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Install on Windows by hand

Not ready for everyone yet

The first release of Poof! is for the Mac. A Windows version with a proper installer is coming. Until then, this page is for people who are comfortable typing commands in PowerShell and can live with the gaps listed below.

How far it has been tested

Poof!'s automated tests run on a Windows computer at GitHub with every change to the public code, and they pass there. Nobody has yet installed and used Poof! by hand on a real Windows PC. Expect rough edges, and please report what you find (see Troubleshooting).

Windows 11, 64-bit, is the target. Windows 10 may work but is not tested.

What does not work on Windows yet

  • iPhone HEIC photos show no preview. Convert them to JPEG first, or set your iPhone to Most Compatible (Settings → Camera → Formats).
  • Camera RAW files (CR3 and the like): framing and crop for Camera Raw need a Mac. Poof!'s own editor reads RAW files on Windows too, but RAW previews have not been tried there yet. JPEG copies work.
  • Move to Trash and its Undo are not available. Poof! does not move your photos to the Recycle Bin on Windows yet. Delete files yourself in File Explorer if you need to.
  • Look-alike photo hints (spotting retakes of the same item) are not available.
  • Automatic label-text direction is not available. Rotate photos by hand in the editor.
  • Photoshop, Camera Raw and darktable work from Poof! on a Mac only for now. Poof!'s own photo editor and the free cut-out work.
  • No installer, no Start-menu icon and no Quit button. You start Poof! from PowerShell and stop it there (below). Check for updates is not available. You update by hand.

Everything else is the same Poof! as on the Mac: items, listings, the photo editor, imports, marketplace checks and the Chrome helper. Your photos stay on your computer.

What you need first

  • Git. Download it from git-scm.com and install it with the default choices.
  • uv, the tool that installs Poof!'s Python parts. In PowerShell, follow uv's installation guide, then close and reopen PowerShell.
  • Node.js (the LTS version) from nodejs.org, which builds the part of Poof! you see in the browser.

Get the code

Poof!'s code will be published on GitHub (GitHub: coming soon). Once it is, open PowerShell, run cd ~, and copy the code into a folder called poof with git clone, followed by the address shown on Poof!'s GitHub page and the word poof. Then move into that folder:

cd ~\poof

Install the parts

From the poof folder, run these three commands one after another:

uv sync --project backend --frozen
npm --prefix frontend ci
npm --prefix frontend run build

They install everything inside the poof folder. Nothing is installed for the whole computer.

Start Poof!

From the same folder, run:

backend\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m uvicorn app.main:app --app-dir backend --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8000

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8000 in your browser. Poof! can only be reached from your own computer. Other devices on your network cannot open it.

Leave the PowerShell window open while you use Poof!. To stop Poof!, click in that window and press Ctrl+C. Run one copy at a time. Keep port 8000: the Chrome helper looks for Poof! there.

Your items, settings and Poof!'s working copies are kept in the .poof folder inside poof. Your original photos stay where they are.

Optional: the free cut-out

To remove backgrounds without Photoshop, add the cut-out to the install (about 112 MB):

uv sync --project backend --frozen --extra background

Then download its model from Folder & settings → Add-ons. From now on, keep --extra background on the end of the uv sync command whenever you run it, or the cut-out is removed again.

Update Poof!

Stop Poof! (Ctrl+C), then from the poof folder:

git pull

Run the three commands under Install the parts again (with --extra background if you use the free cut-out), and start Poof! as usual. Your items, photos and settings are kept.