A personal store for the Windows desktop apps you build yourself. Lists every app across your GitHub repos, downloads the latest MSI / EXE / portable ZIP from the release, and runs the right installer for you. Install. Uninstall. Run. Move on.
LocalDesktopStore is the desktop sibling of LocalChromeStore. When you ship more than a couple of WPF apps, PyInstaller bundles, and Win32 utilities under one GitHub account, hand-installing each one on a fresh box gets old fast. WinGet is close, but it requires public submission and hides anything not in the catalog. This is a private store that mirrors the LocalChromeStore UX exactly, just for desktop binaries.
A typical sysadmin's GitHub account ships:
- C# WPF / .NET 9 apps as MSIs or Inno Setup
.exeinstallers - C++ Win32 apps as NSIS or Inno installers, sometimes a portable
.zip - PowerShell WPF apps as portable ZIPs
- Python / PyQt6 apps as PyInstaller
.exeinside a.zip
LocalDesktopStore knows about all of those. It picks the right asset off each release, verifies the SHA-256 sidecar, runs the correct silent-install incantation, and remembers what it installed so it can uninstall and run later.
- GitHub-sourced discovery — every repo whose latest release ships an MSI, NSIS / Inno EXE, or portable ZIP appears as a card
- Smart asset classification — picks the best installer per release, prefers MSI > NSIS / Inno > portable ZIP
- Inno-vs-NSIS detection — file-name hints first, then a bounded byte scan for the real signature ("Inno Setup Setup Data" / "Nullsoft Install System") — refuses to silently use the wrong silent-flag set
- One-click install — runs
msiexec /i ... /qb, Inno/SILENT /NORESTART, NSIS/S, or extract-and-shortcut for portable ZIPs - One-click uninstall — uses the recorded
UninstallString/QuietUninstallStringfor installer-driven apps; for portable apps removes the extraction folder + Start Menu shortcut - Run button — launches the registered
.exe(fromDisplayIconorInstallLocation) for installer-driven apps, the largest extracted.exefor portable apps - Install-state detection — pre/post snapshot of
HKLM,HKLM\WOW6432Node, andHKCUuninstall keys, then diffs to find the new entry — far more reliable than name-matching - SHA-256 sidecar verification — refuses to install if
<asset>.sha256.txtis present and doesn't match (matches the LocalChromeStore release convention) - Search and filter — by name, repo, or description; toggle to show only installed
- Topic filter (optional) — restrict discovery to repos tagged with a topic (default
windows-app) - Optional GitHub PAT — public limit is 60 req/h; with a PAT it's 5,000/h and unlocks private repos
- Catppuccin Mocha dark theme — matches LocalChromeStore exactly
- Activity log + crash log — every install / uninstall / run / error is logged in-app and to disk
- Async — every API call, download, and installer invocation runs off the UI thread
- Grab the latest
LocalDesktopStore-vX.Y.Z-win-x64.zipfrom the Releases page - Verify the SHA-256:
(Get-FileHash LocalDesktopStore-vX.Y.Z-win-x64.zip).Hashshould match the.sha256.txtsidecar - Extract anywhere
- Run
LocalDesktopStore.exe
Requires the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime — download the Windows x64 Desktop Runtime installer if it's not already on the box.
git clone https://github.com/SysAdminDoc/LocalDesktopStore.git
cd LocalDesktopStore
dotnet build src/LocalDesktopStore/LocalDesktopStore.csproj -c Release
./src/LocalDesktopStore/bin/Release/net9.0-windows/LocalDesktopStore.exe- Click Settings in the top right
- Set GitHub user / org to your handle (defaults to
SysAdminDoc) - (Optional) Paste a GitHub personal access token to raise rate limits and surface private repos
- (Optional) Enable Filter by topic if you want to limit to repos tagged with
windows-app - Leave Verify SHA-256 sidecar on if your releases ship
.sha256.txtsidecars (LocalChromeStore / LocalDesktopStore convention) - Click Save and refresh
Every qualifying repo appears as a card. Click Install on a card — LocalDesktopStore downloads the asset to %LOCALAPPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\downloads\, verifies the hash, runs the correct installer, and remembers what it installed. Click Run to launch. Click Uninstall to remove.
LocalDesktopStore decides what an asset is by both filename and content:
| Asset | Routing | Silent flags |
|---|---|---|
*.msi |
MSI | msiexec /i <file> /qb /norestart (logged to %LOCALAPPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\logs\) |
*.exe containing Inno Setup Setup Data (or filename has innosetup) |
Inno Setup | <file> /SILENT /NORESTART |
*.exe containing Nullsoft Install System / Nullsoft.NSIS (or filename has nsis) |
NSIS | <file> /S |
*.exe with setup / installer in the filename and no signature match |
Generic installer | runs interactive — let the user click through |
*.zip |
Portable | extracts to %LOCALAPPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\apps\<owner>\<repo>\<version>\, picks the largest non-uninstaller .exe, creates a Start Menu shortcut |
If multiple eligible assets ship in the same release, MSI wins, then Inno, then NSIS, then portable ZIP.
| Path | Purpose |
|---|---|
%APPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\settings.json |
User settings (GitHub user, token, install root) |
%APPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\installed.json |
Installed-app manifest (registry key, command, location) |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\apps\<owner>\<repo>\<version>\ |
Extracted portable apps |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\downloads\ |
Cached release assets (cleaned on demand) |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\cache\icons\ |
Cached repo logos |
%LOCALAPPDATA%\LocalDesktopStore\logs\ |
MSI install logs + crash logs |
%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\LocalDesktopStore\ |
Start Menu shortcuts for portable apps |
To start fresh, delete the two LocalDesktopStore folders in %APPDATA% and %LOCALAPPDATA%. Apps installed via MSI / Inno / NSIS stay installed — uninstall those through the normal Windows uninstaller (or click Uninstall on the card while the app's manifest still tracks them).
WPF on .NET 9 — MVVM, no third-party MVVM toolkit. The whole app is ~1,800 lines of C# + ~700 lines of XAML.
Models/— plain data records (AppInfo,InstalledApp,AppSettings,ArtifactKind)Services/GitHubService— Octokit-backed discovery and asset downloadAssetClassifier— classify by name, refine by PE / file contentInstallService— routes to MSI / Inno / NSIS / Generic / Portable handlersUninstallRegistry— readsHKLM,HKLM\WOW6432Node,HKCUuninstall keysHashVerifier—<asset>.sha256.txtsidecar verificationShortcutService— creates Start Menu.lnkfiles viaIShellLinkCOMSettingsService— JSON persistence
ViewModels/—MainViewModelorchestrates everything;AppCardViewModelper-card stateViews/—AppCardViewuser control + the main windowThemes/— Catppuccin Mocha resource dictionary
Install-state detection runs as a registry diff: snapshot uninstall keys before invoking the installer, snapshot again afterward, take the new entry. That's far more reliable than trying to guess the installer's DisplayName from the repo name. We never write to the registry — the installer does.
See ROADMAP.md. Highlights:
- v0.2.0 — Auto-update on refresh: compare local installed version against latest release tag and surface "Update available" + an "Update all" button. WinGet manifest export. MSIX packaging support.
- v0.3.0 — Catppuccin Latte light theme + accent color picker.
- v0.4.0 — Cross-platform port via Avalonia (Linux / macOS package equivalents —
.deb,.dmg).
Built primarily for personal dev/test workflow, but PRs are welcome. Open an issue first if it's a bigger change.
MIT.