the one you already use on claude.ai. Anthropic's page says Claude Code uses the same credentials you use for Claude, and that the limits are shared across Claude and Claude Code, so everything you do in OrcStrator counts against the same limits as your chats on claude.ai. Here is how to sign in, with no terminal: 1. **Find the round button at the right of the top bar.** It shows a dashed ring and a question mark while nobody is signed in. Its tooltip reads "Claude is not signed in on this computer. Click to sign in." 2. **Click it.** A window called **Claude account** opens and says **Not signed in**. Click **Sign in**. 3. **The Sign in to Claude card opens.** For a second or two it says "Getting the sign-in page ready...". Then your browser opens the Claude sign-in page by itself. 4. **Sign in the way you normally do** on that page, with the account that has your paid plan. 5. **If the page shows a code, copy it and paste it** into the box on the card, the one that reads **Paste the code**, then click **Sign in**. If the page says you are signed in instead, there is nothing to paste: the card updates by itself. > **Figure (animated on the web version):** The Sign in to Claude card. A first panel shows Open the sign-in page and Copy link. A second panel shows a box reading Paste the code with a Sign in button. A third panel reads Signed in as you@example.com, with a green dot and a Done button. > > The card has two moves. **Open the sign-in page, then paste the code it shows** if it shows one. The card says Signed in only after it has checked that Claude works. When it works, the card says "Signed in" followed by your email and your plan, then "New messages in every chat use this account." Click **Done**. Typing `/login` into any chat opens the same card, so the round button is optional. Anthropic describes the same flow for the terminal in its [authentication documentation](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/authentication): the browser opens for you to log in, and if it shows a login code instead of coming back, you paste it. OrcStrator puts that flow on a card. The Claude account window stays available for later. It shows your plan, how much of this session's and this week's limit is used, and when each resets. ![The Claude account window showing a session bar and a weekly bar with when each resets, and an Add another account row with a Sign in button](https://orcstrator.com/features/accounts.webp) Caption: The Claude account window, open later. **The two bars show how much of your limit you have used.** Add another account is only for a second Claude account of your own. ## What the first screen shows You are signed in on both sides. Here is what is in front of you. **The top bar.** In the middle are the views, among them **Chats**, **Tasks**, **Skills**, **Usage** and **Dash**. A raised marker glides to the one you are on. Chats shows open chats side by side, Tasks is the board of cards, and Dash is a live overview of your agents. On the right are **The Orc**, a bell for what's new, **Settings** and the round Claude account button you used a minute ago. It now shows your initial. **The left sidebar.** Your projects are listed under **Projects**. A project is a folder on your computer that agents work in. At the bottom, **+ Add project** offers **Open a folder**, for one you already have, and **Start a new project**, which opens a chat that asks what you want to build and makes the folder for you. Above the projects, usage bars show how much of your Claude session and your week you have used. **The board.** A card is one job. Cards move through columns as the work goes, and several agents can work on different cards at once. ![The board with cards in Backlog, Ready, Running and Needs your review, a project list in the left sidebar and a New card button at the top right](https://orcstrator.com/features/board.webp) Caption: The board, with a made-up bakery's jobs on it. **Pipeline in this picture is called Tasks in the current version of OrcStrator.** The cards in that picture belong to a made-up bakery. Yours appear as you add jobs. When the app opens on a new version, the bell opens a small card called **You're on** with the version and the notes for that update. **Got it** puts it away. ## If the installer or sign-in stalls Match the words on your screen. **Nothing happens when you open the file.** Download it again from orcstrator.com and open the new copy, then watch for the blue screen. **The Sign in page says OrcStrator could not reach the account service.** Check your internet connection and try again. Creating an account and signing in both need one. **The email and password do not match.** Click **Show** to see what you typed. If you cannot remember the password, type your email and click **Forgot password?**, and check spam if the link does not arrive in a minute. **The email is not confirmed yet.** Open the message and click its link. If it is gone, click **Send the confirmation email again**. **The Sign in to Claude card says "Getting the sign-in page ready..." for a long time.** After 20 seconds it adds: "This is taking longer than usual. Cancel and try again if nothing happens." Click **Cancel**, then open the card again from the round button. If the card shows **Try again**, use that. **The browser did not open the Claude page.** The card says so itself: "Your browser should open the Claude sign-in page. If it did not, open it here." Click **Open the sign-in page**. Or click **Copy link** and paste the address into any browser, even one on another computer. Then paste the code the page shows into the card. **The card says the code was wrong or old.** Click **Try again** and use the new code. If your Claude account is on the free claude.ai plan, that is a plan problem, not an OrcStrator problem. Anthropic's [setup documentation](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/setup) says the free plan does not include Claude Code, and lists the plans that do. ## Why your computer has to stay on OrcStrator runs on your computer. The agents work there, on your files, so the computer needs to be on and awake, with OrcStrator open, for chats and routines to run. [OrcStrator's own page](https://orcstrator.com/) puts it plainly: they are good, not magic. A routine is a job you schedule, such as every Monday at 9. Routines are not on the free OrcStrator plan, and they fire from your computer too. The Schedule view marks a run that started well after its slot, for example after the computer was off or asleep, with how late it ran. Each routine also has a setting for what to do with a missed slot. > **Figure (animated on the web version):** A strip showing a day. Two green stretches are labelled On, OrcStrator open, with small agent dots working inside them. The grey stretch between them is labelled Asleep, and no agent dots appear there. > > The agents work on your computer, so it has to be on. **On and awake, with OrcStrator open, agents and routines run. Asleep or off, nothing does.** Two things work in your favour. - **Quiet chats use almost nothing.** A chat only runs while it is working. When it stops, OrcStrator closes it, and your next message brings it back in about a second. With twenty chats open and two working, two use your computer. - **Nothing runs in the cloud on your behalf.** Claude's own cloud routines stay yours, and OrcStrator's routines are separate and run on your machine. The rule is short: leave the computer on, leave OrcStrator open, and do not let Windows put the machine to sleep in the middle of a job you care about. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do I need to install Claude Code before OrcStrator? No. The OrcStrator installer sets up everything it needs, Claude Code included. You do not open a terminal or type a command. You do need a paid Claude plan (Pro, Max, Ultra, Team or Enterprise), because OrcStrator runs the official Claude Code on your own Claude account and does not sell Claude usage. ### Why does Windows say it protected my PC? Windows shows that blue SmartScreen warning for apps that are not code-signed yet, and OrcStrator is not signed at the moment. Click More info, then Run anyway. The warning is about the missing signature, not about something found inside the file, and it goes away once the app is signed. ### What is the OrcStrator account for, if I already have a Claude account? They do different jobs. The OrcStrator account is an email and a password that opens the app and holds your plan. The Claude account is where your usage and your prompts go. OrcStrator sees your email, a scrambled id for your computer and your plan. Your chats, files and projects stay on your computer. ### Does OrcStrator work on a Mac? No. OrcStrator is Windows only, on Windows 10 and 11. If you are on a Mac, the Claude desktop app and the Claude Code documentation are the places to start, because OrcStrator does not run there and no Mac version is promised. ### Does the computer have to stay on for it to work? Yes. The agents run on your computer, so it has to be on and awake, with OrcStrator open, for chats and routines to work. Nothing runs in the cloud on your behalf. A chat only runs while it is working, so quiet chats use almost nothing. ## Next step: start your first card You are installed, signed in and looking at an empty board. The next move is one card. Click **+ New card** on the board, describe the job in plain words, and press **Start** on the card. An agent picks it up, and a card that needs you turns amber and says why. Pick something small and real, like a paragraph rewritten or a page checked for typos. The [OrcStrator homepage](https://orcstrator.com/#inside) has more real screenshots, taken on a made-up bakery. Read next: [Claude Code for Non-Coders: Where to Start](https://orcstrator.com/claude-code-for-non-coders-explained) and What Can You Do With Claude Code? Real Examples. OrcStrator is the Windows app that runs Claude Code as chats and cards on your own computer, with no terminal. It is free to start and needs a Claude plan. Download the installer and follow the four steps above. - [Download OrcStrator](https://orcstrator.com/#install)