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Windows

Desktop installer​

Run the supplied Timon NSIS installer, choose its installation directory and open Timon. If Node.js or Git is missing, the installer installs Node.js (LTS) and Git for Windows with winget, after one Windows permission prompt; this can take a few minutes. If that fails or you decline, the setup screen offers them again.

At first run it registers the daemon as the TimonOrchestrator scheduled task, which asks for the Windows permission prompt once. The task starts at boot and keeps Timon running after you sign out, using your own account without storing its password. It runs with your standard privileges, not as administrator. This is not a Windows NT service and does not require an administrator service wrapper. Timon uses a scheduled task rather than a service on purpose: a service runs under a system account, or needs your password stored to run as you, and would not find the sign-ins of your AI tools (claude, codex…) kept in your user folder; the task runs as you, with your folder and your sign-ins, without storing a password.

If the task is missing at launch, for example after Timon was uninstalled and reinstalled, or after you deleted it from Task Scheduler or PowerShell, Timon offers to reinstall it, with one Windows permission prompt. Until you accept, Timon runs only while its window is open. If you choose Not now, Timon asks again after the next update.

On some work or school accounts — typically a PC joined to Microsoft Entra ID — Windows registers the task but never starts it while you are signed out. Timon checks that the task really started; when it did not, it removes it (or, at a later launch, leaves it unused), tells you, and runs its built-in daemon instead. Timon then works while its window is open and stops when you close it or sign out. To remove an unused task yourself, run timon service uninstall and allow the permission prompt.

After Windows restarts, Timon waits for you to sign in once before it starts: your CLI backends need the credentials that Windows only unlocks at sign-in. After that first sign-in, you can sign out and Timon keeps running. If the machine must run agents overnight, enable automatic sign-in or sign in after each restart, and turn off sleep: no scheduled task runs while Windows sleeps. See Running in the background for what missions cannot reach while you are signed out.

The daemon writes its log to %USERPROFILE%\.timon\tmp\daemon-<date>.log, one file per day; the background task's own messages, and anything printed before the daemon starts, go to daemon.log in the same folder (at each start, a daemon.log larger than 10 MB is moved to daemon.log.1). %USERPROFILE% is your user folder, C:\Users\<user>; Where Timon keeps its files lists the other locations, and Troubleshooting explains how to send them.

When Timon is already installed, the installer asks for the Windows permission prompt as it opens: it pauses the background task while it replaces the files, and starts it again when the installer closes. The first launch after an update may ask once more, to update the task. Then approve the update in Timon's window; see Upgrading.

Follow First run. Install and sign in to your CLI backend under the same Windows account. Keep agent working directories as existing absolute Windows paths; a Linux or container path is not interchangeable with one.

Setup detects npm-installed backends without restarting Timon, including installations with a custom global npm directory. If you explicitly configured a backend path in host.binaries, that path takes precedence; timon doctor reports it when the file is missing. Correct or remove the outdated path in Settings → AI models → Providers → CLI binaries; it applies without restarting Timon.

Quitting and stopping​

Quit in the notification-area icon menu closes the app only. The daemon run by the TimonOrchestrator task keeps working (your missions continue), and the task starts it again within five minutes if it stops, so ending the task from Task Scheduler is not a stop.

Quit and stop the background service, in the same menu, ends the daemon and every program it started (web server, mission programs, built-in terminal), disables the task and quits. Windows asks for permission once. The next time you open Timon, it asks once more and starts the service again. From a terminal, timon service stop and timon service start do the same; timon service status says when the service was stopped this way.

In portable mode (no task), the daemon is started by the app and stops with it, together with its web server, the programs of the running missions and the built-in terminal.

To remove the service for good, run timon service uninstall and allow the Windows permission prompt: it removes the task, ends the daemon and the terminal host, and keeps your data. Timon offers to install the task again at the next launch. If the permission prompt is refused, the command says so and the task stays.

Uninstalling​

Uninstall Timon from Windows Settings or Control Panel. Allow the Windows permission prompt to remove the TimonOrchestrator scheduled task. Your Timon data directory, including missions, agents and the database, is kept.

For unattended removal, run the installed uninstaller with /S from an administrator terminal. Silent removal does not ask for elevation. If permission is denied, removal of the application continues; remove any remaining TimonOrchestrator task from Task Scheduler with administrator rights.

Source installation​

For a source checkout, install Node 22+, Git and the native build prerequisites. In PowerShell, from the checkout root:

cd orchestrator
npm ci
npm run build
cd ../app
npm ci
npm run build
cd ..
node orchestrator/bin/timon service install --dry-run

Before installing, set profile to windows, daemon.supervisor to windows, daemon.installDir to the absolute orchestrator directory and app.enabled to true in the configuration file. Escape backslashes in JSON or use forward slashes.

node orchestrator/bin/timon service install
node orchestrator/bin/timon service status

The task starts at boot and every five minutes if the daemon stopped. If it is registered but not running, start it from Windows Task Scheduler before completing setup. Removing the supervisor does not remove Timon's data directory.