Getting PiCode

Getting PiCode

Two ways in, for two different people.

1. To use it: download a release

Go to Releases and take the file for your platform:

File	What it is
PiCode-<ver>-win-x64.zip	Windows portable — unzip anywhere, run PiCode.exe
PiCode-<ver>-win-x64-setup.exe	Windows installer (Inno Setup)
PiCode-<ver>-linux-x64.tar.gz	Linux portable
PiCode-<ver>-linux-x64.deb / .rpm	Linux installers
SHA256SUMS.txt	checksums of all of the above

Verify the checksum before first run. Windows binaries are currently unsigned, so SmartScreen will warn once (More info → Run anyway). That is expected — see CI and Releases.

Portable mode: on first run PiCode creates a data/ folder next to the executable — user data, extensions, sessions, cache, the Pi profile. Nothing is written to your %APPDATA% or ~/.pi. Deleting data/ gives you a clean PiCode; copying it moves your whole PiCode to another machine.

No profile travels inside the archive itself: fresh ZIP, fresh start. Continue with First Run and the Wizard.

2. To work on it: clone, build, done

The repository carries PiCode's own source tree: picode-source/ is the VS Code-derived editor with every PiCode change committed as code, versioned right here. There is nothing to download and nothing to apply — clone this repository and compile:

• Clone the repository and run ./dev/build.sh (from Git Bash on Windows). Warm builds take a few minutes; ./dev/build.sh -o checks the tree in seconds without compiling.
• Releases are produced by exactly this build — what you compile is what ships.
• Changing editor behaviour means writing TypeScript in picode-source/ and committing it, like any other change.

The full dependencies, the five build phases and the GUI alternative are in Building PiCode.

If you plan to contribute, read CONTRIBUTING.md first — it names the rules that have burned the project before.

Troubleshooting the first run

Symptom	Meaning
SmartScreen warning (Windows)	the binary is unsigned; verify checksum, run anyway
No update check ever happens	by design — the in-product updater is disabled so the built tree cannot be silently replaced
Language model unavailable in chat	no provider connected yet — connect one in the wizard or Pi Inside
A theme cannot install	it exists only on the Microsoft Marketplace; this editor installs from Open VSX

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Next: First Run and the Wizard